Digitalized social support in the healthcare environment: effects of the types and sources of social support on psychological well-being

The positive benefits of social support within healthcare communities are well documented. However, with the increasing number of online healthcare communities, digitalized social support requires further scrutiny. Additionally, it remains unclear which type of social support contributes most to a support seeker's psychological well-being and happiness. Drawing on the theory of social support, this research investigates the interactional effect of the social support types and sources of social support on one's well-being and happiness in the digitalized healthcare environment. Employing two experiments involving an online healthcare community of Chinese parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), this research also examines the mediating effect of social relationship coping efficacy. The findings suggest that emotional support in the digital environment results in a higher level of well-being and happiness than informational support offers, and such significant differences are due to individual variations in social relationship coping efficacy. Further, counterintuitive to the received wisdom, emotional support from community members results in higher well-being and happiness than such support from close family members. The study has important implications for healthcare community managers and close family members by encouraging emotional support that leads to increased well-being and happiness

One-Step Solid-State Synthesis of Ni-Rich Cathode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Ni-rich cathodes are expected to serve as critical materials for high-energy lithium-ion batteries. Increasing the Ni content can effectively improve the energy density but usually leads to more complex synthesis conditions, thus limiting its development. In this work, a simple one-step solid-state process for synthesizing Ni-rich ternary cathode materials NCA (LiNi0.9Co0.05Al0.05O2) was presented, and the synthesis conditions were systematically studied. It was found that the synthesis conditions have a substantial impact on electrochemical performance. Furthermore, the cathode materials produced through a one-step solid-state process exhibited excellent cycling stability, maintaining 97.2% of their capacity after 100 cycles at a rate of 1 C. The results show that a one-step solid-state method can successfully synthesize Ni-rich ternary cathode material, which has great potential for application. Optimizing the synthesis conditions also provides valuable ideas for the commercial synthesis of Ni-rich cathode materials

I want to go there too! Tourism destination envy in social media marketing

Envy has been widely discussed as a type of consumption motivation and a consumer attitude towards specific consumer goods in the context of social media. However, research on envy in tourism consumption decision-making is still relatively scarce. Accordingly, adopting social cognitive theory while considering benign envy, this study discusses the impact of social media content on consumers' destination envy and behavioural intention during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a survey of 320 Chinese tourists who travelled to Macao, this paper develops and tests a conceptual framework. The results show that destination envy plays an intermediary role between social media content and consumer behavioural intention. Our findings thus integrate disparate literature streams while shedding light on the impacts of social media content on tourism consumers’ travel decisions during the COVID-19 era

Influence of Sludge Initial pH on Bioleaching of Excess Sludge to Improve Dewatering Performance

pH has an important effect on the physiological activity of eosinophilic microorganisms. Therefore, this study used excess sludge produced by the mixed treatment of leachate and municipal sewage to explore the impact of different sludge initial pH on microbial biochemical reactions associated with the performance of excess sludge dehydration. Shake-flask tests were performed using inoculated microorganisms and fresh excess sludge in 500 mL Erlenmeyer flasks at a ratio of 1:4, with the addition of 2 g/L S0 and 6 g/L FeS2 as energy sources. Erlenmeyer flasks were shaken for 72 h at 180 rpm and 28 °C, in a reciprocating constant homeothermic oscillating water-bath. Results show that the specific resistance to filtration (SRF) of the bioleached excess sludge decreased from (1.45~6.68) × 1012 m/kg to (1.21~14.30) × 1011 m/kg and the sedimentation rate increased from 69.00~73.00% to 81.70~85.50%. The SRF decreased from 1.45 × 1012 m/kg to 1.21 × 1011 m/kg and the sedimentation rate increased from 69.00% to 85.00%, which both reached the highest level when the initial pH of the excess sludge was 5 and the bioleaching duration was 48 h. At this time, the rates of pH reduction and oxidative redox potential (ORP) reached the highest values (69.67% and 515 mV, respectively). Illumina HiSeq PE250 sequencing results show that the dominate microbial community members were Thiomonas (relative abundance 4.59~5.44%), which oxidize sulfur and ferrous iron, and Halothiobacillus (2.56~3.41%), which oxidizes sulfur. Thus, the acidic environment can promote microbial acidification and oxidation, which can help sludge dewatering. The presence of dominant sulfur oxidation bacteria is the essential reason for the deep dehydration of the bioleached sludge

Asymmetric Effects of Regulatory Focus on Expected Desirability and Feasibility of Embracing Self-Service Technologies

This research draws on regulatory focus theory to examine the asymmetric effects of regulatory focus (promotion focus versus prevention focus) on expected desirability and feasibility of using self-service technologies (SSTs) in a retail setting. To study consumers' SST trial intention from the perspective of regulatory focus theory, this research first integrates the attributes of SSTs explored in prior studies into a desirability-feasibility framework. The proposed asymmetric effects of regulatory focus (promotion focus versus prevention focus) lie in both scope (on desirability, feasibility, versus both desirability and feasibility) and valence (positive versus negative): The promotion focus facilitates consumers to recognize both desirability (consumption value) and feasibility of using SSTs, whereas the prevention focus inhibits consumers from understanding the feasibility-related attributes of SSTs. In addition, it is proposed that the promotion focus contributes to the easement of consumers' technology anxiety, whereas the prevention focus has a reverse effect. Furthermore, expected desirability (consumption value) and feasibility both positively influence consumers' intention to adopt SSTs, whereas technology anxiety negatively affects consumers' trial intention. Structural equation modeling is used to test the overall model, and the results support the hypotheses in general. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Using TiO2 Mesoflower Interlayer in Tubular Porous Titanium Membranes for Enhanced Electrocatalytic Filtration

The current study focuses on synthesis and characterization of novel functionalized anodic membranes for wastewater treatment. This membrane was prepared by first constructing a TiO2 mesoflower interlayer on a tubular porous titanium membrane and subsequently coating an antimony-doped tin oxide catalytic layer. Physical and electrochemical characterizations of the membranes were evaluated. With TiO2 mesoflower, the membrane anode obtained a higher oxygen evolution potential, 2.22 V (vs saturated calomel electrode), relative roughness factor (701.7), and electrochemical porosity (99.23%) than membrane anodes without TiO2 mesoflower. The prepared membrane anode also achieved a low charge-transfer (0.11 V) and mass-transfer resistance (0.21 V) in filtration mode. The unique features were found linked to its 3-D porous and open structure, and formation of a Ti0.2Sn0.8O2 sosoloid that had a high surface oxygen (O-ad) content. The electrocatalytic filtration performance of this membrane was also tested using methyl orange as a model organic pollutant. At a current density of 15 mA cm(-2), the membrane achieved a higher 71.0% removal of methyl orange than 58.0% for the membrane without TiO2 mesoflower. At a 58.0% removal of methyl orange, the membrane consumed a much lower energy of 0.20 kWh m(-3) than 5.88 kWh m(-3) for membrane anodes without TiO2 mesoflower. The synthesized membrane electrode filter shows promise for future applications aimed to remove organic pollutants from wastewater. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved