Exchange Mode Research Articles

Functional characterization of Plasmodium vivax hexose transporter 1.

Plasmodium vivax is the most widely distributed human malaria parasite. The eradication of vivax malaria remains challenging due to transmission of drug-resistant parasite and dormant liver form. Consequently, anti-malarial drugs with novel mechanisms of action are urgently demanded. Glucose uptake blocking strategy is suggested as a novel mode of action that leads to selective starvation in various species of malaria parasites. The role of hexose transporter 1 in Plasmodium species is glucose uptake, and its blocking strategies proved to successfully induce selective starvation. However, there is limited information on the glucose uptake properties via P. vivax hexose transporter 1 (PvHT1). Thus, we focused on the PvHT1 to precisely identify its properties of glucose uptake. The PvHT1 North Korean strain (PvHT1NK) expressed Xenopus laevis oocytes mediating the transport of [3H] deoxy-D-glucose (ddGlu) in an expression and incubation time-dependent manner without sodium dependency. Moreover, the PvHT1NK showed no exchange mode of glucose in efflux experiments and concentration-dependent results showed saturable kinetics following the Michaelis-Menten equation. Non-linear regression analysis revealed a Km value of 294.1 μM and a Vmax value of 1,060 pmol/oocyte/hr, and inhibition experiments showed a strong inhibitory effect by glucose, mannose, and ddGlu. Additionally, weak inhibition was observed with fructose and galactose. Comparison of amino acid sequence and tertiary structure between P. falciparum and P. vivax HT1 revealed a completely conserved residue in glucose binding pocket. This result supported that the glucose uptake properties are similar to P. falciparum, and PfHT1 inhibitor (compound 3361) works in P. vivax. These findings provide properties of glucose uptake via PvHT1NK for carbohydrate metabolism and support the approaches to vivax malaria drug development strategy targeting the PvHT1 for starving of the parasite.

“France de commande”

Abstract: “France de commande” is a circumscribed mode of exchange for exceptional objects that was started by the French court. This article examines three orders for 17 enameled objects that the Qianlong emperor placed their production with France between March 1775 and January 1776. By analysing and comparing several Chinese and French archival documents in a precise and contextual manner, the article seeks to understand how Qianlong identified France as the country that would supply his court, and sheds light on the dynamics of Brittany’s network of private traders, in particular the role of Pierre-Louis-Achille de Robien, in securing these high-risk transactions in a complicated historical context.

How Can the Informal Institutions Regulate Interpersonal Relationship in Small-scale Societies: Observations from Chinese Rural Areas

As a result of China's "rural revitalization" strategy, the study of and response to the informal system in rural China has become an area of practical significance. In the process of policy formulation and implementation, the government's macro-level decisions have encountered some obstacles from the informal system in the countryside when they are implemented at the grassroots level. The research question of this paper is how the informal system in rural China regulates interpersonal relationships in small-scale societies. This question is not only related to the study of social structure within Chinese villages, but also a precursor to rational policy making. This paper adopts a case study research methodology, using existing literature and survey reports as research materials, and qualitatively analyzes rural cases from various parts of China, in an attempt to discover the place and role of informal institutions in the field of rural interpersonal relations. This paper analyzes several modes of operation of informal systems that exist in rural areas of China, and focuses on the favor exchange mode among them. The favor exchange model has a strong vitality in traditional societies, and it regulates interpersonal relations in the society by an informal means of moral supervision. But it also carries the risk of becoming corrosive, a risk that can slowly deprive societies of their creativity and possibilities for progress.

“Didn’t that sound like the north was calling us?” Imagined geographies and Cold War legacies in Sofi Oksanen’s Dog Park (Koirapuisto)

The article presents a discussion of Finnish-Estonian author Sofi Oksanen’s 2019 novel Dog Park (Koirapuisto), a social and psychological thriller about two Ukrainian women working in the Ukrainian fertility industry, offering surrogacy services to Western clients. The novel explores some of the new modes of exchange and cultural encounter that were established between Ukraine and the West after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It presents a reflection of the social and human consequences of the transition from communism to capitalism but is also a story of how the legacy of Cold War geopolitics continues to shape European mental geographies and experiences at the intersection of East and West. Drawing on concepts from human geography and postcolonial studies, the article offers a reading of Oksanen’s novel focusing especially on how the novel negotiates these geopolitical shifts as well as the position of the Nordic countries on the changing European map.

