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Professor independent directors have been the subject of academic debate as to whether they can improve corporate innovation performance. Accordingly, this paper aims to investigate the relationship between professor independent directors, the marketization process and corporate innovation performance in China.

Using a sample of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2014 to 2017, this study examines how professor independent directors and the (low and high) marketization process affect corporate innovation performance.

The empirical analysis of this yields the following main results. First, enterprises with a higher proportion of professor independent directors outperform those with a low proportion of professor independent directors in terms of corporate innovation. Second, the study of introducing the marketization process finds that there is no “market failure”. Third, while professor independent directors have a significant association with innovation performance in the high-marketization group, this association is negligible in the low-marketization group, indicating that there is no “substitution effect”.

This research provides empirical evidence to support the hiring of professors with relevant backgrounds as independent directors who can contribute meaningfully to corporate governance and innovation while also fostering industrial transformation. This study also identifies that the role of professor independent directors in facilitating corporate innovation is more effective in regions with a high degree of marketization than in regions with a low degree of marketization, implying that increasing marketization benefits the role of professor independent directors in facilitating corporate innovation.

Drawing on mood regulation theories, the purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of employees’ coworker-helping behaviors (OCB-Is) on the relationships between prior negative affect and subsequent job satisfaction and creative performance. The authors hypothesize that employees’ work competence is a moderator of the relation between negative affect and OCB-Is.

Data were collected by the experience sampling method of self-rating (twice per day) and coworker-rating (once per day) over two weeks by 120 administrative employees and their coworkers in a university; 743 available days were obtained.

Multilevel modeling showed that self-rated negative affect during the morning was associated with coworker-rated OCB-Is during the afternoon; OCB-Is were positively associated with self-rated job satisfaction and coworker-rated creative performance during the afternoon; based on an indirect effect, OCB-Is mediated the relationships between negative affect and job satisfaction, and negative affect and creative performance; and employees with high-level work competences tended to engage in OCB-Is more than employees with low-level work competences when experiencing negative affect.

These findings suggest that OCB-Is create a positive reaction by converting negative affect into positive job satisfaction and creative performance and that employees’ work competence is the boundary condition.

This paper aims to investigate the dyeability of tussah silk fabric with lotus seedpod extract as the source of nontoxic and eco-friendly dyestuffs and functional agent.

Mordant free dyeing method was carried out using citric acid (CA) as the cross-linking agent to link the fibre and dye molecules. First, the natural pigment of oligomeric procyanidins was extracted from the lotus seedpod and then used to dye the tussah silk fabric. After the dyeing process, the dyed samples were treated with CA solution under different concentrations to improve the colour fastness.

The tussah silk fabric was successfully coloured in reddish brown through the dyeing process and charactered by using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy spectrometer. Moreover, lotus seedpod extract could impart excellent UV protection ability to the dyed samples, and UPF values reached up to 2000. CA dosage influenced the colour characteristics, UV protection and anti-wrinkling performance. The optimum dosage of CA was 7% (Wt.%). In addition, dyed silk fabric showed good antibacterial activity and the calculated bacteriostatic rate against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were 83.27 and 60.2%, respectively.

This bio-dyeing strategy provided a simple and effective method for sustainable tussah silk fabric dyeing process.

This paper provides a novel dyeing strategy for mordant free dyeing and functionalization of tussah silk fabric, with lotus seedpod extract as natural pigment and CA as cross-linking agent to link the fibre and dye molecules.

The current challenges experienced by all nations promote the trade-off between the increase in economic performance and the protected environment. The investigation based on the energy economy has become an irreplaceable topic to determine the correct path for minimizing the trade-off cost. Within this scope, this study has been performed to investigate the causality nexus between the exports indicators (aggregated exports and the ICT exports) and the energy consumption (renewable and nonrenewable energy consumption of the selected five emerging countries. The Dumitrescu–Hurlin panel causality analysis is performed on the annual data between 2000 and 2014. As a consequence of the evidence, it is documented that there are various causality relationships between the exports and the energy consumption indicators in the light of the performed analysis at different lags. However, the role of nonrenewable energy consumption is more active in the economies of the considered countries. According to the evidence, it is recommended for the emerging countries to invest and allocate more funds to renewable energy resources to diminish the role of nonrenewable energy resources in the economy.

