Stakeholder orientation and organizational performance in an emerging market

There has been research that studies Chinese firms’ stakeholder orientation but fails to identify Chinese firms’ specific stakeholder groups. In addition, little research in this line has been conducted so far to reflect recent Chinese constitutional transition. This study seeks to fill these gaps. It extends previous studies assuming that a fixed set of stakeholders is suitable for firms in different countries context, and identifies Chinese firms’ key stakeholder groups by adopting the descriptive approach of stakeholder theory. Based on this identification, the authors further examine how these stakeholder orientations influence organizational performance and how they interact. Interviews with managers from 107 firms show that customer, employee, shareholder, supplier, and competitors are perceived as Chinese firms’ most important stakeholders; empirical studies using data collected from 307 Chinese firms reveal that orientations towards these stakeholders enhance organizational performance. Moreover, there are synergy effects existing among customer orientation, supplier orientation, and competitor orientation, and between customer orientation and competitor orientation, while shareholder orientation has significant hindering effects upon competitor orientation as a reflection of recent institutional changes taking place in China

The Role of Microstructure on High-Temperature Oxidation Behavior of Hafnium Carbide

Microstructure development of the products formed upon oxidation of hafnium carbide (HfCx, x = 0.65, 0.81, or 0.94) at 1300°C and 0.8 mbar oxygen pressure was investigated using Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, and electron energy-loss spectroscopy. For all specimens a multilayered oxide scale was observed featuring an outermost porous hafnia layer and an interlayer adjacent to the parent carbide containing hafnia interspersed with carbon. The outermost hafnia features coarse pores presumably formed during initial stages of oxidation to allow rapidly evolving gaseous products to escape from the oxidation front. As the oxidation scale thickens, diffusional resistance results in slower oxidation rates and smaller quantities of gaseous products that are removed via networks of increasingly fine pores until the local oxygen partial pressure is sufficiently low to selectively oxidize the parent carbide. Electron microscopy studies suggest that the oxidation sequence at this stage begins with the transformation of parent carbide to an amorphous material having empirical formula HfO2Cx that subsequently phase separates into hafnia and carbon domains. Hafnia polymorphs in the phase-separated region vary from cubic to monoclinic as grains coarsen from ca. 2–20 nm, respectively. Immediately adjacent to the phase-separated region is carbon-free mesoporous hafnia whose pore morphology is inherited from that of prior carbon domains. The average pore size and pore volume fraction observed in mesoporous hafnia are consistent with predictions from kinetic models that ascribe gaseous diffusion through a pore network as the rate determining step in oxidation behavior of hafnium carbide. These observations imply that high-temperature oxidation behavior of hafnium carbide under the employed test conditions is linked to microstructure development via phase separation and coarsening behaviors of an initially formed amorphous HfO2Cx product

Dynamic Reliability Assessment of Heavy Vehicle Crossing a Prototype Bridge Deck by Using Simulation Technology and Health Monitoring Data

Overloads of vehicle may cause damage to bridge structures, and how to assess the safety influence of heavy vehicles crossing the prototype bridge is one of the challenges. In this report, using a large amount of monitored data collected from the structural health monitoring system (SHMS) in service of the prototype bridge, of which the bridge type is large-span continuous rigid frame bridge, and adopting FEM simulation technique, we suggested a dynamic reliability assessment method in the report to assess the safety impact of heavy vehicles on the prototype bridge during operation. In the first place, by using the health monitored strain data, of which the selected monitored data time range is before the opening of traffic, the quasi dynamic reliability around the embedded sensor with no traffic load effects is obtained; then, with FEM technology, the FEM simulation model of one main span of the prototype bridge is built by using ANSYS software and then the dynamic reliability when the heavy vehicles crossing the prototype bridge corresponding to the middle-span web plate is comprehensively analyzed and discussed. At last, assuming that the main beam stress state change is in the stage of approximately linear elasticity under heavy vehicle loads impact, the authors got the impact level of heavy vehicles effects on the dynamic reliability of the prototype bridge. Based on a large number of field measured data, the dynamic reliability value calculated by our proposed methodology is more accurate. The method suggested in the paper can do good for not only the traffic management but also the damage analysis of bridges

