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PurposeTeam autonomy is thought to be important for team innovation performance. However, the theoretical basis of the relationship between team autonomy and team innovation performance is not well understood, and previous studies have found inconsistent relations between them. Based on motivated information processing in groups (MIP-G) theory, this paper aims to explain how and when team autonomy could influence team innovation performance from a new team-level perspective.Design/methodology/approachUsing a two-wave, time-lagged survey design, the authors collected data from 340 members of 86 teams in China. PROCESS 3.0 for SPSS was used to test hypothesized relationships.FindingsThe results show that team autonomy is positively related to team information exchange. Team information exchange mediates the positive relationship between team autonomy and team innovation performance. Furthermore, the positive relationship between team autonomy and team information exchange is stronger with less task conflict, which runs contrary to the hypothesis. Additionally, relationship conflict does not adjust the impact of team autonomy on team information exchange.Originality/valueThis study provides a new perspective to explain the mechanism between team autonomy and team innovation performance at team level from the information processing approach, specifically, MIP-G theory. It also incorporates team conflicts as important contextual factors to answer the call for a wider study of boundary conditions in the team autonomy research.

This study utilized social exchange and social learning perspectives to develop a theoretical model about how leader humility predicts follower unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB). Using two-wave data obtained from 203 full-time employees nested within 46 work teams in eastern China, regression analyses revealed a nonmonotonic association between leader humility and follower UPB, such that follower UPB was most at intermediate levels of leader humility. Moreover, the strength of this curvilinear relationship was found to be moderated by the followers' organizational identification, such that the inverted U-curve relationship between leader humility and follower UPB will be stronger for followers with high organizational identification than for those with low organizational identification. Implications in theory and practice, along with limitations of our findings, were discussed.

Purpose This study aims to explore the associations linking employees’ challenge-hindrance appraisals toward artificial intelligence (AI) to service performance while considering the dual mediating roles of job crafting and job insecurity, as well as the moderating role of AI knowledge. Design/methodology/approach A survey was administered to a sample of 297 service industry employees. This study examined all the hypotheses with Mplus 8.0. Findings This study confirms that challenge appraisal toward AI has an indirect positive influence on service performance via job crafting (motivation process), whereas hindrance appraisal toward AI has an indirect negative influence on service performance via job insecurity (strain process). Meanwhile, AI knowledge, serving as a key personal resource, could strengthen the positive impacts of challenge appraisal toward AI on job crafting and of hindrance appraisal toward AI on job insecurity. Practical implications Organizational decision-makers should first survey employees’ appraisals toward AI and then adopt targeted managerial strategies. From the perspective of service industry employees, employees should adopt proactive coping strategies and enrich their knowledge of AI to meet the challenges brought by this technology. Originality/value The primary contribution of this study is that we enrich the literature on AI by exploring the dual mediators (i.e. job crafting and job insecurity) through which AI awareness affects service performance. Moreover, this study advances our understanding of when appraisals toward AI influence job outcomes by identifying the moderating role of AI knowledge.

The Xuefeng black bone chicken (XFBC) represents an important poultry genetic resource. However, the darkness in breast muscle is heterogeneous. The molecular genetic mechanisms underlying melanogenesis of breast muscle in XFBC remains unclear. This study used RNA-seq to compare the difference in transcriptome between hyperpigmentation and hypopigmentation of breast muscle. Six cDNA libraries were constructed for hyperpigmentation and hypopigmentation groups in XFBC. We identified 395 differently expressed genes (DEGs) between hyperpigmentation and hypopigmentation group ( P 2FC|≥1). Gene ontology (GO) enrichment and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis indicated several differentially enriched biological functions and pathways involved in melanogenesis of the breast muscle. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) GO analysis identified two significant gene sets, including the pathways of pigment metabolic process and transmembrane receptor protein tyrosine kinase activity. GSEA–KEGG analysis identified the process of tyrosine metabolism and several genes related with melanogenesis in breast muscle of the XFBC. The protein–protein interaction network was constructed and eight genes were clustered in the module. We identified nine hub genes, including TYR, TYRP1, DCT, GPR143, MLANA, SLC24A5, GPNMB, MLPH, and EDNRB2. Taken together, the DEGs and hub genes identified in the study provide a solid basis for the study of the genetic regulatory mechanisms involved the melanogenesis in the breast muscle of the XFBC.

