Roger Williams University

Information and communication technology (ICT) outsourcing to suppliers has the potential to enhance buyers’ product innovation and overall performance. However, the impact of technology outsourcing to lower-tier suppliers on buyers’ financial performance in multi-tier supply chain networks remains unclear. Unlike prior dyadic studies that focus on a buyer-tier1 supplier perspective, our study extends the analytical scope to encompass buyer, tier-1, and tier-2 ICT supplier triads using multi-tier supply network data from Capital IQ. Building on existing literature indicating that a buyer’s betweenness centrality negatively affects its financial performance, we further find that tier-1 suppliers’ betweenness centrality also exhibits a negative relationship with buyers’ financial performance. In addition, we provide empirical evidence that a buyer’s timely supplier payment amplifies the positive effect of buyer degree centrality on its financial performance, while alleviating the positive effect of tier-1 suppliers’ degree centrality on buyers’ financial performance. Interestingly, timely supplier payment negatively moderates the association between a buyer’s closeness centrality and its financial performance, but positively moderates the corresponding association between tier-1 supplier closeness centrality and buyer financial performance. Our empirical analysis advances theoretical understanding of lower-tier suppliers and sheds light on the bridging role of tier-1 suppliers in the literature of multi-tier supply chain relationships. These findings highlight the benefits of technology-enabled multi-tier supply network structures and their interactions with buyer-tier1 supplier relationships. This study also provides practical insights for firms to improve financial outcomes through strategic ICT outsourcing to multi-layer suppliers.

Abstract BACKGROUND Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) remains the most critical barrier to successful haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (haplo-HSCT). A dual-agent prophylaxis combining anti-thymocyte globulin with post-transplant cyclophosphamide (ATG/PTCy) has emerged as a biologically synergistic and clinically disruptive strategy. This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluates whether ATG/PTCy provides significant advantages over conventional ATG- or PTCy-based regimens in hematologic malignancy recipients. METHOD Databases including PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and ClinicalTrials.gov were systematically searched. Eligible comparative studies reporting ATG/PTCy vs. ATG or PTCy alone were pooled. We included 14 studies (observational and RCTs), covering 1906 patients, most with acute leukemia, in either remission or non-remission at transplant. Meta-analyses were performed using RevMan 5.4.1. Dichotomous outcomes were calculated with Risk Ratio (RR); time-to-event outcomes were calculated with Hazard Ratio. Subgroup analysis explored dose modulation of ATG (2.5–5 vs 7.5–10 mg/kg) and PTCy (29–50 vs 80–100 mg/kg). Sensitivity testing excluded high-bias studies. Two-sided P < .05 was significant. RESULTS Acute GVHD: ATG/PTCy reduced grade II–IV GVHD compared with both ATG (RR 0.52; P < .00001) and PTCy (RR 0.53; P = .005). Severe GVHD (grade III–IV) was lower than with ATG (RR 0.33; P < .00001) but not significantly different from PTCy (RR 0.74; P = .23). These reductions persisted across varying ATG and PTCy dose ranges.Chronic GVHD: Risk was lower with ATG/PTCy than with ATG (RR 0.65; P = .0002), and particularly for extensive/moderate-severe disease (RR 0.50; P < .0001), but was not significantly different when compared with PTCy.Survival: Overall survival favored ATG/PTCy over both ATG (HR 0.75; P = .02) and PTCy (HR 0.70; P = .006). GVHD-free/relapse-free survival improved similarly (vs ATG HR 0.68; P = .0006; vs PTCy HR 0.70; P = .02), with the most effect seen where PTCy dosing was lower (29–50 mg/kg). Viral Reactivation & Infection-Related Mortality: CMV and EBV reactivation rates were comparable to ATG alone (CMV RR 1.04; P = .84; EBV RR 0.69; P = .22). However, ATG/PTCy showed higher reactivation than PTCy alone (CMV RR 1.42; P = .03; EBV RR 3.17; P = .0008). Despite increased viral reactivation, infection-related mortality did not differ between groups (vs ATG RR 1.07; P = .74; vs PTCy RR 1.07; P = .72). CONCLUSION The combined ATG/PTCy stands out as a strong advancement in GVHD prophylaxis, offering reductions in acute and chronic GVHD with improvement in survival outcomes. Importantly, these benefits are achieved without increasing relapse or infection-related mortality, although a higher rate of CMV and EBV reactivation highlights the need for vigilant post-transplant viral monitoring. We need more prospective trials to refine dose intensity, define patient-specific risk profiles, and guide its integration as a future standard of care.(Artificial intelligence was used to refine the abstract text) Citation Format: Anubhuti Sharma, Arundhati Sharma, Simranpreet Singh Daid, Manas Gunani, Marcelle Meseeha, Joyson Poulose. ATG (anti-thymocyte globulin) with post-transplant cyclophosphamide (PTCy) significantly reduces GVHD and improves survival in haplo-HSCT (haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation): A systematic review and meta-analysis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Immuno-Oncology Conference (AACR IO): Discovery and Innovation in Cancer Immunology: Revolutionizing Treatment through Immunotherapy; 2026 Feb 18-21; Los Angeles, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2026;14(2 Suppl):Abstract nr A050.

