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The purpose of this paper is to find a new method to reinforce high-density polyethylene (HDPE) with polyacrylonitrile fibers (PAN). Furthermore, the crystallinity, viscoelasticity and thermal properties of HDPE composites have also been investigated and compared.

For effective reinforcing, samples with different content fillers were prepared. HDPE composites were prepared by melt blending with double-screw extruder prior to cutting into particles and the samples for testing were made using an injection molding machine.

With the addition of 9 Wt.% PAN fibers, it was found that the tensile strength and flexural modulus got the maximum value in all HDPE composites and increased by 1.2 times than pure HDPE. The shore hardness, storage modulus and vicat softening point of the composites improved continuously with the increase in the proportion of the fibers. The thermal stability and processability of composites did not change rapidly with the addition of PAN fibers. The degree of crystallinity increased with the addition of PAN fibers. In general, the composites achieve the best comprehensive mechanical properties with the fiber content of 9 Wt.%.

The fibers improve the strength of the polyethylene and enhance its ability to resist deformation.

The modified HDPE by PAN fibers in this study have high tensile strength and resistance to deformation and can be used as an efficient material in engineering, packaging and automotive applications.

Given its importance, career optimism (CO) has drawn much attention from researchers. Fruitful evidence has been accumulated; unfortunately, a quantitative review is still lacking, which would limit the continuous development of this field. To address this, this paper uses the meta-analysis technology to evaluate the links between CO and its antecedents and outcomes.

This study used Hunter–Schmidt method random effect meta-analysis technology to systematically evaluate the true score correlations between CO and its antecedents and outcomes.

Among the CO antecedents, this study found significant links between CO and agreeableness (ρ = 0.11), career adaptability (ρ = 0.55), career knowledge (ρ = 0.43), career decision self-efficacy (ρ = 0.52), social support (ρ = 0.30), conscientiousness (ρ = 0.54), extraversion (ρ = 0.38), gender (ρ = 0.07), GPA (ρ = 0.11), neuroticism (ρ = −0.42), and openness (ρ = 0.27). Moreover, among the CO outcomes, significant links have been found between CO and academic satisfaction (ρ = 0.43), career choice satisfaction (ρ = 0.44), career decisiveness (ρ = 0.37), depersonalization (ρ = −0.48), and emotional exhaustion (ρ = −0.59).

By conducting the first meta-analysis of CO, our study contributes to the CO literature. Additionally, our study increases the knowledge of CO, which would help leaders in the school or workplace to understand the significance of CO better and thereby take actions to intervene and increase students or employees' CO.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of person–organization (P-O) adhocracy value congruence on employee creativity using the supplementary fit theory while investigating the moderating effect of the immediate supervisor's transformational leadership.

The study uses polynomial regression to analyze 431 employees from 47 Chinese companies.

Higher levels of creativity were observed in employees whose adhocracy value was congruent with that of the organization.

The practice of hiring employees with creative value or building creative culture may not trigger employee creativity if managers do not take value congruence into consideration.

This study introduces a new perspective on understanding creativity in the workplace. First, it contributes to work on the consequences of P-O value congruency by exploring how supplementary fit influences employee creativity. Second, it contributes to creativity research by proposing a P-O supplementary fit argument to explain the actor-context interactionist model of creativity.

This paper investigates how the gap between the host country's actual and optimal financial conditions affects foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows through evidence from China.

The authors first employ principal component analysis (PCA) to measure FDI target countries' actual financial conditions and use 30 OECD countries as a reference group to assess the optimal financial condition. The authors then estimate a two-way fixed effect model with panel data of China's outward FDI in 64 countries for the period 2003–2017 to get the regression results. The authors' results overcome endogeneity and are robust.

Results show that (1) the gaps between host countries' actual and optimal financial conditions positively affect FDI inflows from China; (2) there is a heterogeneous effect between low-income and high-income countries. The gaps for high-income countries significantly increase FDI inflows from China, while the gaps are not significant for low-income countries.

The authors examine how the gap affects FDI inflows from China. An increase of 1% in the target country's gap promotes a 6.3% increase in FDI inflows. However, the authors do not explore what mechanisms are key to these results. The authors will explore these questions in the future.

