Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of intra-organizational resources, including top management support (TMS) and information technology (IT), on inter-organizational capabilities including supply chain integration (SCI, with a focus on supplier integration (SI) and customer integration (CI)) and on business performance via a resource-based view (RBV), socio-technical systems theory and an extended resource-based view (ERBV). Design/methodology/approach – Partial least squares is used to analyze a sample of 176 manufacturers in China. Findings – TMS and IT are two vital enablers of SCI and have different roles in improving SCI. In addition, SI has a significant effect on business performance, and CI has a marginally significant effect. Originality/value – Based on the RBV/ERBV, this study explores the enablers of SCI and their effects on business performance, ultimately contributing to both SCI theories and practices.

Reactive oxygen and nitrogen species produced by cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) are considered to be the most important species for biomedical applications, including cancer treatment. However, it is not known which species exert the greatest biological effects, and the nature of their interactions with tumor cells remains ill-defined. These questions were addressed in the present study by exposing human mesenchymal stromal and LP-1 cells to reactive oxygen and nitrogen species produced by CAP and evaluating cell viability. Superoxide anion (O2 −) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) were the two major species present in plasma, but their respective concentrations were not sufficient to cause cell death when used in isolation; however, in the presence of iron, both species enhanced the cell death-inducing effects of plasma. We propose that iron containing proteins in cells catalyze O2 − and H2O2 into the highly reactive OH radical that can induce cell death. The results demonstrate how reactive species are transferred to liquid and converted into the OH radical to mediate cytotoxicity and provide mechanistic insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying tumor cell death by plasma treatment.

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In this paper, helium plasma jets are used for water activation to explore the production mechanism of H2O2 in the water. Either positive or negative DC voltage is used for the plasma excitation. It is found that the concentration of aqueous H2O2 induced by the positive plasma jet is ~4 times larger than that by the negative plasma jet with similar average discharge current. Three production pathways of aqueous H2O2 are considered important in literature, including the electrolysis, the dissolution of gaseous H2O2, and the combination of aqueous OH. However, the first two pathways are found to have similar contributions on H2O2 production for the positive and negative plasma jets. It is deduced that the OH combination in the surface layer of the plasma-activated water is most responsible for the concentration difference of aqueous H2O2 between the two plasma jets.

Intra-and intermolecular relaxations of dye molecules are studied after the excitation to the high-lying excited states by a femtosecond laser pulse, using femtosecond time-resolved stimulated emission pumping fluorescence depletion spectroscopy (FS TR SEP FD). The biexponential decays indicate a rapid intramolecular vibrational redistribution (IVR) depopulation followed by a slower process, which was contributed by the energy transfer to the solvents and the solvation of the excited solutes. The time constants of IVR in both oxazine 750 and rhodamine 700 are at the 290-360 fs range, which are insensitive to the characters of solvents. The solvation of the excited solutes and the cooling of the hot solute molecules by collisional energy transfer to the surrounding takes place in the several picoseconds that strongly depend on the properties of solvents. The difference of Lewis basicity and states density of solvents is a possible reason to explain this solvent dependence. The more basic the solvent is, which means the more interaction between the solute and the neighboring solvent shell, the more rapid the intermolecular vibrational excess energy transfer from the solute to the surroundings and the solvation of the solutes are. The higher the states density of the solvent is, the more favorable the energy transfer between the solute and solvent molecules is.

Femtosecond time-resolved studies using fluorescence depletion spectroscopy were performed on Rhodamine 700 in acetone solution and on Oxazine 750 in acetone and formamide solutions at different temperatures. The experimental curves that include both fast and slow processes have been fitted using a biexponential function. Time constants of the fast process, which corresponds to the intramolecular vibrational redistribution (IVR) of solute molecules, range from 300 to 420 fs and increase linearly as the temperature of the environment decreases. The difference of the average vibrational energy of solute molecules in the ground state at different temperatures is a possible reason that induces this IVR time-constant temperature dependence. However, the time constants of the slow process, which corresponds to the energy transfer from vibrational hot solute molecules to the surroundings occurred on a time scale of 1-50 ps, changed dramatically at lower temperature, nonlinearly increasing with the decrease of temperature. Because of the C-H‚‚‚O hydrogen-bond between acetone molecules, it is more reasonable that acetone molecules start to be associated, which can influence the energy transfer between dye molecules and acetone molecules efficiently, even at temperatures far over the freezing point.

Purpose Although the importance of green supplier integration (GSI) has been recognized, the knowledge of how it can be enhanced is still limited. Using insights from transaction cost and resource dependence theories, this paper aims to explore how to balance coercive and non-coercive powers to enhance GSI and the mediating role of relationship commitment and the moderating role of relationship closeness. Design/methodology/approach To validate the hypotheses, this study conducted hierarchical regression analysis and bootstrapping using the survey data collected from 206 Chinese manufacturers. Findings The results indicate that coercive power undermines normative commitment, while non-coercive power promotes normative and instrumental commitments. Both normative and instrumental commitments enhance GSI. Normative commitment mediates the impacts of coercive and non-coercive powers on GSI, while instrumental commitment only mediates the impact of non-coercive power on GSI. Moreover, supplier trust and dependence negatively moderate the positive link between instrumental commitment and GSI. Practical implications Executives should carefully balance coercive and non-coercive powers to encourage firms to maintain good relationships with suppliers and develop common environmental values under different mediating effects of normative and instrumental commitments. However, they should also be aware that high level of trust and dependence can affect the impacts of powers. Originality/value This study contributes to GSI literature by opening the “black box” between power and GSI and verifying its boundary conditions.

The results suggest that with appropriate control of its dose, physical plasma could induce cell death via apoptotic pathways and enable simultaneous reduction in IL-12. These effects may be used to suppress keratinocyte hyperproliferation and to target T-cell activation to control amplification of inflammation. This provides an initial basis for further studies of CAP as a potential therapeutic option for inflammatory and immune-related diseases in dermatology, including psoriasis.