Downstream Relationship Research Articles

Abscisic-acid-responsive StlncRNA13558 induces StPRL expression to increase potato resistance to Phytophthora infestans infection.

Late blight, caused by Phytophthora infestans, is one of the most serious diseases affecting potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.). Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are transcripts with a length of more than 200 nucleotides that have no protein-coding potential. Few studies have been conducted on lncRNAs related to plant immune regulation in plants, and the molecular mechanisms involved in this regulation require further investigation. We identified and screened an lncRNA that specifically responds to P. infestans infection, namely, StlncRNA13558. P. infestans infection activates the abscisic acid (ABA) pathway, and ABA induces StlncRNA13558 to enhance potato resistance to P. infestans. StlncRNA13558 positively regulates the expression of its co-expressed PR-related gene StPRL. StPRL promotes the accumulation of reactive oxygen species and transmits a resistance response by affecting the salicylic acid hormone pathway, thereby enhancing potato resistance to P. infestans. In summary, we identified the potato late blight resistance lncRNA StlncRNA13558 and revealed its upstream and downstream regulatory relationship of StlncRNA13558. These results improve our understanding of plant-pathogen interactions' immune mechanism and elucidate the response mechanism of lncRNA-target genes regulating potato resistance to P. infestans infection.

KIF2A Upregulates PI3K/AKT Signaling through Polo-like Kinase 1 (PLK1) to Affect the Proliferation and Apoptosis Levels of Eriocheir sinensis Spermatogenic Cells.

E. sinensis is an animal model for studying the reproduction and development of crustaceans. In this study, we knocked down the Es-Kif2a gene by injecting dsRNA into E. sinensis and inhibited Es-Plk1 gene expression by injecting PLK1 inhibitor BI6727 into E. sinensis. Then, the cell proliferation level, apoptosis level, and PI3K/AKT signaling expression level were detected. Our results showed that the proliferation level of spermatogenic cells decreased, while the apoptosis level increased after Es-Kif2a knockdown or Es-Plk1 inhibition. In order to verify whether these changes are caused by regulating the PI3K/AKT pathway, we detected the expression of PI3K and AKT proteins after Es-Kif2a knockdown or Es-Plk1 inhibition. Western Blot showed that in both the Es-Kif2a knockdown group and the Es-Plk1 inhibition group, the expression of PI3K and AKT proteins decreased. In addition, immunofluorescence showed that Es-KIF2A and Es-PLK1 proteins were co-localized during E. sinensis spermatogenesis. To further explore the upstream and downstream relationship between Es-KIF2A and Es-PLK1, we detected the expression level of Es-PLK1 after Es-Kif2a knockdown as well as the expression level of Es-KIF2A after Es-Plk1 inhibition. Western Blot showed that the expression of Es-PLK1 decreased after Es-Kif2a knockdown, while there was no significant change of Es-KIF2A after Es-Plk1 inhibition, indicating that Es-PLK1 may be a downstream factor of Es-KIF2A. Taken together, these results suggest that Es-KIF2A upregulates the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway through Es-PLK1 during the spermatogenesis of E. sinensis, thereby affecting the proliferation and apoptosis levels of spermatogenic cells.

Product consumptions meet reviews: Inferring consumer preferences by an explainable machine learning approach

Inferring consumers' preferences provides a better understanding of their purchase behavior, which is very important for business success, e.g., recommendation systems and targeted advertising. In this paper, we propose an explainable machine learning approach, namely Multi-view Latent Dirichlet Allocation (MVLDA), to infer and interpret consumer preferences. In the proposed model, we assume that there exists a downstream relationship between consumers' motivations and their purchase behaviors. We model this downstream relationship by linking two types of topics (i.e., textual topics for motivations and product-related topics for purchase behaviors), to quantify and explain consumers' choices. We validate our modeling framework using a real-world dataset collected from the online retailer Amazon. The experimental results show that the proposed model identifies a set of high-quality textual topics but also interprets its effect on consumer choices based on product-related topics. In addition, we demonstrate that the proposed model quantifies the consumer's preferences. The proposed model yields interesting insights about user preferences, and provides several important managerial implications, e.g., e-commerce platforms, brand managers, and marketers.