This paper complements the influence factors of FDI and enriches theories of FDI. The gap between actual and optimal financial conditions plays an essential role in FDI flows across countries for policymakers.

This study elicits the critical attributes, consequences and values associated with the purchasing process in the context of cross-border e-commerce (CBEC). The purpose is to provide a better understanding of the fundamental factors that determine consumer values in CBEC.

The study applies the means-end-chain theory and soft-laddering techniques to interview 60 CBEC consumers to construct an implication matrix and a hierarchical value map (HVM) of the consumer purchasing process, consisting of attribute-consequence-value (A-C-V) paths.

By analyzing the significant linkages, elements, ladders and chains in the HVM, four dominant A-C-V paths were identified: economic-driven, efficiency-driven, progress-driven and quality-driven paths.

This study included only Chinese CBEC buyers. This limitation might affect the generalizability of the conclusions as culture, purchase habits and economic development differ between China and other countries.

The results of this study provide CBEC practitioners an understanding of the consumer purchasing process and how consumer values are associated with platform characteristics. Thus, the results aid practitioners in allocating resources and developing CBEC platforms in an appropriate manner and direction.

This study sheds lights on the emerging phenomenon of CBEC. By applying the means-end-chain approach, the study provides a comprehensive HVM for interpreting the consumer online purchasing process in this novel context. By illustrating the dominant paths, this research provides deeper theoretical insights into the specific focuses of CBEC consumer purchasing.

This paper aims to investigate the actual impact, mechanism and internal and external environmental adjustment effect of ESG performance on the persistence of green innovation using data from China’s A-share manufacturing listed companies from 2009 to 2021.

Panel data regression models are used to explore the effect of ESG performance of manufacturing enterprises on the persistence of green innovation. To examine the mechanism of ESG performance affecting the persistence of green innovation of manufacturing enterprises, this paper refers to the research of Wen and Ye (2014) and constructs an analysis framework of intermediary effect.

This research was funded by Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation, grant number ZR2023MG075 & ZR2024QE171.

There are a few more limitations to this study that might be discussed from the following angles: first, due to data availability, this paper examines the persistence of green innovation from the output perspective. The authors can expand the data sources in the future and investigate the input-output combinations in green innovation as a means of understanding its sustainability. Second, the mechanism studied in this paper includes management costs, entry of green investors and risk-taking ability. In fact, it is possible that ESG performance influences green innovation persistence in other ways as well; these can be investigated more in the future.

First, it concentrates on the persistence of green innovation in manufacturing enterprises, surpassing the quantitative aspect and thereby broadening the research scope. Second, by including the “management expense ratio,” “green investor entry” and “risk-taking” as mediating factors, the study delves deeper into the mechanisms through which ESG performance impacts the persistence of green innovation in manufacturing enterprises, further broadening the research scope. Third, this research incorporates the internal and external environments encountered by manufacturing enterprises into the analytical framework to investigate their adjustment effects in the process of ESG performance influencing persistent green innovation, thus widening the research perspective. Fourth, this study introduces the subdimensions of ESG performance, specifically environmental responsibility, social responsibility and corporate governance, and assesses their impacts on the persistence of green innovation in manufacturing enterprises, thus enriching the research narrative.

The purpose of this paper is to prepare a spherical modifier-modified activated carbon fiber of high specific capacitance intended for electrode materials of supercapacitor.

In this study, phenolic-based microspheres are taken as modifiers to prepare PAN-based fiber composites by electrospinning, pre-oxidation and carbonization. Pearl-chain structures appear in RFC/ACF composites, and pure polyacrylonitrile fibers show a dense network. The shape and cross-linking degree are large. After the addition of the phenolic-based microspheres, the composite material exhibits a layered pearlite chain structure with a large porosity, and the RFC/ACF composite material is derived because of the existence of a large number of bead chain structures in the composite material. The density increases, the volume declines and the mass after being assembled into a supercapacitor as a positive electrode material decreases. The specific surface area of RFC/ACF composites is increased as compared to pure fibers. The increase in specific surface area could facilitate the diffusion of electrolyte ions in the material. Owing to the large number of bead chains, plenty of pore channels are provided for the diffusion of electrolyte ions, which is conducive to enhancing the electrochemical performance of the composite and improving the RFC/ACF composite and the specific capacitance of the material. The methods of electrochemical testing on symmetric supercapacitors (as positive electrodes) are three-electrode cyclic voltammetry, alternating current impedance and cycle stability.

