Effects of Anode Flow Field Design on CO2 Bubble Behavior in μDMFC

Clogging of anode flow channels by CO2 bubbles is a vital problem for further performance improvements of the micro direct methanol fuel cell (μDMFC). In this paper, a new type anode structure using the concept of the non-equipotent serpentine flow field (NESFF) to solve this problem was designed, fabricated and tested. Experiments comparing the μDMFC with and without this type of anode flow field were implemented using a home-made test loop. Results show that the mean-value, amplitude and frequency of the inlet-to-outlet pressure drops in the NESFF is far lower than that in the traditional flow fields at high μDMFC output current. Furthermore, the sequential images of the CO2 bubbles as well as the μDMFC performance with different anode flow field pattern were also investigated, and the conclusions are in accordance with those derived from the pressure drop experiments. Results of this study indicate that the non-equipotent design of the μDMFC anode flow field can effectively mitigate the CO2 clogging in the flow channels, and hence lead to a significant promotion of the μDMFC performance

High preoperative white blood cell count determines poor prognosis and is associated with an immunosuppressive microenvironment in colorectal cancer

BackgroundThe correlation between high white blood cell (WBC) count and poor prognosis has been identified in various types of cancer; however, the clinical significance and immune context of WBC count in colorectal cancer remains unclear.MethodsBetween February 2009 and November 2014, 7,433 patients at the Shanghai Cancer Center who had undergone elective surgery for colorectal cancer were enrolled in this retrospective cohort study. Patients were divided into two groups: low and high preoperative WBC groups. Propensity score matching was used to address the differences in baseline characteristics. The Kaplan–Meier method and Cox regression analysis were used to identify independent prognostic factors in colorectal cancer patients. Tumor-infiltrating immune cells in the high and low preoperative WBC groups were compared using immunohistochemical staining.ResultsOf the 7,433 patients who underwent colorectal cancer surgery and were available for analysis, 5,750 were included in the low preoperative WBC group, and 1,683 were included in the high preoperative WBC group. After propensity score matching, 1,553 patients were included in each group. Kaplan–Meier survival curves showed that a high preoperative WBC count was associated with a decreased overall survival (P = 0.002) and disease-free survival (P = 0.003), and that preoperative WBC count was an independent risk factor for overall survival (hazard ratio, 1.234; 95% confidence interval, 1.068–1.426; P = 0.004) and disease-free survival (hazard ratio, 1.210; 95% confidence interval, 1.047–1.397, P = 0.01). Compared to the low preoperative WBC group, the high preoperative WBC group exhibited higher expression of regulatory T cells (P = 0.0034), CD68+ macrophages (P = 0.0071), and CD66b+ neutrophils (P = 0.0041); increased expression of programmed cell death protein 1 (P = 0.005) and programmed cell death ligand 1 (P = 0.0019); and lower expression of CD8+ T cells (P = 0.0057) in colorectal cancer patients.ConclusionsOur research indicates that a high preoperative WBC count is a prognostic indicator in colorectal cancer patients and is associated with an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, which could aid in future risk stratification

Effects of Social Media Usage on Job Crafting for Female Employees during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from China

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of social media platforms for working online has become a global phenomenon. For female employees, social media usage has made it easier to balance work and family, but the pressures have also multiplied. Especially in China, the COVID-19 prevention policies led to dramatic changes in working patterns, which significantly affected the emotions, cognitions, and behaviors of female employees. Based on the job demands resource theory, this study explores the double-edged effect of social media usage on job crafting for female employees. Survey data were collected from 563 female employees in Chinese enterprises. Hierarchical regression analysis and the bootstrap method by SPSS and AMOS software were used to test the hypotheses. The results show that work-related social media usage has a negative effect on job crafting, while social-related social media usage has a positive effect. Moreover, job autonomy and workplace friendship mediate the relationship between them. This study extends the research on the double-edge effect of female employees’ social media usage and enriches the antecedents and influencing mechanisms of job crafting. It also provides theoretical and practical guidance for managers on how to promote the sustainability of human capital during the COVID-19 pandemic

Team Leader’s Conflict Management Style and Team Innovation Performance in Remote R&D Teams—With Team Climate Perspective

Remote work has become a new way of working due to the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, which inevitably aggravates team conflicts caused by cognitive differences given the lack of face-to-face communication. With a team climate perspective, this paper investigates the impact of the team leader’s conflict management style on team innovation performance in remote R&D teams in China based on social cognition theory and two-dimension theory. A theoretical model is constructed which describes the mediating effect of team psychological safety and the moderating impact of team trust. Paired data from 118 remote R&D teams in China including 118 leaders and 446 members were collected. The results show that team leader’s cooperative conflict management style is conducive to enhancing team psychological safety and further effectively improves team innovation performance. Therefore, team psychological safety has a mediating effect between team leader’s cooperative conflict management style and team innovation performance. In addition, team trust has a negative moderating effect between team leader’s cooperative conflict management style and team psychological safety. Besides, this study obtains some valuable culture-related insights and provides more views for conflict management research in the cross-cultural context since the samples in this study are from China, a society with high collectivism, which is different from the western cultural context from which many conflict management theories develop