A Special Ordered Set of Type 2 Modeling for a Monthly Hydropower Scheduling of Cascaded Reservoirs with Spillage Controllable

This study introduces a novel approach for optimizing the monthly hydropower scheduling of cascaded reservoirs by employing a special ordered set of type 2 (SOS2) formulation within a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model. The proposed method linearizes the relationships between hydropower output, spillage, storage, and outflow, enabling controllable spillage. The objective is to minimize spillage, maximize firm hydropower output, and maximize energy production, all in priority while considering complex constraints such as reservoir storage and discharge bounds, upstream–downstream relationship, and water balance. The approach is applied to four cascaded reservoirs on the Lancang River. Results indicate that the SOS2 formulation effectively minimizes spillage, maximizes hydropower generation, and ensures maximum firm power output. Comparisons across different gridding resolutions reveal that more grid points yield greater benefits but with a longer solution time. Furthermore, a comparison with the Successive Quadratic Programming (SQP) method highlights the superior performance of the SOS2 model in terms of objective improvement and solution efficiency. This research offers valuable insights into optimizing monthly hydropower scheduling for cascaded reservoir systems, enhancing operational efficiency and decision-making in water resources management.

Lake-TopoCat: a global lake drainage topology and catchment database

Abstract. Lakes and reservoirs are ubiquitous across global landscapes, functioning as the largest repository of liquid surface freshwater, hotspots of carbon cycling, and sentinels of climate change. Although typically considered lentic (hydrologically stationary) environments, lakes are an integral part of global drainage networks. Through perennial and intermittent hydrological connections, lakes often interact with each other, and these connections actively affect water mass, quality, and energy balances in both lacustrine and fluvial systems. Deciphering how global lakes are hydrologically interconnected (or the so-called “lake drainage topology”) is not only important for lake change attribution but also increasingly critical for discharge, sediment, and carbon modeling. Despite the proliferation of river hydrography data, lakes remain poorly represented in routing models, partially because there has been no global-scale hydrography dataset tailored to lake drainage basins and networks. Here, we introduce the global Lake drainage Topology and Catchment database (Lake-TopoCat), which reveals detailed lake hydrography information with careful consideration of possible multifurcation. Lake-TopoCat contains the outlet(s) and catchment(s) of each lake; the interconnecting reaches among lakes; and a wide suite of attributes depicting lake drainage topology such as upstream and downstream relationship, drainage distance between lakes, and a priori drainage type and connectivity with river networks. Using the HydroLAKES v1.0 (Messager et al., 2016) global lake mask, Lake-TopoCat identifies ∼ 1.46 million outlets for ∼ 1.43 million lakes larger than 10 ha and delineates 77.5×106 km2 of lake catchments covering 57 % of the Earth's landmass except Antarctica. The global lakes are interconnected by ∼ 3 million reaches, derived from MERIT Hydro v1.0.1 (Yamazaki et al., 2019), stretching a total distance of ∼10×106 km, of which ∼ 80 % are shorter than 10 km. With such unprecedented lake hydrography details, Lake-TopoCat contributes towards a globally coupled lake–river routing model. It may also facilitate a variety of limnological applications such as attributing water quality from lake scale to basin scale, tracing inter-lake fish migration due to changing climate, monitoring fluvial–lacustrine connectivity, and improving estimates of terrestrial carbon fluxes. Lake-TopoCat is freely accessible at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7916729 (Sikder et al., 2023).

Melatonin Protects the Apoptosis of Sheep Granulosa Cells by Suppressing Oxidative Stress via MAP3K8 and FOS Pathway.

Melatonin is not only a highly effective active oxygen scavenger but also an important reproductive hormone. Melatonin has a regulatory effect on animal reproduction, especially on the ovaries. It can affect the proliferation and apoptosis of cells in follicles. However, the mechanisms of the dual antioxidation and anti-apoptosis effects of melatonin on granulosa cells are still not clear, especially in sheep. Therefore, we investigated the mechanisms of the protective effect of melatonin against oxidative damage in granulosa cells. At a concentration of 250 µmol/L, H2O2 promoted granulosa cell apoptosis; however, 10 ng/mL melatonin effectively alleviated the pro-apoptotic effect of H2O2. Furthermore, through the application of high-throughput sequencing technology, we identified 109 significantly differentially expressed genes (35 upregulated and 74 downregulated genes) involved in the protective effect of melatonin against apoptosis. The expression levels of nine related genes, i.e., ATF3, FIBIN, FOS, HSPA6, MAP3K8, FOSB, PET117, DLX2, and TRIB1, changed significantly. MAP3K8 and FOS gene overexpression impacted the protective effect of melatonin in granulosa cells; the two genes exhibited an upstream and downstream regulatory relationship. Our findings indicated that melatonin alleviated H2O2-induced apoptosis in sheep granulosa cells through the MAP3K8-FOS pathway.