Abstract Developing new therapeutic strategies against hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis delta virus (HDV) is essential to cure these infections. Yet evaluation of host-targeting agents (HTAs) with in vitro and in vivo models remains challenging. Therefore, we assessed precision-cut liver slices (PCLS) as an HBV/HDV co-infection model to study virus-host interactions and HTAs. Our ex vivo PCLS infection protocol allows to establish HBV and HDV infection within the liver’s three-dimensional architecture. Treatment with two well-characterized HTAs produced distinct antiviral effects consistent with each mechanism: Bulevirtide blocked entry; Lonafarnib induced intracellular hepatitis delta antigen accumulation. The TLR8 agonist Selgantolimod showed anti-HBV activity not previously seen in cultured hepatocytes, indicating crosstalk between immune and infected cells within PCLS. These results provide the first characterization of PCLS as an ex vivo model of HBV/HDV co-infection and antiviral testing. Thus, PCLS could expedite pre-clinical HTA characterization against viral liver diseases while reducing animal experimentation.

This study examines how supply chain structure diversification drives high-quality enterprise development in the digital economy. Using panel data from Chinese listed non-financial firms (2009–2023), we find that diversification of both suppliers and customers significantly improves firms’ total factor productivity (TFP), and the results remain robust after controlling for endogeneity. Mechanism analyses show that diversification enhances innovation capability, sustainability performance, and risk resilience, while digital supply chains strengthen these effects by improving information flow and coordination. Heterogeneity tests reveal that the impact is greater for firms with higher operational efficiency, cultural synergy, and information transparency. Overall, the findings highlight that diversified and digitally integrated supply chains are essential for innovation-driven, resilient, and sustainable enterprise growth.

The microbiome encodes millions of genes; however, understanding their role in human health remains challenging. Here, we developed MetaGEAR, a gene-centric analysis framework for metagenomic data. MetaGEAR constructs cohort-specific databases for efficient retrieval of gene annotations, abundances, and co-localization, while providing enhanced taxonomic resolution by integrating reference- and assembly-based approaches. This is combined with a Metagenomic Assembled Graph (MAGraph) capturing gene neighborhood information. Using MetaGEAR, we built a multi-cohort database comprising >33 million gene families to investigate microbiome functionality across 24 cohorts of inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer, and healthy populations and identified disease signature genes. Furthermore, the MAGraph revealed mobile genetic elements acting as hubs for tetracycline resistance spreading among Enterococcus, Streptococcus, and Veillonella species. Also, a duplicated nitrate reduction operon in Klebsiella pneumoniae was linked to differential gene expression under stress and virulence-inducing conditions. In summary, gene-centric metagenomic analyses reveal important insights into microbiome functionality in diseases.

This paper describes the Mechatronics course developed at Roger Williams University and offered in the Fall 2010 semester to juniors and seniors in the Mechanical Engineering Specialization. The course is a novel combination of lecture and laboratory experiences conducted in an electronics teaching laboratory. Topics of the course include sensors, real-time software, electronics, actuators and mechanics. Students devote most course time to a semester-long design project, the development of an autonomous device to collect and sort black and white balls on a playfield. Students are issued a RoboStamp kit that includes an iStamp onboard computer with eight digital, eight analog, three hobby servo motor and two H-bridge motor channels. Although the kit comes with a few pre-made sensors, students construct the majority of their sensors from electronic sub-components. Throughout the semester, students must achieve carefully designed milestones, each representing a necessary but insufficient capability for completing the design project. For example, one milestone requires that the device correctly identify four of five balls gathered under its own power. Because the bulk of the work is performed in four-student groups, individual mastery of the content is measured through a series of “individual lab practicum”. These are single-period laboratory projects students must complete without assistance from group members. This paper will describe the results of the Fall 2010 class and discuss the effectiveness of the individual lab practicum, the use of milestones and considerations for selecting milestones. The presentation will include video of the student devices performing the task and highlight the variety of electromechanical components utilized.

ABSTRACTOrnamental aquaculture and fishkeeping are very popular with millions of enthusiasts worldwide. The number of newly imported fish species for ornamental purposes grew slowly from World War I until the 1980s. It then exponentially increased until now with more than 7900 species and a large number of scientifically undescribed morphotypes. Here we present the first comprehensive review of freshwater and brackish fish importations during the boom of ornamental fish keeping at the turn of the Millennium and discuss this with a cultural and socio‐economic lens in the European context. The increase in imports accelerated following the availability of air transport and the end of the Cold War. From the list of traded species, the largest number of species imported for ornamental purposes was found in the following groups: armored loricariid catfish (family Loricariidae), cory catfish (family Callichthyidae, subfamily Callichthyinae), cichlids of African Great Lakes (order Cichliformes), killifish (egg‐laying species of the order Cyprinodontiformes), and characids (order Characiformes). These taxa represent ca. 74% of all fresh and brackish water ornamental fish species. The species of fish with the ability to absorb atmospheric oxygen (e.g., Belontidae, including gouramis and bettas) have dominated the market, but their ratio to the other species has declined during the modern era of ornamental aquaculture (after the end of WWI). By identifying the most popular aquarium species traded through the history of the aquarium trade, our findings aim to guide present‐day management of ornamental aquaculture and better inform invasion risk assessments.