Engineering Oxygen Vacancy-Rich CeOx overcoating Onto Ni/Al2O3 by Atomic Layer Deposition for Bi-Reforming of Methane

Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) Was Applied to Develop CeOx-Overcoated Ni/Al2O3 Catalyst for Bi-Reforming of Methane (BRM), as the Combination of Dry Reforming of Methane (DRM) and Steam Reforming of Methane (SRM). Non-Stoichiometric CeOx Thin Films Were Successfully Deposited on Ni/Al2O3 Particles by ALD, Which Constructed a Beneficial Ni-CeOx Interface and Modified the Catalyst Property. Ascribed to the Unique ALD Growth Mode, a High Amount of Ce(III) and Oxygen Vacancies Existed in the ALD-Deposited CeOx overcoating. a Reduction Process Before the BRM Reaction Contributed to the Further Reduction of Ce(IV) to Ce(III), Resulting in More Oxygen Vacancies. the Oxygen Vacancies at the Ni-CeOx Interface Enabled a High Rate of CO2 Activation and Enabled the Balance between the Activation of CO2 and H2O for BRM. Due to its Oxygen Vacancies as Activation Sites for CO2 and H2O, CeOx ALD overcoating Significantly Improved the Activity of Ni/Al2O3 Catalyst and Achieved a Better Control in the H2/CO Ratio with a Suitable Ratio of H2O/CO2/CH4 Feed. CeOx overcoatings Enhanced the Reducibility of Ni(II) Sites and Assisted in Preventing Ni from Oxidation during the BRM Reaction. Less Carbon Deposition Was Achieved by the Ni/Al2O3 Catalyst with CeOx overcoating as Ascribed to its Better Reactant Activation Capacity

A new model to estimate significant wave heights with ERS-1/2 scatterometer data

A new model is proposed to estimate the significant wave heights with ERS-1/2 scatterometer data. The results show that the relationship between wave parameters and radar backscattering cross section is similar to that between wind and the radar backscattering cross section. Therefore, the relationship between significant wave height and the radar backscattering cross section is established with a neural network algorithm, which is, if the average wave period is &lt;= 7s, the root mean square of significant wave height retrieved from ERS-1/2 data is 0.51 m, or 0.72 m if it is &gt;7s otherwise.</p

Intragranular Nanocomposite Powders As Building Blocks For Ceramic Nanocomposites

A powder-based bottom-up processing scheme is introduced for the production of ceramic nanocomposites. Internal displacement reactions between solid solution powders and metallic reactants proceeding via gaseous intermediates are utilized to generate nanostructured building blocks for the synthesis of ceramic nanocomposites. Subsequent rapid sintering results in ceramic nanocomposites, whose microstructures are inherited from the building blocks. This processing scheme is demonstrated for the production of titanium carbide nanocomposites featuring up to 28 wt.% intragranular tungsten inclusions derived from titanium-tungsten mixed carbide powders. Heat treatment of mixed carbide powders in evacuated ampoules containing titanium sponge and iodine at 1000°C for 24 h resulted in nanocomposite powders featuring tungsten precipitates within titanium carbide grains that were subsequently consolidated via spark plasma sintering at 1300°C for 10 min to produce titanium carbide/metallic tungsten nanocomposites. Transformation of mixed titanium–tungsten carbide powders to titanium carbide/metallic tungsten nanocomposite powders was analyzed via X-ray diffraction. Electron microscopy observations of microstructures pre- and post- sintering showed that the intragranular character of nanocomposite powders can be retained in sintered ceramic nanocomposites. The building block approach demonstrated in this work represents an improved method to make ceramic nanocomposites with majority intragranular character

Competition-cooperation mechanism between Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus based on systems mapping