Dependence structure, relational mechanisms and performance: teasing out the differences between upstream and downstream supply chain partners

PurposeFirms are subject to power from both upstream and downstream partners; those partners may have different or even opposing impacts on supply chain relationships and financial performance. The purpose of this study is to investigate how upstream and downstream dependence structures affect a firm's financial performance through upstream and downstream relational depth (DEP) and relationship extendedness (EXT).Design/methodology/approachData representing both upstream and downstream supply chain perspectives was collected using a multiple-respondent survey and was further augmented using financial performance data from an archival database.FindingsDependence advantages (ADVs) and disadvantages from upstream and downstream partners affect relational mechanisms and firm performance differently. Only downstream ADV will enhance a firm's DEP and EXT and subsequently affect firm's revenue and profit. Contradictory to widely held belief, the results reveal that firms that maintain long-term relationships with buyers and suppliers may experience lower revenue/profit.Originality/valueThis research represents a significant step in understanding the economic ramifications of dependence by (1) highlighting the difference between upstream and downstream supply chain dependence structure and (2) understanding the indirect effects of dependence structure on financial performance.

The hidden benefit: Emission trading scheme and business performance of downstream enterprises

There seems to be no empirical study on the impact of emission trading scheme (ETS) on downstream industries. However, carbon trading may affect the performance of downstream firms via cost effect or spillover effect through the industrial chain. Based on the data of listed companies, this paper innovatively constructs three-dimensional data of “upstream firm - downstream firm - time”, with a total of 40,437,001 valid observations, simulates the upstream and downstream relationship between enterprises, and estimates the impact of carbon trading on the downstream performance using the Pair Weighted Difference in Difference in Difference (PW-DDD) model. The results show that the effects of carbon trading on downstream performance is negative in the short run, but it has positive significance in the long run. Heterogeneity is also found: the downstream firms with significant industrial chain relationships are more positively affected, such as chemical, petrochemical, and cement. In addition, carbon trading may improve productivity in different sectors in the same region or the same industry in other areas, thus improving the performance of non-ETS-covered enterprises.

ANALYZE THE INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION SYSTEM, TRANSACTION RELATIONSHIP AND GOVERNANCE MECHANISM FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF RISK PERCEPTION AND EMOTIONAL BEHAVIOR DRIVING-COMPARATIVE STUDY ON PIG COOPERATIVES IN CHINA

BackgroundChina is the largest producer and consumer of pigs in the world. It is of strategic significance for China to ensure the stable supply of pigs and improve the production quality of pigs. As a high-risk industry, the pig industry faces six risks: market, capital, disease, policy, environment and transportation. In view of this, the ultimate goal of industry organizations such as cooperatives is to reduce industry risks by reducing transaction costs and establishing governance mechanisms. This study will explore from the perspective of risk perception and action drivenSubjects and MethodsThis paper takes pig cooperatives as the research object. From the perspective of risk perception, based on the analytical framework of “transaction relationship governance mechanism”, this paper divides the transaction relationship of pig farmers into five categories. These five types are: short-term and repeated trading relationship, long-term and stable trading relationship, trading relationship based on written contract, relationship based strategic alliance and equity based strategic alliance. In addition, this paper also defines the corresponding governance mechanisms as market governance, contract governance, relationship governance and equity governance. Based on the analysis framework, through the in-depth analysis and comparison of a large number of cases, this paper mainly analyzes the characteristics of the pig industry organization system, the development and evolution of the transaction relationship of pig farmers and the impact of relevant governance mechanisms.ResultsIt was found that pig cooperatives played an important role in reducing farmers' risk. Specifically, in the upstream relationship, cooperatives reduce farmers' production costs by uniformly purchasing means of production; In the downstream relationship, they increase farmers' income by uniformly selling pigs. In addition, through case comparative analysis, it is found that each transaction relationship has more than one governance mechanism, in which market mechanism is the basis, relationship mechanism is the means, contract mechanism is the guarantee, and equity mechanism is the deepening. In order to better study the changes in risk perception and action, this study used (DASS-21) to conduct a questionnaire survey on the sample. The form was compiled by Ji Jiajun and Lu Jiamei. It has 25 questions and is divided into six dimensions, including emotional perception, emotional evaluation, emotional regulation self-efficacy, effective application of emotional strategies, emotional control and emotional regulation reflection, Presented in the form of self-report of the respondents. For each question, from the six options, please choose one that is in line with your actual situation. From completely inconsistent to fully consistent with the six options, score 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 respectively. On the six dimensions of this questionnaire α The coefficient is tested to obtain the results of each sub dimension α The coefficients were 0.726, 0.668, 0.831, 0.772, 0.637 and 0.629 respectively α The coefficient is 0.881.cooperatives are important intermediary organizations between the upstream and downstream subjects of agricultural industry. There was a significant positive correlation between the improvement of the index and the ability of emotion regulation (P < 0.01), indicating that the higher the degree of participation, the stronger the ability of emotion regulation. The six dimensions were significantly positively correlated (P < 0.01); At the same time, there was a significant negative correlation between the state of psychological problems and the ability of emotion regulation (P < 0.01). Self control was negatively correlated with emotion perception, emotion evaluation, emotion control and emotion regulation reflection (P < 0.01), negatively correlated with emotion regulation self-efficacy (P < 0.05), and had no correlation with applied emotion strategies. There was a significant positive correlation between emotion regulation ability and all dimensions (P < 0.01); There was a significant positive correlation between encouraging autonomy and emotion regulation ability and each dimension (P < 0.01); There was a significant negative correlation between self-control and emotion regulation ability and each dimension (P < 0.01).ConclusionSince cooperatives are developed by the main body to find a way out, cooperatives have become an effective means of governance and play a vital role in improving farmers' risk awareness, reducing risks and increasing income. Therefore, this study has theoretical and pragmatic significance.AcknowledgmentsSupported by a project grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71903178).