PurposeThis research explores the influence of authoritarian leadership on employee creativity as mediated by employee creative self-efficacy, moderated by benevolent leadership and power distance.Design/methodology/approachA survey sample of 325 employees was collected from Chinese companies in different industries. The hypotheses were tested adopting a hierarchical regression and a bootstrapping test.FindingsEmployee creative self-efficacy partially mediated the association between authoritarian leadership and employee creativity. The negative impacts of authoritarian leadership on employee creative self-efficacy can be moderated by benevolent leadership. Additionally, the moderation effects of benevolent leadership can be moderated by power distance, which means that these moderation effects of benevolent leadership are significant only in subordinates with low levels of power distance.Practical implicationsAn organization should be conscious of the perniciousness of an authoritarian leader and is better for leaders not to show contradictory behaviors to employees. Moreover, when leaders exhibit inconsistent behaviors, they should be sensitive to employee power distance.Originality/valuePrevious studies have been done to explore the predictors of employee creativity. Yet, studies for the impacts of destructive leadership styles on employee creativity are lacking. This study introduces employee creative self-efficacy as a mediator of the relationship between authoritarian leadership and employee creativity. In addition, benevolent leadership and power distance are identified as two boundary conditions to explore the impacts of authoritarian leadership.

Although employee creativity has been identified to promote organizational competitiveness, its effect on leader empowering behaviors remains underexplored. This study investigated the underlying mechanism and boundary condition under which employee creativity influences leader empowering behaviors. Drawn on social exchange theory and similarity-attraction theory, this study developed a moderated-mediation model in which supervisor–subordinate guanxi serves as the intervening mechanism and supervisor–subordinate similarity serves as a boundary condition influencing this relationship. Using three-wave, time-lagged survey data collected from 309 supervisor–subordinate dyads, this study found that supervisor–subordinate guanxi mediates the relationship between employee creativity and leader empowering behaviors, and that this relationship is stronger when supervisor–subordinate similarity is high rather than low. Finally, theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

Drawing on previous work on moral disengagement and balance theory, the (in)congruence effect of leader and follower moral disengagement (MD) propensity on followers' unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) was examined in this study. Dyad data were gathered from 185 CEOs and 555 followers from 185 firms located in China. The polynomial regression analysis results suggest that followers in the presence of leader-follower congruence in MD propensity conduct more UPBs. Moreover, followers conduct more UPBs with MD propensity in the presence of congruence. We also found asymmetrical incongruence effects. Followers engage more in UPBs when their MD propensity exceeds their leaders' MD propensity than when their leaders' MD propensity exceeds their own. Overall, the findings emphasize the value of considering followers' and leaders' traits for shedding light on the occurrence of UPBs.

How to promote the creativity of interorganizational teams has always been the focus among scholars and management practitioners. From the perspective of leadership, this study explores the influence of shared leadership on creativity in interorganizational teams. Specifically, this study integrates leadership perspective with trust perspective and explores the mediating role of team trust between shared leadership and creativity at both team and individual level. In addition, this study examines the moderating effect of the leader’s cultural intelligence between shared leadership and team trust based on the perspective of leadership situation. The data comes from 275 employees within 54 interorganizational teams. The results show that shared leadership will promote team trust and team trust plays a key mediating role between shared leadership and creativity. Moreover, the relationship between shared leadership and team trust is moderated by the cultural intelligence of leader, such that the positive relationship will be stronger with high cultural intelligence and weaker with low cultural intelligence.