External stakeholders and the social enterprise (SE) identity formation in a developing country context: a social exchange perspective

Purpose Drawing on theories of organisational identity, social exchange and stakeholder engagement, this study aims to investigate the processes and practices involved in the formation and shaping of identities of social enterprises (SEs) that operate in the Malawian hospitality and tourism industry. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on an interpretive research paradigm, data collected from 22 semi-structured interviews with four founders of case SEs and stakeholders, and SEs’ reports and other publicly available documents were generated and analysed following a grounded theory approach. Findings The authors show that the trajectory SEs followed and the exchanges that occurred with the external stakeholders allowed three out of four case SEs to swiftly re-evaluate their pre-existing identities and work towards the formation of their new identities. Practical implications This study provides an opportunity for policymakers and other actors in developing countries to frame and place SEs in line with the wider societal realities in such contexts. This may in turn call for policymakers to increase actors’ engagement with SEs and provide the necessary support that can allow SEs to be an effective force for the public good. Originality/value This paper highlights the role of exchanges with external stakeholders in identity formation and shaping within SEs in the hospitality and tourism sector in the context of institutional voids. By adopting the social exchange theory, this paper introduces a dynamic lens to identity formation and shaping and helps to explain how, across different tourism ventures, stakeholder engagement and different modes of exchange unfold in the inter-organisational and community domains. It further shows how the ventures’ value orientations on the one hand, and stakeholder engagement practices and the ensuing exchanges, on the other hand, are closely interwoven.

OP59 Do Digital Health Terms Provide Sufficient Information To Allow For Health Technology Assessment?

IntroductionUmbrella digital health term (DHT) (digital health, eHealth, mHealth, telehealth, and telemedicine) definitions contain insufficient information about patient value for health economics and outcomes research and health technology assessment (HTA) purposes. Qualitative content analysis of secondary DHT (e.g., telesurgery and teleradiology) definitions was performed by the ISPOR Digital Health Special Interest Group to determine if they were more useful for health economics and outcomes research purposes.MethodsSecondary DHT definitions were extracted from a previous scoping review and consolidated by reviewer pairs using uniform rules. Definitions were analyzed for explicit (directly stated) or implicit (inferred) information on 24 categories: Patient, Intervention, Comparator, Outcome, Timing, Setting (PICOTS); the Shannon-Weaver communication model (SWE) (sender, message, encoder, channel, decoder, and receiver, extended with mode of information exchange); the quality domains of Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) (safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable); information related to applied technology or geographic scope; and the World Health Organization (WHO) classification of digital health interventions v1.0 (digital health interventions category, health system challenges, and system categories).ResultsAcross 107 unique definitions of 73 secondary DHTs, the number of explicitly or implicitly addressed categories across the frameworks ranged from zero to 15, with references to elements of PICOTS (79.4%), SWE (90.7%), AHRQ (30.8%), applied technology (52.3%), geographic scope (0%), and WHO frameworks (86.9%). PICOTS information was found for Patients in 35 percent of definitions, Intervention in 59 percent, Comparator in 20 percent, and Outcomes in 18 percent.ConclusionsSecondary DHT definitions do not adequately specify PICOTS or other characteristics of interest for HTA. An online Delphi survey has been launched among a wider group of ISPOR members to identify the minimum information set to define patient facing DHTs for evidence summaries and value assessments. The results of this research should be shared for discussion with other digital health stakeholder groups.

“We’re Still on That Treadmill”: Privilege, Reflexivity, and the Disruptive Potential of Permaculture

ABSTRACT Permaculture, short-hand for “permanent agriculture,” is an ethical system and set of engineering and design principles, aimed at growing food locally while building community. Many adherents believe that it carries the potential to transform and re-localize our economic system. To explore these views, we interviewed 56 permaculturists in the western Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. Findings demonstrate that participants view the non-hierarchical, self-reliance, and exchange-based aspects of permaculture as potentially liberating. At the same time, they feel stuck and embedded within existing capitalist market relations, exemplified by land ownership, costs of implementing permaculture landscapes, and the need for employment-based income. Many tensions likewise emerge from their own class positions and the privileges associated with, and benefits accruing from, current capitalist modes of exchange and ongoing settler colonialism. We conclude by discussing implications for theory and empirical research in environmental sociology and cognate areas.

The Conflict and Coordination Between Data Sharing and Intellectual Property Protection in the Era of Big Data

Computer technology has constantly innovated since the computer first appeared in the last century. Cloud computing, the Internet, and other technologies are increasingly important in human life. Relying on the combination of computers and the Internet, the scale of data is increasing rapidly, the speed of data exchange is gradually accelerating, and the traditional information exchange mode is broken. The information exchange mode based on extensive data exchange has steadily become the mainstream, and the era of big data has come. Due to the changes brought about by new technologies, the original intellectual property law can no longer cope with new problems. How to solve the conflict between data exchange and intellectual property protection in the era of big data has become a vital issue. This paper focuses on the analysis of the connotation of data exchange in the age of big data, the conflict with intellectual property rights, and how to coordinate the contradiction between the two; it explains the conflict of property rights and personal rights brought about by extensive data exchange, and blends the scale, content, and technology of intellectual property rights in extensive data exchange. This paper aims to discuss the boundary of extensive data exchange and intellectual property protection, balance social interests, alleviate social contradictions, and provide feasible ideas for renewing intellectual property rights.