Periostin: an emerging activator of multiple signaling pathways.

Matricellular proteins are responsible for regulating the microenvironment, the behaviors of surrounding cells, and the homeostasis of tissues. Periostin (POSTN), a non-structural matricellular protein, can bind to many extracellular matrix proteins through its different domains. POSTN usually presents at low levels in most adult tissues but is highly expressed in pathological sites such as in tumors and inflamed organs. POSTN can bind to diverse integrins to interact with multiple signaling pathways within cells, which is one of its core biological functions. Increasing evidence shows that POSTN can activate the TGF-β, the PI3K/Akt, the Wnt, the RhoA/ROCK, the NF-κB, the MAPK and the JAK pathways to promote the occurrence and development of many diseases, especially cancer and inflammatory diseases. Furthermore, POSTN can interact with some pathways in an upstream and downstream relationship, forming complicated crosstalk. This article focuses on the interactions between POSTN and different signaling pathways in diverse diseases, attempting to explain the mechanisms of interaction and provide novel guidelines for the development of targeted therapies.

The Roles of Legacy Versus Social Media Information Seeking in American and Chinese Consumers’ Hoarding During COVID-19

Through two studies conducted with cross-cultural samples (the United States and China), this research examines the psychological mechanism of consumer hoarding during COVID-19. Findings from Study 1 suggest that consumer hoarding is differently affected by legacy and social media information seeking, perceived scarcity, and scarcity attributions in the United States versus China. For China, while social media information seeking has a negative downstream relationship to hoarding, legacy media information seeking has a positive relationship with hoarding. In the United States, only social media information seeking has a positive relationship with hoarding. Further, these effects are significant when consumers attribute the scarcity responsibility to insufficient supply but not high demand. Study 2 shows that when the cause of scarcity is stated directly, perceived scarcity increases hoarding intention for Chinese consumers when the scarcity cause is due to supply but not demand, whereas U.S. consumers’ hoarding intention does not vary with the scarcity cause. The findings underscore cross-cultural differences in how legacy and social media information seeking influence consumer hoarding and highlight implications for situations in which hoarding is likely.