PurposeAlthough voice behavior is important for team performance, scholars have yet to identify its underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions. Using the theory of social information processing (SIP), this study explores how and when team voice influences team performance by considering team learning as a mediator and contingent reward transactional (CRT) leadership as a moderator.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a survey in China using a questionnaire to collect the data. The study sample consisted of 78 leaders and 441 employees nested in 78 teams.FindingsResults showed that team voice was positively related to team performance. The results also proved that the positive relationship between team voice and team performance was mediated by team learning. Additionally, CRT leadership enhanced the effect of team voice on team learning.Practical implicationsFirst, managers should consider individuals high in voice behavior when selecting team members. Second, leaders need to focus on enhancing the learning process. Third, the authors’ findings suggest that when selecting persons as team leaders, managers should pay additional attention to their leadership style.Originality/valueThe primary contribution of this study is that the research sheds light on the specific team process (i.e. team learning), through which team voice is related to team performance. Moreover, the current study deepens the authors’ understanding of the role of leadership in the voice process by identifying the moderating role of CRT leadership.

Separation is widely involved in many fields, such as materials synthesis, gas purification or removal, water treatment, petroleum exploitation, soil remediation, food and medicine production, etc. Compared with the physical separation, the chemical separation has unique advantages when the functionalized process aids are added in systems. The CO2-responsive materials are considered as promising separating mediums due to their relatively green and easily recyclable properties, which realize the resource utilization of CO2. Up to date, the reported CO2-responsive materials are mainly referred to switchable-hydrophilicity solvents, switchable surfactants, switchable water additives, switchable ionic liquids and CO2-responsive polymers. These CO2-responsive materials can be switched by CO2 trigger at moderate conditions, showing switchable properties, such as hydrophilicity-hydrophobicity conversion, switching “on” or “off” surface-activity and switchable change in ionic strength. These switchable properties can be applied in separations, especially in oil-solid separation, oil-water separation, wastewater treatment and acid gas capture. In this review, the recent advances of CO2-responsive materials in separation fields above have been overviewed. Additionally, the present challenges and future engineering considerations have been touched to provide potential insights and theoretical fundamentals for developing CO2-responsive materials.

The addition of Hermetia illucens larvae meal (HILM) to the feed could contribute to particular antimicrobial and intestinal health in animal husbandry. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of HILM on intestinal morphology and microbial diversity in different intestinal segments of Xuefeng black-bone chickens. All of 432 birds (45 weeks old) were randomly assigned to four equal groups with six replicates and 18 hens in each replicate: (A) basal diet, (B) basal diet with 1% HILM, (C) basal diet with 3% HILM, and (D) basal diet with 5% HILM. The results showed that, compared with the basal diet group, the HILM supplement significantly increased the abundance-based coverage estimator (ACE) and Chao index in cecum (p < 0.05). Diet with 1% HILM significantly increased the villus height (VH) of the duodenum (p < 0.05) and cecum microbial diversity as represented by the Simpson index (p < 0.05). In particular, 1% HILM displayed a markedly increase in the genus unclassified Bacteroidales (cecum, p < 0.05). A basal diet with 3% HILM markedly increased the beneficial genus Romboutsia (jejunum, p < 0.05). Also, principal component analysis (PCA) cluster analysis showed that 3% of HILM was more individual than other groups (p < 0.05). However, 5% HILM decreased the VH and the ratio of villus height to crypt depth (VH/CD) of the jejunum and increased beneficial bacteria such as Staphylococcus (p < 0.05), which was regarded as pathogenetic genera. In conclusion, we found that HILM improved intestinal morphology and increased microbiological diversity and species abundance. Together, dietary supplementation of 1 or 3% HILM might benefit the intestinal morphology and intestinal microbiota of Xuefeng black-bone chicken. However, the addition of 5% HILM could decrease VH and the ratio of VH/CD of the jejunum and increased pathogenetic genera. HILM was an excellent protein substitute for Xuefeng black-bone chickens, which could meet the nutritional requirements under the condition of less feed. These results provide information for HILM meal as an alternative source of soybean meal in Xuefeng black-bone chickens’ feed.