All-fiber mode exchange of high-speed DP-QPSK signals using mechanical long-period fiber grating

Mode exchange (ME) can effectively improve the utilization of network resources in short-distance mode division multiplexing (MDM) communication systems. In this paper, a mechanical long-period fiber grating (LPFG) mode converter is used to realize the channel exchange of LP01- and LP11-mode dual-polarization (DP) signals, with the channel crosstalk of −14 dB or less. We experimentally tested the receiver sensitivities of two DP channels, which are dependent on channel crosstalk and polarization-dependent loss (PDL), and demonstrated the practicability of the real-time data transmission and exchange for 100 Gb/s dual-polarization quadrature phase shift keying (DP-QPSK) in multiple-input multiple-output free (MIMO-free) MDM system. The experimental results show that the ME system can provide the optical power margin of about 25 dB, capable of effectively supporting the metropolitan transmission and exchange between the data centers.

Essential Role of Granulosa Cell Glucose and Lipid Metabolism on Oocytes and the Potential Metabolic Imbalance in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.

Granulosa cells are crucial for the establishment and maintenance of bidirectional communication among oocytes. Various intercellular material exchange modes, including paracrine and gap junction, are used between them to achieve the efficient delivery of granulosa cell structural components, energy substrates, and signaling molecules to oocytes. Glucose metabolism and lipid metabolism are two basic energy metabolism pathways in granulosa cells; these are involved in the normal development of oocytes. Pyruvate, produced by granulosa cell glycolysis, is an important energy substrate for oocyte development. Granulosa cells regulate changes in intrafollicular hormone levels through the processing of steroid hormones to control the development process of oocytes. This article reviews the material exchange between oocytes and granulosa cells and expounds the significance of granulosa cells in the development of oocytes through both glucose metabolism and lipid metabolism. In addition, we discuss the effects of glucose and lipid metabolism on oocytes under pathological conditions and explore its relationship to polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). A series of changes were found in the endogenous molecules and ncRNAs that are related to glucose and lipid metabolism in granulosa cells under PCOS conditions. These findings provide a new therapeutic target for patients with PCOS; additionally, there is potential for improving the fertility of patients with PCOS and the clinical outcomes of assisted reproduction.

‘Traffic rewards’, ‘algorithmic visibility’, and ‘advertiser satisfaction’: How Chinese short-video platforms cultivate creators in stages

Chinese creators and Douyin (a prominent Chinese short-video platform) are building a strong relationship in cultural production. Based on the social exchange theory, this study tries to explore the process and mechanism of monetization in Chinese platforms. Using the app walkthrough method and in-depth interviews with 19 full-time creators, we contend that Chinese creators and Douyin engage in a repetitive but unequal exchange with the common goal of earning income. Douyin works with creators to cultivate their thirst for revenue over time, while mastering the creative labor, before finally tying them to monetary gains. Douyin not only binds exposure and allocates Internet traffic to new creators, but also develops Dou+, a traffic marketing tool that leverages the affordances of creative work visibility. Douyin first enhances the creators’ income expectations through this step. The platform then directs creators through the Star-Chart content trading system, and establishes the platform-advertiser-creator transaction chain. When the exchange between Douyin and creators becomes stable, the platform sets up an uncertain revenue mechanism. Douyin’s commitment to creating a standardized assembly line of production and financial benefit for creators has established an exchange mode between the platform and creators at the expense of innovation and diversity. We argue that this standardized labor process eliminates the autonomy of cultural production.