High-Performance Extended-Gate Field-Effect Transistor for Kinase Sensing in Aβ Accumulation of Alzheimer’s Disease

An amyloid-beta peptide (Aβ) is generally believed to be a pathological marker of Alzheimer's disease (AD), but it is still of great significance to explore the upstream and downstream relationship of Aβ in AD. It is previously reported that c-Abl, a nonreceptor tyrosine kinase, can be activated by Aβ, but the interaction between Aβ and c-Abl is still unknown. Herein, an extended-gate field-effect transistor (EG-FET)-based sensor has been developed to monitor the level of c-Abl with high sensitivity and selectivity. Our peptide-functionalized EG-FET sensor as the signal transducer can follow c-Abl activity with electron transfer by its specific phosphorylation. The sensor presents a good linear correlation over c-Abl concentrations of 1 pg/mL to 3.05 μg/mL. The sensor was successfully applied to quantify c-Abl activity in the brain tissue of AD transgenic mice, and the interaction between c-Abl and Aβ in AD mice was explored by administering the c-Abl inhibitor (imatinib) and the agonist (DPH). Our work is expected to provide an important reference for early diagnosis and treatment of AD.

Proapoptotic Effect of Icariin on Human Ovarian Cancer Cells via the NF-[Formula: see text]B/PI3K-AKT Signaling Pathway: A Network Pharmacology-Directed Experimental Investigation.

Based on network pharmacology tools and public bioinformatics databases, the pharmacodynamic target and key mechanism of icariin (ICA) in the treatment of ovarian cancer (OC) were identified and experimentally verified. Our previous research showed that TNF, MMP9, STAT3, PIK3CA, ERBB2, MTOR, IL2, PTGS2, KDR and F2 are important targets of ICA in the treatment of OC. TNF, as a hub gene in tumor tissues, was associated with poor prognosis. ICA acted on OC mainly through the biological functions of various kinases, and the pathway with the highest accuracy ([Formula: see text]-value) was PI3K. Meanwhile, we observed a close upstream and downstream relationship between NF-[Formula: see text]B and the Pl3K-AKT pathway. This study further verified the mechanism of ICA in promoting apoptosis of SKOV3 cells through the NF-[Formula: see text]B signaling pathway and the tandem relationship between NF-[Formula: see text]B and the Pl3K-AKT pathway. The assay results demonstrated that ICA can promote the apoptosis of SKOV3 cells as indicated by the proapoptotic markers Bax, Bcl-xl and Caspase-3 and the key factors of the NF-[Formula: see text]B signaling pathway (NF-[Formula: see text]Bp65, p-NF-[Formula: see text]Bp65, p-I[Formula: see text]B[Formula: see text] and I[Formula: see text]B[Formula: see text]. ICA can block the classical NF-[Formula: see text]B pathway by inhibiting I[Formula: see text]B[Formula: see text] phosphorylation and consequently blocking the activation of the NF-[Formula: see text]B pathway in SKOV3 cells. ICA can also promote apoptosis by blocking the activation of the NF-[Formula: see text]B pathway in SKOV3 cells via inhibition of NF-[Formula: see text]Bp65 nuclear translocation. After using a PI3K pathway inhibitor, we further discovered that ICA may reduce AKT signal transduction by inhibiting the level of Akt phosphorylation, resulting in a loss of PI3K/Akt-dependent activation of the NF-[Formula: see text]B pathway.

Learning Social Relationship From Videos via Pre-Trained Multimodal Transformer

As a crucial task for video analysis, social relation recognition from characters provides intelligent applications with great potential to better understand the behaviors or emotions of human beings. Most existing methods mainly focus on training models from a large amount of labeled data. However, labeling social relations in videos is time-consuming. To solve this problem, we propose a Pre-trained Multimodal Feature Learning (PMFL) framework for self-supervised learning from unlabeled video data, and then transfer the pre-trained PMFL to downstream social relationship recognition task. First, the space-time interaction between visual instances, and cross-modal interaction between visual and textual information provide important cues for social relation understanding. To incorporate these cues, we design a Multimodal Instance Interaction Transformer (MIIT), which consists of two Transformers to capture intra-modal and cross-modal information interaction, respectively. Second, to better endow PMFL with the capability of learning visual and textual semantic features, we pre-train it via two tasks: Masked Action Feature Regression (MAFR) and Masked Object Label Classification (MOLC). These tasks can help learn both intra-modal and cross-modal semantic information. After fine-tuning PMFL from pre-trained parameters, it achieves the state-of-the-art results on a public benchmark.