This study aims to fabricate a multifunctional electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding composite fabric with simultaneous high-efficiency photothermal conversion and Joule heating performances.

A multifunctional polypyrrole (PPy) hydrogel/multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)/cotton EMI shielding composite fabric (hereafter denoted as PHMC) was prepared by loading MWCNT onto tannin-treated cotton fabric, followed by in situ crosslinking-polymerization to synthesize three-dimensional (3D) conductive networked PPy hydrogel on the surface of MWCNT-coated cotton fabric.

Benefiting from the unique interconnected 3D networked conductive structure of PPy hydrogel, the obtained PHMC exhibited a high EMI-shielding effectiveness vale of 48 dB (the absorbing electromagnetic wave accounted for 84%) within a large frequency range (8.2–12.4 GHz). Moreover, the temperature of the laminated fabric reached 54°C within 900 s under 15 V, and it required more than 100 s to return to room temperature (28.7°C). When the light intensity was adjusted to 150 mW/cm², the PHMC temperature was about 38.2°C after lighting for 900 s, indicating high-efficiency electro-photothermal effect function.

This paper provides a novel strategy for designing a type of multifunctional EMI shielding composite fabric with great promise for wearable smart garments, EMI shielding and personal heating applications.

This study aims to fabricate a novel electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding composite aerogel with both thermal insulation and high temperature warning functions.

An emerging bio-based polypyrrole (PPy) gel/Fe₃O₄/calcium alginate (PFC) EMI shielding composite aerogel was prepared by freeze-drying and in situ polymerization method. First, Fe₃O₄/calcium alginate (CA) aerogel was obtained by freeze-drying the Fe₃O₄/CA mixture. Then, PPy/Fe₃O₄/CA was obtained by synthesizing PPy on the surface of CA/Fe₃O₄ aerogel through in situ polymerization. Finally, PPy/Fe₃O₄/CA was immersed in porphyrin solution (cross-linking agent) to get the final PFC EMI shielding composite aerogel.

Due to the matched impedance between Fe₃O₄ and PPy, the EMI shielding performance of PFC composite aerogel can reach up to −8 dB. In addition, the PFC EMI shielding composite aerogel also shows excellent self-extinguishing and thermal insulation properties. After leaving the flame, the burning PFC aerogel is quickly extinguished. When the PFC aerogel is placed on the heating plate at 230 °C, the temperature on the side of the aerogel away from the heating plate is only 90.3 °C after 5 min of heating. The electrical resistance of the PFC composite aerogel can be reduced from 3.62 × 104 O to 5 × 102 O to trigger the warning light after 3 s of exposure to the alcohol lamp flame. This reversible thermal resistance response characteristic can be used to give an early warning signal when the PFC encounters high temperature or flame.

This work provides a novel strategy for designing a multifunctional EMI shielding composite aerogel with repeatable high temperature warning performance. This PFC composite aerogel shows potential applications in the prevention of material combustion in high temperature electromagnetic environments.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of nano‐titanium dioxide and nano‐silicon dioxide particles on the mechanical and antimicrobial properties of denture base resin.

Nano‐titanium dioxide and nano‐silicon dioxide particles were introduced to heat‐curing denture base resin to prepare composites. Electronic universal testing machine and friction tester were used to test tensile strength and frictional resistance properties of the samples prepared, respectively; also, film adhesion method was used to test the in vitro antimicrobial activity against Candida albicans and Streptococcus mutans.

Addition of nano‐titanium dioxide particles could improve the antimicrobial property of denture base resin, and addition of nano‐silicon dioxide particles could improve the tensile strength and frictional resistance of denture base resin. Mixture of the two nano‐particles, at a certain ratio, could improve the tensile strength, frictional resistance and antimicrobial property of denture base resin to a certain extent.

Nano‐titanium dioxide and nano‐silicon dioxide denture base resin composites were obtained. The mechanical and antimicrobial properties of the composites were improved compared to the raw denture base resin.

