ESG ratings and green innovation: a U‐shaped journey towards sustainable development

This study examines the relationship between corporate ESG ratings and green innovation based on data from Chinese A-share listed companies for the period between 2011 and 2022. The findings suggest a “U”- shaped relationship between ESG ratings and green innovation. Companies with lower ESG ratings (referred to as “bad” companies) tend to focus on improving their corporate governance and operational conditions, often at the expense of green innovation. However, as companies improve their ESG ratings, they increasingly view green innovation as a key growth area. This relationship is particularly evident in companies with low profitability and high operational risks. Additionally, we explore the impact of corporate ESG ratings on different types of green patents. The study finds that “bad” companies can mitigate the negative impact on green innovation through collaborative efforts, while non-inventive green innovations, they benefit from independent research and development. Furthermore, the study examines the role of government subsidies and executive compensation in influencing this relationship. The results show that government subsidies can both positively and negatively affect green innovation, depending on the company's operational status and ESG rating. The results provide valuable insights for companies, investors, and policymakers regarding the significant role of ESG scores in promoting green innovation and suggest strategies to enhance corporate sustainability performance

Applications of linear regression models in exploring the relationship between media attention, economic policy uncertainty and corporate green innovation

The media plays a dual role of "supervision" and "collusion" in governance mechanisms. This study investigates the impact of media attention and economic policy uncertainty on green innovation by analyzing A-share industrial listed enterprises data between 2011 and 2020. The results show that media attention can effectively promote green innovation and that this impact is significantly heterogeneous. Media attention significantly affects green innovation in non-state-owned enterprises and manufacturing companies positively, but it is insignificant for state-owned enterprises and mining and energy supply industries. Moreover, the results indicate that external economic policy uncertainty can lead enterprises to take early measures to hedge risks, thereby positively regulating the promotion effect of media attention on green innovation during economic fluctuations. Finally, media attention can promote green innovation by increasing environmental regulation intensity, reducing corporate financing constraints, and enhancing corporate social responsibility. Therefore, paying full attention to the media as an institutional subject outside of laws and regulations, gradually forming a pressure-driven mechanism for corporate green innovation, and reducing information opacity, is a pivotal way to promote enterprises' green innovation

Dynamic Fluorescence Materials Based on Naphthalimide-Functionalized Silica Aerogels and Applications in Advanced Information Encryption

With the progress of forgery and decryption, the traditional encryption technology is apparent not enough, which strongly requires the development of advanced multidimensional encryption strategies and technologies. Photo-stimuli responsive fluorescent materials are promising as candidate materials for advanced information encryption. Here, we have reported new photo-stimuli responsive materials by encapsulating photochromic molecules spiropyrans (SPs) into naphthalimide-functionalized silica aerogels. By introducing different modification groups (dimethylamino) into 1,8-naphthalimide, we obtained two kinds of silica aerogels that emit blue and green colors. The naphthalimide-functionalized silica aerogels/dye composite exhibits a blue (dimethylamino-modified naphthalimide-functionalized silica aerogel showing green) emission from naphthalimide of silica aerogels at 450 nm (520 nm) and a red emission around 650 nm of SP. Under exposure to ultraviolet light, SP gradually transformed into the merocyanine (MC) form, and a strong absorption band appeared near 540 nm. At that time, the fluorescence resonance energy-transfer (FRET) process occurred between naphthalimide and the MC isomer. As the irradiation time is extended, the fluorescence color changes continuously from blue (green) to red through the FRET process. Using the time dependence of fluorescence, dynamic encryption patterns and multiple codes were successfully developed based on these functionalized silica aerogels. This work has provided important guidance for designing advanced information encryption materials

An atlas of regulatory elements in chicken: A resource for chicken genetics and genomics.

A comprehensive characterization of regulatory elements in the chicken genome across tissues will have substantial impacts on both fundamental and applied research. Here, we systematically identified and characterized regulatory elements in the chicken genome by integrating 377 genome-wide sequencing datasets from 23 adult tissues. In total, we annotated 1.57 million regulatory elements, representing 15 distinct chromatin states, and predicted about 1.2 million enhancer-gene pairs and 7662 super-enhancers. This functional annotation of the chicken genome should have wide utility on identifying regulatory elements accounting for gene regulation underlying domestication, selection, and complex trait regulation, which we explored. In short, this comprehensive atlas of regulatory elements provides the scientific community with a valuable resource for chicken genetics and genomics