Examining the impact of upstream and downstream relationship stability and concentration on firms’ financial performance

Maintaining a healthy buyer–supplier relationship enhances the competence of the firm and the entire supply chain. This study examines the stability and concentration of both the upstream and downstream relationships in the focal firms in a supply chain. Using empirical evidence from 2,920 listed firms in China, we find that maintaining higher stability with major suppliers and customers enhances a firm’s financial performance, whereas a higher concentration of major suppliers and customers negatively affects the firm’s financial performance. The positive impact of stability is higher than the negative effect of concentration on firm’s performance. Additionally, geographical distance with the customer amplifies the positive impact of customer stability on a firm’s performance, and the geographical distance with suppliers and customers enlarges the concentration’s negative impact. Firms should build an open, long-term relationship that is stable but not exclusive with their major suppliers and customers to achieve better financial performance.

UBC Mediated by SEPT6 Inhibited the Progression of Prostate Cancer.

Background Prostate cancer is one of the most common malignancies in men. Protein ubiquitination is an important mechanism for regulating protein activity and level in vivo. We aimed to study the mechanism of SEPT6 and UBC action in prostate cancer to identify new targets. Methods The ubiquitin-protein and the ubiquitin coding gene UBA52, UBA80, UBB, and UBC expressions were detected in clinical tissues and cells. Overexpression and knockdown of UBC were performed in prostate cancer DU145 cells. Cell Counting Kit 8 (CCK-8) assay was performed to detect cell proliferation. Cell cycle at 24 h was detected by flow cytometry. Clonal formation assay was used to measure cell clone number. Immunofluorescence (IF) was performed to detect the colocalization of SEPT6 and UBC in prostate cancer cells. Next, we overexpressed or knocked down SEPT6 expression in DU145 cells. Pearson correlation coefficient was applied to analyze the relationship between SEPT6 and UBC in prostate cancer tissue. oe-SEPT6+oe-UBC coexpressing cells were constructed to detect the upstream and downstream relationship between SEPT6 and UBC on prostate cancer cells. The tumor formation experiment was performed to explore SEPT6/UBC effect on prostate cancer. Results UBC was upregulated in prostate cancer tissues and cells. Overexpression of UBC promoted cell survival and proliferation. IF revealed the colocalization of SEPT6 and UBC in prostate cancer cells. UBC expression decreased after oe-SEPT6, while increased after sh-SEPT6, indicating that UBC was downstream of SEPT6. Pearson correlation coefficient analysis showed that SEPT6 was negatively correlated with UBC in prostate cancer tissues. SEPT6 as an upstream gene of UBC regulated prostate cancer cell behavior through UBC. The tumor formation experiment showed that SEPT6 could inhibit tumor growth. Conclusion In general, SEPT6 inhibited UBC expression, thereby reducing the overall ubiquitination level, affecting the expression level of downstream cell proliferation-related genes, and then affecting the progression of prostate cancer.

The boundary-spanning role of first-tier suppliers in sustainability-oriented supplier development initiatives

PurposeThis study aims to study how first-tier suppliers (FTs) operate as boundary-spanners between the focal firm and second-tier suppliers (STs) in extending sustainability-oriented supplier development (SSD) initiatives up the supply chain.Design/methodology/approachAn exploratory multi-case study approach in the apparel industry is adopted, comprised of four cases focused on occupational health and safety issues. The paper uses primary semi-structured interviews and observation data and secondary documents, and it is informed by the boundary-spanning and social capital theory.FindingsThe influence of downstream social capital on the upstream boundary-spanning actions of FTs is highlighted. More specifically, it is found that the cognitive and relational capital that exists in the downstream relationship between an FT and the focal firm affects whether the FT adopts compliance- or improvement-oriented boundary-spanning actions in their upstream relationships with STs. Particularly important aspects of cognitive and relational capital are highlighted while the phenomenon of FTs adding their own personal interpretation to sustainability requirements when fulfilling their boundary-spanning role is identified.Research limitations/implicationsA distinction is made between compliance- and improvement-oriented boundary-spanning actions. A deeper insight into the boundary-spanning role of FTs in extending SSD initiatives up the supply chain to STs is provided along with a deeper understanding of how this role is impacted by social capital.Practical implicationsFocal firms should seek to build adequate cognitive and relational capital with their FTs before deploying SSD initiatives to extend their reach further upstream in the supply chain. In doing so, it is also important to be cognisant of the social capital that exists between FTs and STs.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the SSD literature by going beyond the buyer–FT dyad to examine the FT's boundary-spanning role in the wider buyer–FT–ST chain relationship. The study theoretically and empirically draws out the importance of relation-specific assets through the social capital lens.