The specific capacitance value of the composite material was found to be 389.2 F/g, and the specific capacitance of the electrode operating at a higher current density of 20 mA/cm2 was 11.87 F/g (the amount of the microsphere modifier added was 0.3 g). Using this material as a positive electrode to assemble into asymmetrical supercapacitor, after 2,000 cycles, the specific capacitance retention rate was 87.46 per cent, indicating excellent cycle stability performance. This result can be attributed to the fact that the modifier embedded in the fiber changes the porosity between the fibers, while improving the utilization of the carbon fibers and making it easier for electrolyte ions to enter the interior of the composites, thereby increasing the capacitance of the composites.

The modified PAN-based activated carbon fibers in the study had high specific surface area and significantly high specific capacitance, which makes it applicable as an efficient and environment-friendly absorbent, as well as an advanced electrode material for supercapacitor.

This paper aims to give the centralized and distributed fusion estimator for nonlinear multi-sensor networked systems with packet loss compensation and correlated noises and give the corresponding square-root cubature Kalman filter.

Based on the Gaussian approximation recursive filter framework, the authors derive the centralized fusion filter and using the projection theorem, the authors derive the centralized fusion smoother. Then, based on the fast batch covariance intersection fusion algorithm, the authors give the corresponding results for distributed fusion estimators.

Designing the fusion estimators for nonlinear multi-sensor networked systems with packet loss compensation and correlated noises is necessary. It is useful for general nonlinear systems.

Throughout the whole study, the main highlights of this paper are as follows: packet loss compensation and correlated noises are considered in nonlinear multi-sensor networked systems. There are no relevant conclusions in the existing literature; centralized and distributed fusion estimators are derived based on the above system; for the posterior covariance with compensation factor and correlated noises, a new square-root factor of the error covariance is derived; and the new square-root factor of the error covariance is used to replace the numerical implementation of the covariance in cubature Kalman filter (CKF), which simplified the problem in calculating the posterior covariance in CKF.

The purpose of this paper is to present the latest sensing structure designs and principles of information detection of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) displacement sensors. Research advance and the future work in this field have been described, with the background that displacement and deformation measurements are universal and crucial for structural health monitoring.

This paper analyzes and summarizes the existing FBG displacement sensing technologies from two aspects principle of information detection (wavelength detection, spectral bandwidth detection, light intensity detection, among others) and principle of the sensing elastomer structure design (cantilever beam type, spring type, elastic ring type and other composite structures).

The current research on developing FBG displacement sensors is mainly focused on the sensing method, the construction and design of the elastic structure and the design of new information detection method. The authors hypothesize that the following research trends will be strengthened in future: temperature compensation technology for FBG displacement sensors based on wavelength detection; a study of more diverse elastic structures; and fiber gratings manufactured with special fibers will greatly improve the performance of sensors.

The latest sensing structure designs and principles of information detection of FBG displacement sensors have been proposed, which could provide important reference for research group.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the hydrogen embrittlement sensitivity of carbon gradient heterostructure materials and to verify the reliability of the scratch method.

The surface-modified layer of 18CrNiMo7-6 alloy steel was delaminated to study its hydrogen embrittlement characteristics via hydrogen permeation, electrochemical hydrogen charging and scratch experiments.

The results showed that the diffusion coefficients of hydrogen in the surface and matrix layers are 3.28 × 10⁻⁷ and 16.67 × 10⁻⁷ cm²/s, respectively. The diffusible-hydrogen concentration of the material increases with increasing hydrogen-charging current density. For a given hydrogen-charging current density, the diffusible-hydrogen concentration gradually decreases with increasing depth in the surface-modified layer. Fracture toughness decreases with increasing diffusible-hydrogen concentration, so the susceptibility to hydrogen embrittlement decreases with increasing depth in the surface-modified layer.

The reliability of the scratch method in evaluating the fracture toughness of the surface-modified layer material is verified. An empirical formula is given for fracture toughness as a function of diffused-hydrogen concentration.