Despite the growing attention on the topic of abusive supervision, how abusive supervision affects individual and team creativity have not yet been thoroughly investigated. Drawn from the perspective of leader-member exchange (LMX), the current study develops a multilevel model to describe the relationships between abusive supervision and creativity at both team and individual levels, with a focus on the roles played by team-level leader-member exchange (TLMX) and LMX differentiation (DLMX). Based on data collected from 319 team members and their team leaders in 71 teams, the results show that abusive supervision has a negative relationship with TLMX, a practice that is conducive to both team and individual creativity. At the team level, the negative relationship between abusive supervision and TLMX is lessened by a higher level of DLMX. In addition, the positive relationship between TLMX and team creativity is weakened by a higher level of DLMX. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Workers&rsquo, isolation may occur in gig employment in the sharing economy, which generates a weak perception of the organization and unpredictable work performance. Drawing on social exchange theory, this paper proposes a framework to explore the effect of psychological contract fulfillment on gig workers&rsquo, task performance from the perspective of the mediation of organizational identification and the moderation of the length of service. A total of 223 samples were recruited from Didi (a ride-hailing company in China) drivers. The results show that both transactional and relational psychological contract fulfillment can directly affect gig workers&rsquo, task performance and also indirectly affect it via organizational identification. When the length of service for the current company is taken into consideration, transactional contract fulfillment, as the representation of a company&rsquo, s recognition of gig workers&rsquo, effort, has a stronger effect on the organizational identification of gig workers who have been working for the company for less than a year compared with those who have been working for a longer period. The results show no difference in the relationship between relational psychological contract and organizational identification between the two groups. Transactional psychological contract fulfillment exhibits the same significant effect on gig workers&rsquo, task performance in both groups. By contrast, relational psychological contract fulfillment has a stronger effect on long-serving Didi drivers than on those who joined the company within the year. These findings generate certain theoretical and practical implications for gig employment management in the sharing economy.

Oil–water emulsions are widely generated in industries, which may facilitate some processes (e.g., transportation of heavy oil, storage of milk, synthesis of chemicals or materials, etc.) or lead to serious upgrading or environmental issues (e.g., pipeline plugging, corrosions to equipment, water pollution, soil pollution, etc.). Herein, the sources, classification, formation, stabilization, and separation of oil–water emulsions are systematically summarized. The roles of different interfacially active materials–especially the fine particles–in stabilizing the emulsions have been discussed. The advanced development of micro force measurement technologies for oil–water emulsion investigation has also been presented. To provide insights for future industrial application, the separation of oil–water emulsions by different methods are summarized, as well as the introduction of some industrial equipment and advanced combined processes. The gaps between some demulsification processes and industrial applications are also touched upon. Finally, the development perspectives of oil–water treatment technology are discussed for the purpose of achieving high-efficiency, energy-saving, and multi-functional treatment. We hope this review could bring forward the challenges and opportunities for future research in the fields of petroleum production, coal production, iron making, and environmental protection, etc.

A large number of microRNAs (miRNAs) have been detected from porcine testicular tissues thanks to the development of high-throughput sequencing technology. However, the regulatory roles of most identified miRNAs in swine testicular development or spermatogenesis are poorly understood. In our previous study, ULK2 (uncoordinated-51-like kinase 2) was predicted as a target gene of miR-26a. In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of miR-26a in swine Sertoli cell autophagy. The relative expression of miR-26a and ULK2 levels has a significant negative correlation (R2 = .5964, p ≤ .01) in nine developmental stages of swine testicular tissue. Dual-luciferase reporter assay results show that miR-26a directly targets the 3'UTR of the ULK2 gene (position 618-624). In addition, both the mRNA and protein expression of ULK2 were downregulated by miR-26a in swine Sertoli cells. These results indicate that miR-26a targets the ULK2 gene and downregulates its expression in swine Sertoli cells. Based on the expression of marker genes (LC3, p62 and Beclin-1), overexpression of miR-26a or knock-down of ULK2 inhibits swine Sertoli cell autophagy. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that miR-26a suppresses autophagy in swine Sertoli cells by targeting ULK2.