The survival strategy of direct interspecies electron transfer-capable coculture under electron donor-limited environments

Direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) has been considered as an effective mechanism for interspecies electron exchange in microbial syntrophy. Understanding DIET-capable syntrophic associations under energy-limited environments is important because these conditions more closely approximate those found in natural subsurface environments than in the batch cultures in the laboratory. This study, investigated the metabolic dynamics and electron transfer mechanisms in DIET-capable syntrophic coculture of Geobacter metallireducens and Geobacter sulfurreducens under electron donor-limited condition. The wild-coculture and the mutant-coculture with a citrate synthase-deficient G. sulfurreducens exhibited similar rates of syntrophic metabolism under ethanol-limited and ethanol-replete conditions. Transcriptomic analyses revealed that, in the mutant-coculture in which interspecies electron exchange was the sole electron source for G. sulfurreducens, the transcription of genes associated with uptake hydrogenase in G. sulfurreducens were significantly repressed and thus DIET tended to be the preferred mode of interspecies electron exchange under electron donor-limited condition. To overcome electron donor limitation, c-type cytochromes in the coculture actively moved from outer membrane to extracellular environment, potentially via increased secretion of outer-membrane vesicles. These results suggested a preferred electron transfer mechanism for DIET-capable syntrophic communities' survival in the electron donor-limited environments, providing valuable insights into the biogeochemical processes mediated by DIET in natural and engineered environments.

Modified prairie dog optimization algorithm for global optimization and constrained engineering problems.

The prairie dog optimization (PDO) algorithm is a metaheuristic optimization algorithm that simulates the daily behavior of prairie dogs. The prairie dog groups have a unique mode of information exchange. They divide into several small groups to search for food based on special signals and build caves around the food sources. When encountering natural enemies, they emit different sound signals to remind their companions of the dangers. According to this unique information exchange mode, we propose a randomized audio signal factor to simulate the specific sounds of prairie dogs when encountering different foods or natural enemies. This strategy restores the prairie dog habitat and improves the algorithm's merit-seeking ability. In the initial stage of the algorithm, chaotic tent mapping is also added to initialize the population of prairie dogs and increase population diversity, even use lens opposition-based learning strategy to enhance the algorithm's global exploration ability. To verify the optimization performance of the modified prairie dog optimization algorithm, we applied it to 23 benchmark test functions, IEEE CEC2014 test functions, and six engineering design problems for testing. The experimental results illustrated that the modified prairie dog optimization algorithm has good optimization performance.

SECI Knowledge Model and Opportunities of Engaging Business Intelligence by Maturity Level: Case Study at Selected Businesses in the Czech Republic

This study aims to examine the possibilities of engaging business intelligence (BI) with regard to the level of maturity within systemic knowledge management (KM). The individual modes of knowledge sharing and conversion are illustrated in Nonaka’s SECI model that defines four conversion modes of knowledge exchange: socialisation, externalisation, combination and internalisation. The submitted case study presents the current and potential engagement of BI when applying knowledge conversion tools in three Czech organisations of various sizes. Most businesses use both tools (BI and KM) but they are often not able to coordinate their joint implementation in a suitable way. Currently, the results of the case study indicate a more optimal adaptation in the environment of larger businesses. However, the addressed businesses, regardless of their size, most often see the potential and great opportunities of the tools in the combination mode in the future.

Sorting out economic forms: a field guide to contemporary capitalism

ABSTRACT A series of recent works have put forward a post-commodification understanding of the contemporary economy as based on one central economic form. While this approach allows us to conceptualize the transformation of the economy around one particular type of valuable, it also suffers from conceptual monoculture, risking to overlook the specific relationships between different forms. To grasp the complexities of contemporary capitalism, this article offers an analytical field guide for analysing the interdependent relationships of the most salient economic forms – commodities, assets, gifts and singularities – on three levels: (i) form, defining the boundaries of economic forms as socio-material configurations determined by their mode of exchange; (ii) formatting, denoting the process of turning something into a particular economic form through relational and boundary work; and (iii) formation, referring to the wider configuration of prerequisites and opportunities that allows economic things to take on their respective forms. We argue that rethinking economies as specific relational configurations of multiple economic forms allows for a sharper understanding of regional dynamics and politics.

PtdSer as a signaling lipid determined by privileged localization of ORP5 and ORP8 at ER/PM junctional foci to determine PM and ER PtdSer/PI(4)P ratio and cell function

The membrane contact site ER/PM junctions are hubs for signaling pathways, including Ca2+ signaling. Phosphatidylserine (PtdSer) mediates various physiological functions; however, junctional PtdSer composition and the role of PtdSer in Ca2+ signaling and Ca2+-dependent gene regulation are not understood. Here, we show that STIM1-formed junctions are required for PI(4)P/PtdSer exchange by ORP5 and ORP8, which have reciprocal lipid exchange modes and function as a rheostat that sets the junctional PtdSer/PI(4)P ratio. Targeting the ORP5 and ORP8 and their lipid transfer ORD domains to PM subdomains revealed that ORP5 sets low and ORP8 high junctional PI(4)P/PtdSer ratio that controls STIM1-STIM1 and STIM1-Orai1 interaction and the activity of the SERCA pump to determine the pattern of receptor-evoked Ca2+ oscillations, and consequently translocation of NFAT to the nucleus. Significantly, targeting the ORP5 and ORP8 ORDs to the STIM1 ER subdomain reversed their function. Notably, changing PI(4)P/PtdSer ratio by hydrolysis of PM or ER PtdSer with targeted PtdSer-specific PLA1a1 reproduced the ORPs function. The function of the ORPs is determined both by their differential lipid exchange modes and by privileged localization at the ER/PM subdomains. These findings reveal a role of PtdSer as a signaling lipid that controls the available PM PI(4)P, the unappreciated role of ER PtdSer in cell function, and the diversity of the ER/PM junctions. The effect of PtdSer on the junctional PI(4)P level should have multiple implications in cellular signaling and functions.

