Executives’ ESG cognition and enterprise green innovation: Evidence based on executives’ personal microblogs

Based on cognitive theory, we investigated the influence of executives’ ESG cognition on corporate green innovation using data from Chinese manufacturing listed companies from 2010 to 2019. The paper first constructs a metric of ESG cognition of company executives by presenting a quantitative analysis of data from their personal microblogs using textual analysis. The findings show that executive ESG perceptions significantly improve corporate green innovation. After addressing the endogeneity issue through a series of robustness tests, the findings of this paper still held true. Further research found that the enhancement effect of executive ESG perceptions on firms’ green innovation level was mainly found in the sample without heavy pollution and with lower financing constraints and a higher marketization process. This study makes an important contribution to the research on corporate green innovation based on the perspective of executive ESG cognition while also providing a theoretical basis and practical reference for corporate green innovation practices

VideoFusion: Decomposed Diffusion Models for High-Quality Video Generation

A diffusion probabilistic model (DPM), which constructs a forward diffusion process by gradually adding noise to data points and learns the reverse denoising process to generate new samples, has been shown to handle complex data distribution. Despite its recent success in image synthesis, applying DPMs to video generation is still challenging due to high-dimensional data spaces. Previous methods usually adopt a standard diffusion process, where frames in the same video clip are destroyed with independent noises, ignoring the content redundancy and temporal correlation. This work presents a decomposed diffusion process via resolving the per-frame noise into a base noise that is shared among all frames and a residual noise that varies along the time axis. The denoising pipeline employs two jointly-learned networks to match the noise decomposition accordingly. Experiments on various datasets confirm that our approach, termed as VideoFusion, surpasses both GAN-based and diffusion-based alternatives in high-quality video generation. We further show that our decomposed formulation can benefit from pre-trained image diffusion models and well-support text-conditioned video creation.Comment: Accepted to CVPR202

Identification and validation of IgG N-glycosylation biomarkers of esophageal carcinoma

Introduction: Altered Immunoglobulin G (IgG) N-glycosylation is associated with aging, inflammation, and diseases status, while its effect on esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remains unknown. As far as we know, this is the first study to explore and validate the association of IgG N-glycosylation and the carcinogenesis progression of ESCC, providing innovative biomarkers for the predictive identification and targeted prevention of ESCC. Methods: In total, 496 individuals of ESCC (n=114), precancerosis (n=187) and controls (n=195) from the discovery population (n=348) and validation population (n=148) were recruited in the study. IgG N-glycosylation profile was analyzed and an ESCC-related glycan score was composed by a stepwise ordinal logistic model in the discovery population. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve with the bootstrapping procedure was used to assess the performance of the glycan score. Results: In the discovery population, the adjusted OR of GP20 (digalactosylated monosialylated biantennary with core and antennary fucose), IGP33 (the ratio of all fucosylated monosyalilated and disialylated structures), IGP44 (the proportion of high mannose glycan structures in total neutral IgG glycans), IGP58 (the percentage of all fucosylated structures in total neutral IgG glycans), IGP75 (the incidence of bisecting GlcNAc in all fucosylated digalactosylated structures in total neutral IgG glycans), and the glycan score are 4.03 (95% CI: 3.03-5.36, P \u3c 0.001), 0.69 (95% CI: 0.55-0.87, P \u3c 0.001), 0.56 (95% CI: 0.45-0.69, P \u3c 0.001), 0.52 (95% CI: 0.41-0.65, P \u3c 0.001), 7.17 (95% CI: 4.77-10.79, P \u3c 0.001), and 2.86 (95% CI: 2.33-3.53, P \u3c 0.001), respectively. Individuals in the highest tertile of the glycan score own an increased risk (OR: 11.41), compared with those in the lowest. The average multi-class AUC are 0.822 (95% CI: 0.786-0.849). Findings are verified in the validation population, with an average AUC of 0.807 (95% CI: 0.758-0.864). Discussion: Our study demonstrated that IgG N-glycans and the proposed glycan score appear to be promising predictive markers for ESCC, contributing to the early prevention of esophageal cancer. From the perspective of biological mechanism, IgG fucosylation and mannosylation might involve in the carcinogenesis progression of ESCC, and provide potential therapeutic targets for personalized interventions of cancer progression

Transcriptional and Post-Transcriptional Mechanisms for Oncogenic Overexpression of Ether À Go-Go K+ Channel

The human ether-à-go-go-1 (h-eag1) K+ channel is expressed in a variety of cell lines derived from human malignant tumors and in clinical samples of several different cancers, but is otherwise absent in normal tissues. It was found to be necessary for cell cycle progression and tumorigenesis. Specific inhibition of h-eag1 expression leads to inhibition of tumor cell proliferation. We report here that h-eag1 expression is controlled by the p53−miR-34−E2F1 pathway through a negative feed-forward mechanism. We first established E2F1 as a transactivator of h-eag1 gene through characterizing its promoter region. We then revealed that miR-34, a known transcriptional target of p53, is an important negative regulator of h-eag1 through dual mechanisms by directly repressing h-eag1 at the post-transcriptional level and indirectly silencing h-eag1 at the transcriptional level via repressing E2F1. There is a strong inverse relationship between the expression levels of miR-34 and h-eag1 protein. H-eag1antisense antagonized the growth-stimulating effects and the upregulation of h-eag1 expression in SHSY5Y cells, induced by knockdown of miR-34, E2F1 overexpression, or inhibition of p53 activity. Therefore, p53 negatively regulates h-eag1 expression by a negative feed-forward mechanism through the p53−miR-34−E2F1 pathway. Inactivation of p53 activity, as is the case in many cancers, can thus cause oncogenic overexpression of h-eag1 by relieving the negative feed-forward regulation. These findings not only help us understand the molecular mechanisms for oncogenic overexpression of h-eag1 in tumorigenesis but also uncover the cell-cycle regulation through the p53−miR-34−E2F1−h-eag1 pathway. Moreover, these findings place h-eag1 in the p53−miR-34−E2F1−h-eag1 pathway with h-eag as a terminal effecter component and with miR-34 (and E2F1) as a linker between p53 and h-eag1. Our study therefore fills the gap between p53 pathway and its cellular function mediated by h-eag1