Purpose The present study aims to examine how and when authoritarian leadership affects employee creativity. Based on social exchange theory and team identification literature, the present research attempts to simultaneously explore how leader–member exchange (LMX) and team identification serve as two important mediating processes in the relationship between authoritarian leadership and employee creativity. Furthermore, this research uncovers the mechanism under which conditions the effects of authoritarian leadership will be magnified or minimized. Design/methodology/approach A survey has been conducted in China by using a questionnaire to collect data. The study sample consisted of 325 employees. LISREL 8.7 and SPSS 18.0 were used to test the mediating and moderating effects, respectively. Findings Results from 325 employees revealed that both LMX and team identification mediated the negative relationships between authoritarian leadership and employee creativity. Specifically, the relationship between two mediators was that LMX was positively related to team identification. In addition, the relationship between authoritarian leaderships and LMX and team identification was moderated by power distance, such that the negative relationships will be weaker with high power distance and stronger with low power distance. Practical implications First, firms and managers should recognize and take actions to reduce the negative effects of authoritarian leadership, such as effective selection system and interventional mechanisms because authoritarian leadership is important in influencing employee creativity. Second, managers are suggested to take specific actions, such as increasing communications and team-building activities, to promote LMX and team identification, thereby enhancing employee creativity. Third, managers should engage in behaviors that motivate employee creativity, such as empowerment behaviors, other than authoritarian leadership, when the employee has low power distance. Originality/value The primary contribution of this research is that two psychological processes (i.e. LMX and team identification) have been identified through which authoritarian leadership is related to employee creativity. Meanwhile, this study explores the relationship between LMX and team identification. Moreover, the current research deepens our understanding of power distance by empirically examining the moderating effect of power distance. Overall, the findings extend our understanding about the relationship between authoritarian leadership and employee creativity and contribute to literature on authoritarian leadership and creativity.

Based on the social identity theory and leader‐member exchange (LMX) literature, the present study examined the underlying relationship between employees' collectivism and their innovative behavior. Specifically, we explored the mediating role of team identification and the moderating role of LMX in the above relationship. Results from a survey of 457 employees in 30 organizations indicate that employees' team identification partially mediates the relationship between their collectivism and innovative behavior, and that this mediating relationship has conditional effects on the moderator variable LMX. The findings contribute to the literature by clarifying how (through team identification) and when (based on LMX) employees' collectivism is related positively to their innovative behavior.

A comprehensive and systematic understanding of the roles of lncRNAs in the postnatal development of the pig testis has still not been achieved. In the present study, we obtained more than one billion clean reads and identified 15,528 lncRNA transcripts; these transcripts included 5032 known and 10,496 novel porcine lncRNA transcripts and corresponded to 10,041 lncRNA genes. Pairwise comparisons identified 449 known and 324 novel lncRNAs that showed differential expression patterns. GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses revealed that the targeted genes were involved in metabolic pathways regulating testis development and spermatogenesis, such as the TGF-beta pathway, the PI3K-Akt pathway, the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, and the AMPK pathway. Using this information, we predicted some lncRNAs and coding gene pairs were predicted that may function in testis development and spermatogenesis; these are listed in detail. This study has provided the most comprehensive catalog to date of lncRNAs in the postnatal pig testis and will aid our understanding of their functional roles in testis development and spermatogenesis.

In this study, we examine the relationship between department high-performance work systems (DHPWS) and employees’ creative performance. Data are obtained from a sample of 335 employees in 74 departments in People's Republic of China. Results of hierarchical linear modeling reveal that DHPWS are positively related to employees’ creative performance, and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) partially mediates that relationship. Perspective taking, which represents a cognitive factor in which employees focus on others and adopt others’ viewpoint in order to better understand their preferences and values, moderates the DHPWS–OCB relationship. However, perspective taking does not serve as a moderator between DHPWS and employees’ creative performance. These findings shed new light on the mechanisms through which DHPWS influence employees’ creative performance and contribute to the strategic HRM and creativity literature. We discuss implications of these results for research and practice.