Does the digital economy drive low-carbon urban development? The role of transition to sustainability

The rapid expansion and implementation of digital technologies are profoundly changing our lifestyles, production methods, and modes of exchange. However, whether or not such change can help promote the sustainability of urban socio-environmental systems has not been fully investigated. In this paper, we propose a comprehensive framework that utilizes the spatial Durbin model to investigate whether and how the digital economy contributes to low-carbon urban development, using the panel data of 276 Chinese cities from 2011 to 2018. This framework systematically identifies triple dimensions of low-carbon transition taking place throughout the whole value chain system, i.e. green innovation, production reshaping, and consumption upgrading. The finding reveals that the digital economy in a city exerts a significant mitigating effect on carbon emissions in both local and neighboring cities. It is also observed that digital economy activities play a significant role in alleviating urban carbon emissions due to their capacity to stimulate green innovation and promote sustainable patterns of production and consumption. The robustness of these findings is assessed through the consideration of endogeneity and substitution of the explained and explanatory variables. This paper contributes to a systematic understanding of the linkage between the revolution of digitalization within economic systems and the transition towards sustainability within environmental systems. It also provides valuable insights to policymakers on strategies to promote and accelerate low-carbon development.

A calculation method for the view factor between a wall and other feature surfaces under the influence of spherical canopy

Radiation heat transfer is one of the main modes of heat exchange for building exterior walls. When a tree is added to the site, the view factor (VF) between the exterior wall and surrounding surfaces, such as walls and floors, is affected, thus significantly impacting the radiation heat transfer of the exterior wall. In order to quantitatively analyze the impact of trees with spherical canopy on the radiation heat transfer process of exterior walls, a method for calculating the VF between the exterior wall and adjacent surfaces using the optical projection simulation method was proposed. The VF between the wall surface and the adjacent surface, as well as the visibility between the wall and ground surfaces when obstructed by the spherical canopy, can be approximately calculated. Finally, the VFs calculated are used to establish the radiation heat equations according to network diagram for radiation heat transfer. By comparing theoretical values with the measured values of irradiation intensity and radiosity intensity, it was found that the error rate of the optical projection simulation method does not exceed 3%. This method can be used to further study the effects of factors such as canopy's diameter, wall-canopy distance, and planting orientation on the disturbance of radiation heat transfer of building exterior walls.

Nonreciprocal topological mode conversion by encircling an exceptional point in dynamic waveguides.

The topology of exceptional points (EPs) has been revealed by taking stationary or dynamical encircling around them, which induces eigenstate exchange or chiral mode conversion. However, the conversions are usually reciprocal obeying restricted transmittances. Here we propose the concept of nonreciprocal encircling of EPs in a dynamic waveguide under complex modulation. The waveguide allows direction-dependent EPs in their quasienergy spectra due to different phase-matching conditions for opposite propagation direction. We design a closed loop that will encircle the EP in the backward direction but not in the forward direction. In this way, a nonreciprocal topological conversion is achieved as the forward transmittance from the even to odd mode significantly exceeds the backward transmittance from the odd to even mode. As a result, the forward propagation produces two modes with equal strength while the backward propagation leads to a specific mode regardless of the input. The structure is promising for making robust optical isolators.

Informal economic activity and political consumption

Drawing upon findings from an ethnographic study conducted in crisis-ridden Greece, this article explores consumer participation in the informal economy and illustrates the diversity of political discourse embedded within this type of economic activity. The study focused on 24 consumers from three distinctive theoretical categories (termed ‘ethical consumers’, ‘active citizens’ and ‘disqualified consumers’) and involved a variety of data collection methods (including observation, kitchen tours, shop-along and interviews). Empirical evidence demonstrates that to fully appreciate consumer activity and consumer agency in the informal economy, it is imperative to recognise informal modes of acquisition and exchange that do not resemble formal market transactions.