A hydrography upscaling method for scale-invariant parametrization of distributed hydrological models

Abstract. Distributed hydrological models rely on hydrography data such as flow direction, river length, slope and width. For large-scale applications, many of these models still rely on a few flow direction datasets, which are often manually derived. We propose the Iterative Hydrography Upscaling (IHU) method to upscale high-resolution flow direction data to the typically coarser resolutions of distributed hydrological models. The IHU aims to preserve the upstream–downstream relationship of river structure, including basin boundaries, river meanders and confluences, in the D8 format, which is commonly used to describe river networks in models. Additionally, it derives representative sub-grid river length and slope parameters, which are required for resolution-independent model results. We derived the multi-resolution MERIT Hydro IHU dataset at resolutions of 30 arcsec (∼ 1 km), 5 arcmin (∼ 10 km) and 15 arcmin (∼ 30 km) by applying IHU to the recently published 3 arcsec MERIT Hydro data. Results indicate improved accuracy of IHU at all resolutions studied compared to other often-applied upscaling methods. Furthermore, we show that MERIT Hydro IHU minimizes the errors made in the timing and magnitude of simulated peak discharge throughout the Rhine basin compared to simulations at the native data resolutions. As the method is open source and fully automated, it can be applied to other high-resolution hydrography datasets to increase the accuracy and enhance the uptake of new datasets in distributed hydrological models in the future.

Functional analysis of LAT3 in prostate cancer: Its downstream target and relationship with androgen receptor.

L‐type amino acid transporter 3 (LAT3, SLC43A1) is abundantly expressed in prostate cancer (PC) and is thought to play an essential role in PC progression through the cellular uptake of essential amino acids. Here, we analyzed the expression, function, and downstream target of LAT3 in PC. LAT3 was highly expressed in PC cells expressing androgen receptor (AR), and its expression was increased by dihydrotestosterone treatment and decreased by bicalutamide treatment. In chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing of AR, binding of AR to the SLC43A1 region was increased by dihydrotestosterone stimulation. Knockdown of LAT3 inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, and the phosphorylation of p70S6K and 4EBP‐1. Separase (ESPL1) was identified as a downstream target of LAT3 by RNA sequencing analysis. In addition, immunostaining of prostatectomy specimens was performed. In the multivariate analysis, high expression of LAT3 was an independent prognostic factor for recurrence‐free survival (hazard ratio: 3.24; P = .0018). High LAT3 expression was correlated with the pathological T stage and a high International Society of Urological Pathology grade. In summary, our results suggest that LAT3 plays an important role in the progression of PC.

GVC Construction Effect of China’s OFDI and Its Spatial Spillover

After the 2008 international financial crisis, the global economy entered a period of deep adjustment, and global value chains（GVCs）faced restructuring issues. At the same time, the development of China’s open economy has also entered a new stage. There are two prominent changes and characteristics: One is that under the condition that the price of production factors continues to rise and the traditional low-cost advantage is gradually lost, the pattern of China’s integration into the GVC division of labor must also be transformed from passive participation to active construction; the other is a shift from the past “importing” to “importing” and “going out”. This raises a very interesting and practical question: Does China’s outward foreign direct investment（OFDI）help to build a GVC?Based on the theoretical analysis, this paper uses the trade value-added measurement method proposed by Koopman, et al.（2012）to construct a bilateral value chain correlation index and a value chain relative position index, and refines them between countries, that is, to measure the value chain relationship between the two countries and the upstream and downstream relationship of the value chain separately. Using Chinese empirical data, this paper incorporates the spatial lag item to quantitatively analyze the value chain construction effect and its spatial spillover brought by OFDI, answers how the value chain correlation and the value chain relative position index are affected by the dual influence of China’s OFDI to the host country and China’s OFDI to the “neighboring country” of the host country, and divides the host country according to “Belt and Road countries” and “non-Belt and Road countries” to study the spatial spillover effect of the value chain construction effect within and between regions, so as to better grasp the actual value chain construction effect of OFDI in China under GVCs.The measurement results show that China’s OFDI not only enhances the value chain relationship with the host country, but also further closes the value chain relationship with other countries through the spatial spillover effect; at the same time, it also plays a positive role in improving China’s division of labor in GVCs, not only in terms of the relative improvement of the division of labor compared with the host country, but also in improving the division of labor compared with the third country due to the spatial spillover effect.The above findings are not only helpful for us to objectively understand and evaluate the practical effect of China’s OFDI in building a GVC, but also have some policy implications for how to further reshape and optimize the GVC to better play the role of “going out”.