Testicular development and spermatogenesis are strictly regulated with the complex interactions between several cell types in testis. However, the limited availability of genomic and molecular information limits our understanding of this complex physiological process. In this study, we characterized the transcriptome between immature (30-day-old) and mature (180-day-old) pig testes using RNA-seq technology. 24,469 known coding gene transcripts corresponding to 20,566 genes were mapped in these two developmental stages, 3,328 genes were differentially expressed, and numerous novel transcripts and alternative splicing events were also identified. Ten differentially expressed genes were validated by measuring the relative expression using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR). 125 Gene Ontology (GO) terms were significantly enriched, and most of them involved in GO terms related to male reproduction, testicular development, and spermatogenesis. In addition, this study also represented the prediction of 10,000 circRNAs, as well as the validation of six pig circRNAs using Find_cric algorithm. Our study substantially expanded our knowledge about the transcriptomic profile of immature and mature pig testes, and provided a useful resource to study the mechanisms of pig testis development and spermatogenesis at the molecular level.

microRNAs (miRNAs) and PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) execute important regulatory roles in testis development and spermatogenesis, while previous studies mainly focus on the expression profiles in immature and mature porcine testes, which may cause a bottleneck for further understanding their complex physiological processes in porcine testes development and spermatogenesis. Thus, we presented the expression and characterization of miRNAs and piRNAs in DS (60-day-old), DN (90-day-old), DT (120-day-old) and DF (150-day-old) pig testes. In total, 12,834,628, 13,359,726, 12,851,249 and 12,938,601 clean reads were generated from these libraries, respectively. 293 mature and 36 novel miRNAs as well as 4923 piRNA clusters were identified from pig testes, and they showed an age-dependent manner. GO enrichment analysis of miRNA target genes and piRNA generated genes showed that they participated widely in regulating the pig spermatogenesis process. In addition, 12 differentially expressed miRNAs were randomly selected to validate using qRT-PCR. Our results provided novel comprehensive expression profiles of miRNAs and piRNAs in pig testes at different stages of sexual maturity, which will promote our knowledge of them in regulating the pig testes development and spermatogenesis process.

This paper proves that social media use can contribute in important ways to employability outcomes. Specifically, results from a survey of 196 recent graduate students in China indicate that social media use is positively related to employability skills. Internship effectiveness serve as a mediating mechanism through which social media use affects employability skills. Zhongyong has a moderating effect on the social media use-internship effectiveness relationship. In addition to the direct moderating effect, Zhongyong is found to moderate the indirect relationship between social media use and employability skills. We discuss implications of these results for research and practice.

Alternative splicing has been widely found in the eukaryotic gene transcription and serves as an important mechanism to enrich the genomic and proteomic diversity. In the current study, we sequenced the transcriptomic profiling of pig testes at four representative stages: 60 dpc (days post coitus, E60), 90 dpc (E90), 30-day-old (D30) and 180-day-old (DM) using Illumina Hiseq 2500 technology. Then, RNA-seq data were further used to identify the alternative splicing events referring the Sus Scrofa genome. The results showed that 92738 alternative splicing events were observed from Sus Scrofa genome corresponding to 20398 genes (80.6%). Alternative 5 first exon (TSS), alternative 3 last exon (TTS), skipped exon (SKIP) and alternative exon ends (AE) were the highest frequency events with 41.0%, 32.9%, 7.6% and 7.4% of total alternative splicing events, respectively. GO enrichment analysis showed that the alternative splicing genes were mainly enriched in metabolic process, molecular binding and enzyme activity. The alternative splicing events in different developmental stage seemed to preferentially occur in genes with physiological state. Genes in E60 were associated with enzyme activity and tissue formation. Genes in D30 were connected in response to environmental stress and ion channel activity. The genes of DM were involved in circulatory system. In addition, 64 testosterone related genes were selected and 63 genes of them were detected alternative splicing events. Alternative 5 first exon (TSS) and alternative 3 last exon (TTS) were the most frequency events, which revealed that these two alternative splicing events had a crucial role in the metabolic process of testosterone. Through the genome-wide analysis of alternative splicing in Sus scrofa , our results will provide insight into further research on the biological function and the molecular breeding in pigs.