In Vitro Dedifferentiation of Melanocytes from Adult Epidermis

In previous work we described a novel culture technique using a cholera toxin and PMA-free medium (Mel-mix) for obtaining pure melanocyte cultures from human adult epidermis. In Mel-mix medium the cultured melanocytes are bipolar, unpigmented and highly proliferative. Further characterization of the cultured melanocytes revealed the disappearance of c-Kit and TRP-1 and induction of nestin expression, indicating that melanocytes dedifferentiated in this in vitro culture. Cholera toxin and PMA were able to induce c-Kit and TRP-1 protein expressions in the cells, reversing dedifferentiation. TRP-1 mRNA expression was induced in dedifferentiated melanocytes by UV-B irradiated keratinocyte supernatants, however direct UV-B irradiation of the cells resulted in further decrease of TRP-1 mRNA expression. These dedifferentiated, easily accessible cultured melanocytes provide a good model for studying melanocyte differentiation and possibly transdifferentiation. Because melanocytes in Mel-mix medium can be cultured with human serum as the only supplement, this culture system is also suitable for autologous cell transplantation

The autopilot design of bank-to-turn missile using mixed sensitivity H ∞ optimization

Conference Name:3rd Annual IEEE International Conference on Cyber Technology in Automation, Control, and Intelligent Systems, IEEE-CYBER 2013. Conference Address: Nanjing, China. Time:May 26, 2013 - May 29, 2013.IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS); City University of Hong Kong; Nanjing University of Science and TechnologyBank-to-turn (BTT) missile shows many advantages in performance over traditional skid-to-turn missile, while the autopilot design poses a great challenge for BTT missile because it is a multivariable system with motion, inertia, aerodynamic and control couplings. In this paper, the autopilot for BTT missile is designed as a two-loop feedback control structure. The inner loop feedback controller is designed using LQR control approach to contain the system uncertainty within a certain limit. The outer loop controller is designed using mixed sensitivity H∞ optimization to deal with the disturbance and model uncertainty. Then simulation experiments of target interception are performed using BTT missile with the designed autopilot under six degrees of freedom. The results demonstrate that the designed autopilot for BTT missile is effective. ? 2013 IEEE

Cobalt atoms anchored on nitrogen-doped hollow carbon spheres for efficient electrocatalysis of oxygen reduction to H2O2

Electrochemical production of hydrogen peroxide (H _2 O _2 ) from oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is a promising alternative to the costly anthraquinone method. However, the sluggish kinetics of ORR on most electrocatalysts restricts its wide application. Therefore, exploring electrocatalysts with high activity and selectivity for two–electron ORR is significant. Herein, cobalt atoms anchored on nitrogen-doped hollow carbon spheres (Co–NHCS) are presented for H _2 O _2 electrosynthesis. The Co–NHCS catalyst exhibits excellent H _2 O _2 electrosynthesis performance in acidic media with high reactivity with an ORR potential of 0.581 V at 1.0 mA cm ^−2 and H _2 O _2 selectivity up to 90%. Moreover, the H _2 O _2 output in the assembled device reaches 2980 mg l ^−1 h ^−1 with high Faraday efficiency. The enhanced performance of Co–NHCS originates from the hollow structure and center sites of Co introduction. This work affords a facile strategy for the fabrication of high-efficient carbon-based materials for H _2 O _2 electrosynthesis

Fabrication of Hydrophobic Ni Surface by Chemical Etching

Hydrophobic surfaces were successfully fabricated on pure nickel substrates by a one-step chemical etching process with different acidic solutions. The static water contact angle (SCA) of the etched Ni surfaces reached higher than 125°, showing excellent hydrophobicity. The examination of surface chemical compositions implied that there were almost no polar moieties on the surface after chemical etching, except part of the surface was oxidized. After chemical etching, the nickel surfaces became much rough with packed terrace-/crater-/thorn-like clusters. According to the analysis of surface composition and morphology, the hydrophobicity was evidently attributed to the rough microstructures on the etched Ni surface. The best hydrophobicity on Ni surface was produced with the SCAs as high as 140.0° by optimizing the etching time and etchants. The results demonstrate that it is possible to construct hydrophobic surfaces on hydrophilic substrates by tailoring the surface microstructure using a simple chemical etching process without any further hydrophobic modifications by low surface energy materials

Recent Advances of Electrocatalyst and Cell Design for Hydrogen Peroxide Production

Abstract Electrochemical synthesis of H2O2 via a selective two-electron oxygen reduction reaction has emerged as an attractive alternative to the current energy-consuming anthraquinone process. Herein, the progress on electrocatalysts for H2O2 generation, including noble metal, transition metal-based, and carbon-based materials, is summarized. At first, the design strategies employed to obtain electrocatalysts with high electroactivity and high selectivity are highlighted. Then, the critical roles of the geometry of the electrodes and the type of reactor in striking a balance to boost the H2O2 selectivity and reaction rate are systematically discussed. After that, a potential strategy to combine the complementary properties of the catalysts and the reactor for optimal selectivity and overall yield is illustrated. Finally, the remaining challenges and promising opportunities for high-efficient H2O2 electrochemical production are highlighted for future studies