IntroductionInterspecies interactions are a crucial driving force of species evolution. The genes of each coexisting species play a pivotal role in shaping the structure and function within the community, but how to identify them at the genome-wide level has always been challenging.MethodsIn this study, we embed the Lotka-Volterra ordinary differential equations in the theory of community ecology into the systems mapping model, so that this model can not only describe how the quantitative trait loci (QTL) of a species directly affects its own phenotype, but also describe the QTL of the species how to indirectly affect the phenotype of its interacting species, and how QTL from different species affects community behavior through epistatic interactions.ResultsBy designing and implementing a co-culture experiment for 100 pairs of Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), we mapped 244 significant QTL combinations in the interaction process of the two bacteria using this model, including 69 QTLs from E. coli and 59 QTLs from S. aureus, respectively. Through gene annotation, we obtained 57 genes in E. coli, among which the genes with higher frequency were ypdC, nrfC, yphH, acrE, dcuS, rpnE, and ptsA, while we obtained 43 genes in S. aureus, among which the genes with higher frequency were ebh, SAOUHSC_00172, capF, gdpP, orfX, bsaA, and phnE1.DiscussionBy dividing the overall growth into independent growth and interactive growth, we could estimate how QTLs modulate interspecific competition and cooperation. Based on the quantitative genetic model, we can obtain the direct genetic effect, indirect genetic effect, and genome-genome epistatic effect related to interspecific interaction genes, and then further mine the hub genes in the QTL networks, which will be particularly useful for inferring and predicting the genetic mechanisms of community dynamics and evolution. Systems mapping can provide a tool for studying the mechanism of competition and cooperation among bacteria in co-culture, and this framework can lay the foundation for a more comprehensive and systematic study of species interactions

Design and Implementation of a Control Strategy for Microgrid Containing Renewable Energy Generations and Electric Vehicles

Large amount of such renewable energy generations as wind/photovoltaic generations directly connected to grid acting as distributed generations will cause control, protection, security, and safety problems. Microgrid, which has advantages in usage and control of distributed generations, is a promising approach to coordinate the conflict between distributed generations and the grid. Regarded as mobile power storages, batteries of electric vehicles can depress the fluctuation of power through the point of common coupling of microgrid. This paper presents a control strategy for microgrid containing renewable energy generations and electric vehicles. The control strategy uses current control for renewable energy generations under parallel-to-grid mode, and uses master-slave control under islanding mode. Simulations and laboratory experiments prove that the control strategy works well for microgrid containing renewable energy generations and electric vehicles and provides maximum power output of renewable energy and a stable and sustainable running under islanding mode

The Government’s Environment Policy Index Impact on Recycler Behavior in Electronic Products Closed-Loop Supply Chain

We establish the model of multilevel closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) which included raw material supplier, manufacturer, distributor, retailer, and third-party recycler based on system dynamics (SD). Considering factors which influence recycler behavior-environmental policy index and recovery delay, we apply SD software—Vensim—to simulate CLSC model and study recycler behavior’s influence on the entire CLSC through calculating the bullwhip effect of all levels members order rate. Research shows that (1) the larger the environmental policy index, the greater the recycle proportion and the better the effect of weakening retailer’s order rate in forward supply chain, which however, increasingly, strengthen the reverse supply chain bullwhip effect, (2) the shorter the recovery delay, the better the effect of weakening the forward supply chain bullwhip effect and the longer the recovery delay, which increasingly weakens the reverse supply chain bullwhip effect, and (3) the effect of environmental policy index on the bullwhip effect of all levels members order rate is more significant than recovery delay

Effect of Grain Size on the Irradiation Response of Grade 91 Steel Subjected to Fe Ion Irradiation at 300 °C

Irradiation using Fe ion at 300 °C up to 100 dpa was carried out on three variants of Grade 91 (G91) steel samples with different grain size ranges: fine-grained (FG, with blocky grains of a few micrometers long and a few hundred nanometers wide), ultrafine-grained (UFG, grain size of ~ 400 nm) and nanocrystalline (NC, lath grains of ~ 200 nm long and ~ 80 nm wide). Electron microscopy investigations indicate that NC G91 exhibit higher resistance to irradiation-induced defect formation than FG and UFG G91. In addition, nano-indentation studies reveal that irradiation-induced hardening is significantly lower in NC G91 than that in FG and UFG G91. Effective mitigation of irradiation damage was achieved in NC G91 steel in the current irradiation condition. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see full text.