State ownership, institutional development, and corporate philanthropic giving: an integrated view of legitimacy–efficiency trade-offs

We explore the trade-offs between social legitimacy and economic efficiency in the context of corporate philanthropic giving (C.P.G.). C.P.G. is viewed as a cost to seek legitimacy, which also serves as a resource to seek efficiency. Using a longitudinal panel data set of Chinese publicly listed firms, we examine how state ownership and institutional development shape firms’ response to C.P.G., and the contingent role of firm visibility and political ties. State ownership enables firms to prioritise legitimacy over efficiency, whereas institutional development enables firms to emphasise efficiency over legitimacy. We also suggest that the positive effect of state ownership on C.P.G. increases for visible firms, and the negative effect of institutional development on C.P.G. increases for visible firms but decreases for politically connected firms. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these finding

Research on the mobility behaviour of Chinese construction workers based on evolutionary game theory

The Chinese construction industry is characterised by the frequent job changes of lower-level workers, which has been identified as one of the principal causes of poor performance, quality and safety accidents, and high technology loss in the construction industry. Assuming that each party has incomplete market information about the other, we can thus define a dynamic game relationship between employers’ incentives to retain workers and workers’ mobility behaviour. By using evolutionary game theory, in this study we analyse various conditional evolutionary stable strategies and explore how employer behaviour influences the mobility of the workers in this industry in China. The results show that under the prevailing employment model, construction workers are bound to change jobs regardless of whether their employers adopt incentives to retain them or not. This finding suggests that the government, as the market regulator, should reform its employment model to ensure that construction workers switch jobs in an orderly and rational manner

Revolutionizing wild silk fibers: Ultrasound enhances structure, properties, and regenerability of protein biomaterials in ionic liquids.

Ultrasound-assisted regulation of biomaterial properties has attracted increasing attention due to the unique reaction conditions induced by ultrasound cavitation. In this study, we explored the fabrication of wild tussah silk nanofiber membranes via ultrasound spray spinning from an ionic liquid system, characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), atomic force microscopy (AFM), water contact angle, cytocompatibility tests, and enzymatic degradation studies. We investigated the effects of ultrasound propagation in an ionic liquid on the morphology, structure, thermal and mechanical properties, surface hydrophilicity, biocompatibility, and biodegradability of the fabricated fibers. The results showed that as ultrasound treatment time increased from 0 to 60 min, the regenerated silk fiber diameter decreased by 0.97 μm and surface area increased by 30.44 μ

Ultra-Sensitive Piezo-Resistive Sensors Constructed with Reduced Graphene Oxide/Polyolefin Elastomer (RGO/POE) Nanofiber Aerogels.

Flexible wearable pressure sensors have received extensive attention in recent years because of the promising application potentials in health management, humanoid robots, and human machine interfaces. Among the many sensory performances, the high sensitivity is an essential requirement for the practical use of flexible sensors. Therefore, numerous research studies are devoted to improving the sensitivity of the flexible pressure sensors. The fiber assemblies are recognized as an ideal substrate for a highly sensitive piezoresistive sensor because its three-dimensional porous structure can be easily compressed and can provide high interconnection possibilities of the conductive component. Moreover, it is expected to achieve high sensitivity by raising the porosity of the fiber assemblies. In this paper, the three-dimensional reduced graphene oxide/polyolefin elastomer (RGO/POE) nanofiber composite aerogels were prepared by chemical reducing the graphene oxide (GO)/POE nanofiber composite aerogels, which were obtained by freeze drying the mixture of the GO aqueous solution and the POE nanofiber suspension. It was found that the volumetric shrinkage of thermoplastic POE nanofibers during the reduction process enhanced the compression mechanical strength of the composite aerogel, while decreasing its sensitivity. Therefore, the composite aerogels with varying POE nanofiber usage were prepared to balance the sensitivity and working pressure range. The results indicated that the composite aerogel with POE nanofiber/RGO proportion of 3:3 was the optimal sample, which exhibits high sensitivity (ca. 223 kPa-1) and working pressure ranging from 0 to 17.7 kPa. In addition, the composite aerogel showed strong stability when it is either compressed with different frequencies or reversibly compressed and released 5000 times

Process Study on the Preparation of Degradable Antifouling Paint Coatings by Solvent Method

Marine anti-fouling coatings have been widely used as one of the effective methods to prevent marine fouling organisms from adhering to the surfaces of various marine facilities. The main types are self-polishing anti-fouling coatings and low surface energy anti-fouling coatings, and biomimetic antifouling paint. Due to the increasing awareness of environmental protection, the anti-fouling coatings harmful to the environment have been gradually banned, so the research and development of new anti-fouling coatings has become the primary direction of development.In this paper, polycaprolactone and PLA were used as resin base materials, capsaicin as bio-friendly anti-fouling agent, starch as polysaccharide additive, the experimental samples were prepared by adjusting the mixture ratio of these materials. The experiment of adding starch and unadded starch was carried out by using Magnetic stirrer and other experimental equipment to simulate the hanging board method on the sea and observed and recorded, the effect of Starch on the hydrolysis of anti-fouling coatings using single component or blends of biodegradable materials such as polycaprolactone, polylactic acid (PLA) as resin matrix was investigated.The results showed that starch could promote the hydrolysis of resin-based materials such as PCL, and the solubility of PCL and PLA in chloroform was obtained, a preparation method of antifouling coating for marine static culture equipment was obtained

Research Progress and Prospect of Marine Antifouling Coatings

Marine biological pollution refers to activities such as a large number of barnacles, algae and other organisms or microorganisms gathering and damaging ships or other marine industries. Among them, the most effective way is to use degradable materials as the substrate and add antifouling agents that can destroy fouling organisms. Traditional marine antifouling coatings release toxic substances with broad spectrum, such as cuprous oxide and organotin, so as to achieve effective antifouling. However, with the adverse effects on the marine environment, it is a long way to go to study and prepare environment-friendly antifouling agents. This paper mainly introduces the traditional degradable materials PCL, PLA, etc., and also introduces the current low-toxic antifouling agent DCOIT composite materials and new natural antifouling agents, etc

Psychological contract’s effect on job mobility: Evidence from Chinese construction worker

The subject of this study is that the psychological contract (PC) approaches to job mobility within the construction industry with special reference to migrant construction workers in China. Using a semi-structured interview to elicit a full range of the PC’s con- tent of construction worker, we unravel the mechanism of such contract to influence the informal job mobility of workers through the lens of the evolutionary game framework. The results demonstrate that, in the case of fulfilling PC, the informal job mobility of workers is under control, and both workers and employers benefit from this situation. This study deepens the understanding of the PC’s effect on the job mobility of construction workers in China during the course of economic change. The theoretical and practical implications are discusse