Nano‐titanium dioxide and nano‐silicon dioxide denture base resin composites with excellent performance could be obtained. Longer service life, greater hardness and clearness helped improve the patients' quality of life. Limited work with respect to the improved denture base resin was performed, which could form the theme of a future study. The outcomes of the research reported here set a new milestone in the field of denture base resin.

Little systematic work has been completed on the incidence of employee ownership in a Chinese context. Similar to the situation in Eastern Europe, this type of ownership was quite widespread in China, particularly during the 1990s. Based on the existing literature and available statistical data, the purpose of this paper is to identify drivers of, and barriers to, the development of employee ownership in China.

The scattered evidence from the literature and official statistical sources are collected and structured in a systematic analysis where the drivers and barriers for employee ownership in the transition process from plan to market are identified at three levels: society, the company and the individual.

Employee ownership developed as a transitory stage between state and private ownership; employees acquired ownership stakes as part of the privatisation of small- and medium-sized state-owned enterprises as well as collectively owned enterprises. However, in most cases the dynamics of ownership resulted in dominant ownership by managers. This trend became more noticeable at later stages of the privatisation process.

The paper shows how policies and institutional settings at the society level are determining for the development of employee ownership.

The contribution of the paper is to give a general and systematic analysis of the development of employee ownership in China both based on a comprehensive literature review and by utilising existing statistical sources.

This study aims to argue that responses in economic growth (EG) resulting from positive and negative shocks in energy consumption could be a non-linear phenomenon. Thus, the study aims to investigate the existence of non-linear long-run effects of positive and negative shocks in green and conventional energy consumption on EG for China and India. By decomposing energy consumption in positive and negative shocks, the study seeks to determine the distinct impact of positive and negative shocks in energy (conventional and green) consumption on EG of China and India.

A non-linear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model based on energy-augmented environment Kuznets curve (EKC) framework is used on annual time series covering the period 1965–2021. The study uses a precise econometric methodology, starting with unit root tests to assess stationarity, moving to the estimation of the NARDL model, which resulted in the calculation of long-run coefficients and error correction terms to analyse the rate of adjustment towards equilibrium.

The empirical findings demonstrate that there exists a non-linear cointegrating relationship among EG, carbon emissions and green and conventional energy consumption for both economies. In the long run, a non-linear impact of green energy consumption (GEC) on EG is evident for China only, whereas non-linear impact of conventional energy consumption (CEC) on EG is visible for both countries.

While China and India prioritise energy diversification by embracing green energy to promote energy security and limit rising carbon emissions, it is interesting to investigate how positive and negative shocks in GEC and CEC have affected their EG. Second, this paper examines the trade-offs between EG and GEC/CEC in China and India, two high-carbon emitters. The disparities in trade-offs may indicate how well each country’s energy policies address increased EG with fewer energy-induced carbon emissions.

This study examines non-linear cointegration among the variables of interest, whereas most prior studies have focused on linear cointegration. The existence of non-linear cointegration may suggest that positive and negative shocks in GEC and CEC can result in non-linear reactions in EG. Thus, it establishes a basis for examining the non-linear long-term effects of GEC and CEC on EG. The research findings indicate significant consequences and necessitate prompt intervention to alleviate the detrimental impacts of shocks in GEC and CEC on EG in China and India and provide several important inputs to address the inherent challenges of energy transition goals.

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between gross domestic product (GDP) by sector and energy consumption by type in 16 emerging countries.

The panel model was utilized taking the period 1980-2010.

The results revealed that GDP by sector and energy consumption by type are cointegrated. Moreover, the Granger causality concluded a bi-directional causal relationship between oil, natural gas and renewable energy consumption and the value of the manufacturing, industrial and services sector. Furthermore, a bi-directional causal relationship was also found between coal consumption and the value of the services sector. Furthermore, a one-way causal relationship was found from oil consumption to the value of the agriculture sector, the value of the agriculture sector to coal consumption, and coal consumption to the value of the manufacturing and the industrial sectors.

This study recommended that these countries should increase their renewable energy consumption to achieve their GDP growth.

This study is different from the previous studies, as it disaggregated the GDP into four sectors, namely, agriculture, manufacturing, industrial and the services sector. In addition, this study will disaggregate energy consumption into oil consumption, gas consumption, coal consumption and electricity consumption.