This article examines the relationship between electronic participation (e‐participation) and trust in local government by focusing on five dimensions of the e‐participationprocess: (1) satisfaction with e‐participation applications, (2) satisfaction with government responsiveness to e‐participants, (3) e‐participants’ development through the participation, (4) perceived influence on decision making, and (5) assessment of government transparency. Using data from the 2009 E‐Participation Survey in Seoul Metropolitan Government, this article finds that e‐participants’ satisfaction with e‐participation applications is directly associated with their development and their assessment of government transparency. The findings reveal that e‐participants’ satisfaction with government responsiveness is positively associated with their perceptions of influencing government decision making. Furthermore, there is a positive association between e‐participants’ perception of influencing government decision making and their assessment of government transparency. Finally, the article finds that there is a positive association between e‐participants’ assessment of government transparency and their trust in the local government providing the e‐participation program.

No abstract

We report the presence of defects in CH3NH3PbI3, which is one of the main factors that deteriorates the performance of perovskite solar cells.

No abstract

No abstract

Although studies in public management have identified personal attributes, job characteristics, and organizational rewards as key factors that influence affective organizational commitment, limited attention has been paid to the influence of social networks on affective commitment. Given that organizational attitudes and behaviors are often socially constructed, this article argues that employees’ affective commitment is influenced by their social networks in an organization. What are the social network configurations that lead to affective organizational commitment? This study attempts to answer this question by focusing on nonlinear relationships between several network dimensions (i.e., network centrality, tie strength, and structural holes) and affective commitment. These relationships are empirically tested by using both social network data and employee survey data collected from two local governments in South Korea. Results of the study show that employees’ network centrality has an inverted U-shaped relationship with affective commitment and structural holes have a U-shaped association with affective commitment, controlling for certain organizational rewards and individual attributes. However, the relationship between a tie strength and affective commitment is not statistically significant. The practical and theoretical implications of the study findings are discussed.

No abstract

In treatments of solid tumors, adoptive transfer of ex vivo expanded natural killer (NK) cells has dawned as a new paradigm. Compared with cytotoxic T lymphocytes, NK cells take a unique position targeting tumor cells that evade the host immune surveillance by down-regulating self-antigen presentation. Recent findings highlighted that NK cells can even target cancer stem cells. The efficacy of allogeneic NK cells has been widely investigated in the treatment of hematologic malignancies. In solid tumors, both autologous and allogeneic NK cells have demonstrated potential efficacy. In allogeneic NK cell therapy, the mismatch between the killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) can be harnessed to increase the antitumor activity. However, the allogeneic NK cells cause more adverse events and can be rejected by the host immune system after repeated injections. In this regard, the autologous NK cell therapy is safer. This article reviews the published results of clinical trials and discusses strategies to enhance the efficacy of the NK cell therapy. The difference in immunophenotype of the ex vivo expanded NK cells resulted from different culture methods may affect the final efficacy. Furthermore, currently available standard anticancer therapy, molecularly targeted agents, and checkpoint inhibitors may directly or indirectly enhance the efficacy of NK cell therapy. A recent study discovered that NK cell specific genetic defects are closely associated with the tumor immune microenvironment that determines clinical outcomes. This finding warrants future investigations to find the implication of NK cell specific genetic defects in cancer development and treatment, and NK cell deficiency syndrome should be revisited to enhance our understanding. Overall, it is clear that NK cell therapy is safe and promises a new paradigm for the treatment of solid tumors.