Based on social cognitive theory and leadership theory, the current study tests a theoretical model linking supervisory styles (i.e. supportive and directive) with graduate student creativity via psychological cognitive factors (specifically, creative self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation). Results from a sample of 216 graduate students of 1 university in China indicate that both creative self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation completely mediate the influences of supportive supervisory style and directive supervisory style on graduate student creativity. Interestingly, the results indicate a positive influence of directive supervisory style on graduate student creativity, which is inconsistent with the literature and our own original hypothesis. Our findings verify that creative self-efficacy has an indirect effect on graduate student creativity by influencing intrinsic motivation. We discuss the implications of these findings for both theory and practice.

To understand the complex physiological process underlying pig testis development and spermatogenesis, this study aims to characterize the change in miRNA and mRNA profiles at four developmental stages of embryonic and postnatal testes, including 60 dpc (days post coitus, E60), 90 dpc (E90), 30-day-old (D30) and 180-day-old (D180). A total of 304 mature, 50 novel miRNAs, and 8343 differentially-expressed genes were identified. 93 (48 up and 45 down), 104 (49 up and 55 down), 122 (49 up and 73 down) differentially-expressed miRNAs, as well as 1007 (646 up and 361 down), 1929 (911 up and 1018 down), 7420 (3998 up and 3422 down) differentially-expressed genes were identified in E90 vs. E60, D30 vs. E90 and D180 vs. D30, respectively. Integrating analysis of miRNA and mRNA expression profiles predicted more than 50 000 miRNA–mRNA interaction sites. GO and KEGG pathway analysis of the predicted target genes illustrated the likely roles of differentially expressed miRNAs in testis development and spermatogenesis. For example, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway and Hippo signaling pathway related development, and carbon metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, protein digestion and absorption, were involved in metabolite synthesis. These integrated high-throughput expression data show that miRNA is a critical factor in porcine testis development, providing a useful resource to understand global genome expression change in porcine testis development and spermatogenesis.

In spite of increasing interest in the relationship between leadership and subordinates’ unethical pro-social behaviors, less is known about the role of the dark-side leadership. Drawing from socia...

Thousands of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been identified in mouse, rat, and human testes, some of which play important roles in testis development and spermatogenesis. However, systematic analysis of lncRNAs expressed in postnatal pig testes has not been reported. Thus, in this study, we present the expression and characterization of lncRNAs in immature (30-day-old [D30]) and mature (180-day-old [D180]) pig testes. A total of 90 440 168 (85.75%) and 97 001 700 (95.35%) 150-base-pair paired-end clean reads were generated in D30 and D180 cDNA libraries, respectively, using the Illumina HiSeq 4000 platform; 36 727 transcripts were assembled in those two libraries, 777 lncRNA transcripts from 752 lncRNA gene loci were identified using the highly stringent pipeline, and 101 of those lncRNA transcripts were significantly differentially expressed. Those lncRNAs shared some characteristics with other mammals, including fewer exons, shorter length and exon length, and lower expression level compared with those of protein-coding genes; 402 protein-coding genes (

A highly selective molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction (MISPE) coupled with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) ultraviolet-visible detection was developed for the simultaneous isolation and determination of four Sudan dyes (I, II, III and IV) in catsup products. The novel molecularly imprinted microspheres (MIM) were synthesized by aqueous suspension polymerization using phenylamine and naphthol as template, which showed high affinity to Sudan dyes in aqueous solution. In order to develop a selective extraction protocol for simultaneous determination the four Sudan dyes from catsup products, the molecular recognition properties of MIM as a SPE sorbent were evaluated. Under the optimized condition, good linearity was obtained from 0.01 to 2.5 μg g(-1) (r(2)≥ 0.9990) with the relative standard deviations of less than 3.4%. This proposed MISPE-HPLC procedure eliminated the effect of template leakage on quantitative analysis and could be applied to direct determination of four Sudan dyes in complicated food samples.