Effects of Social Media Usage on Job Crafting for Female Employees during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from China

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of social media platforms for working online has become a global phenomenon. For female employees, social media usage has made it easier to balance work and family, but the pressures have also multiplied. Especially in China, the COVID-19 prevention policies led to dramatic changes in working patterns, which significantly affected the emotions, cognitions, and behaviors of female employees. Based on the job demands resource theory, this study explores the double-edged effect of social media usage on job crafting for female employees. Survey data were collected from 563 female employees in Chinese enterprises. Hierarchical regression analysis and the bootstrap method by SPSS and AMOS software were used to test the hypotheses. The results show that work-related social media usage has a negative effect on job crafting, while social-related social media usage has a positive effect. Moreover, job autonomy and workplace friendship mediate the relationship between them. This study extends the research on the double-edge effect of female employees’ social media usage and enriches the antecedents and influencing mechanisms of job crafting. It also provides theoretical and practical guidance for managers on how to promote the sustainability of human capital during the COVID-19 pandemic

Frequency Diffeomorphisms for Efficient Image Registration

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017. This paper presents an efficient algorithm for large deformation diffeomorphic metric mapping (LDDMM) with geodesic shooting for image registration. We introduce a novel finite dimensional Fourier representation of diffeomorphic deformations based on the key fact that the high frequency components of a diffeomorphism remain stationary throughout the integration process when computing the deformation associated with smooth velocity fields. We show that manipulating high dimensional diffeomorphisms can be carried out entirely in the bandlimited space by integrating the nonstationary low frequency components of the displacement field. This insight substantially reduces the computational cost of the registration problem. Experimental results show that our method is significantly faster than the state-of-the-art diffeomorphic image registration methods while producing equally accurate alignment. We demonstrate our algorithm in two different applications of image registration: neuroimaging and in-utero imaging.NIH NIBIB NAC (P41EB015902)NIH NINDS (R01NS086905)NIH NICHD (U01HD087211

The prediction of the methane production in landfill affected by the temperature

The functional relationship between the generation rate coefficient and temperature was developed for quantitative prediction of the temperature effect in this paper. The methane production of the landfill was predicted under the condition of the seasonal variation. The results showed that considering the temperature effect, the methane production is higher than the methane production without temperature effect of the 0.14×106 m3~0.28×106m3.With the depth increasing, the effect of the atmospheric temperature fluctuation on the temperature change of the landfill was weakened. The temperature has a significant effect on the methane production in the landfill. The temperature effect should be considered when simulate the long time effect of the landfill methane production

The prediction of the methane production in landfill affected by the temperature

The functional relationship between the generation rate coefficient and temperature was developed for quantitative prediction of the temperature effect in this paper. The methane production of the landfill was predicted under the condition of the seasonal variation. The results showed that considering the temperature effect, the methane production is higher than the methane production without temperature effect of the 0.14×106 m3~0.28×106m3.With the depth increasing, the effect of the atmospheric temperature fluctuation on the temperature change of the landfill was weakened. The temperature has a significant effect on the methane production in the landfill. The temperature effect should be considered when simulate the long time effect of the landfill methane production

The Impact of Mentoring Relationships on Innovation Performance of Post-90s Employees: A Dual-Path Model of Cognition and Affect

(1) Background: In recent years, post-90s employees have emerged as the driving force behind enterprise innovation, presenting unique challenges for innovation management. Their distinct characteristics and attitudes towards work require a thoughtful and adaptable approach from businesses to harness their potential effectively; (2) Methods: through empirical analysis of 518 valid samples in the Chinese context, with SPSS 26.0 and PROCESS V4.1 being used for the analysis, and to test the moderated mediation model; (3) Results: a. Mentoring relationships positively predict innovation performance; b. This relationship is mediated by role stress (cognition) and job vigor (affect); c. Innovative self-efficacy negatively moderates the impact of role stress on innovation performance and positively moderates the impact of job vigor on innovation performance; d. Moreover, innovative self-efficacy significantly moderates the mediating effect of role stress and job vigor, and the moderated mediating model is established; (4) Conclusions: Our findings reveal the “black box” of mentoring relationships in the process of influencing the innovation performance of post-90s employees, an area that has received limited research attention. This study further reveals the boundary effect of innovative self-efficacy