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Evaluation of physical and mechanical heterogeneity in commercial paperboards is needed to promote their use in structural applications, especially within the field of packaging. Understanding the range of their behaviors is needed to compete with other materials in the current marketplace and expand in others. This work describes the physical and stiffness heterogeneities of twelve commercial materials using tensile tests in the cross-machine direction and several inverse analyses. The effects of grammage, thickness, and apparent density on tensile stiffness were evaluated in both the linear elastic and nonlinear regimes. Thickness and density provided the best explanation for elastic heterogeneous behavior in most of the materials; local grammage was not the best descriptor for any material. The analyses used here were not able to provide a good explanation of the nonlinear behavior, which was attributed to the development of large shear strains within the materials as they neared failure. This work provides a methodology for additional heterogeneous behavior examinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of artificial intelligence technology, the assessment method based on machine learning, especially the ensemble learning method, has attracted more and more attention in the field of credit assessment. However, most of the ensemble assessment models are complex in structure and costly in time for parameter tuning, few of them break through the limitations of lightweight, universal and efficient. This paper present a new ensemble model for personal credit assessment. First, considering the conflicts and differences among multiple sources of information, a new method is proposed to correct the category prior information by using the difference measure. Then, the revised prior information is fused with the current sample information with the help of Bayesian data fusion theory. The model can integrate the advantages of multiple benchmark classifiers to reduce the interference of uncertain information. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed model, several typical ensemble classification models are selected and empirically studied using real customer credit data from a commercial bank in China, and the results show that among various assessment criteria: the proposed model not only effectively improves the multi-class classification performance, but also outperforms other advanced multi-class classification credit assessment models in terms of parameter tuning and generalizability. This paper supports commercial banks and other financial institutions examination and approval work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing interest in the financial materiality of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) ratings has prompted recent investigations into their risk pricing impact in the corporate bond market. The specific implications for the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry have not been explored, as prior work has primarily focused on broad-based ESG integration. To fill this gap, our study employed an interpretable machine learning technique using a sample universe of U.S. corporate bonds spanning from 2010 to 2021 to estimate the impact of ESG ratings on corporate bond issuance spreads. The results revealed an average ESG benefit of 10 basis points across all sectors. However, it is important to note that the effects of ESG ratings on bond pricing demonstrate variation across sectors and individual ESG constituent ratings. Significantly, our findings show that social and governance ratings emerge as the primary drivers influencing bond issuance costs, whereas the impact of environmental scores is comparatively less significant. Within AEC-related industries, empirical data on the influence of ESG ratings indicate discounted pricing by the market is particularly channeled through environmental and governance scores. These findings emphasize the value-added impact of enhanced ESG performance on the cost of debt financing, presenting a financially material opportunity for operational and management decision-making. By adopting sustainable strategies to improve ESG performance, organizations in the AEC industry can potentially achieve lower costs of debt when issuing bonds to secure financing for construction projects. The managerial implications extend to policymakers, corporate managers, and creditors, as they all stand to benefit from the financial implications of ESG performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to investigate an alternative evaporative cooling pad material made from mangosteen peel (MP) waste. Mangosteen peels were used to fill a 150 mm thick mesh container with a packing density of 180 kg/m3. A wind tunnel was constructed and utilized to experimentally evaluate the cooling performance of this organic-waste-based pad under hot and humid conditions (31–34 °C and 55–70% RH). The performance parameters assessed included pressure drop, temperature drop, saturation effectiveness, cooling capacity, and coefficient of performance (COP). The influence of air velocity (0.7, 1.0, 1.4, and 1.8 m/s) on these parameters was also examined. The results revealed that the saturation effectiveness of the MP pad ranged from 53% to 77% within the considered air velocity range. The maximum temperature drop (4.6 °C), saturation effectiveness (77%), cooling capacity (0.6 kW), and COP (3.5) were achieved when the system operated at 1.4 m/s. A comparative study showed that, at this velocity, the MP pad provided performance nearly equivalent to that of the commercial cellulose paper pad, except for the pressure drop. This result affirms the potential of mangosteen peels as a suitable wet medium for evaporative cooling applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper selects the data of corporate bond from 2005 to 2019, then divides them into long term bond and short term bond according to maturity of bond. Climate risk is found have significant impact on long term bond yield. Climate risk has no significant impact on short term bond yield. Callability has significant effect on both long term and short term bond yield, while callability has large effect on short term bond and relatively small effect on long term bond. The resale has significant effect on both long term and short term bond yield. The significant effect of the resale on short term bond yield explains large part of the short term bond yield. Issuance has significant impact on both long term and short term bond, with larger impact on short term bond yield. Maturity has significant effect on the yield of both long term and short term bond, and the effect is larger for short term bond. Bearish sentiment is negatively and significantly related to long term bond yield, but has no significant effect on short term bond yield. Credit ratings have large impact on long term bond yield and explain large part of this. However, credit ratings have no significant effect on short term bond yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Solar interfacial evaporation is one of the most efficient and environmentally-friendly clean freshwater production technologies. Plasma metal nanoparticles are excellent optical absorption materials, but their high cost and inherent resonance narrow bandwidth absorption limit their application. In this work, commercial cellulose papers are used as substrates to synthesize Ag-Ni/cellulose paper by the seed-mediated method. The Ag-Ni/cellulose paper exhibits high light absorption at the full wavelength (200–2500 nm) resulting from the synergistic effect of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of Ag NPs and the interband transitions (IBTs) of Ni. Under one-sun irradiation (1 kW m−2), the energy utilization efficiency of Ag-Ni/cellulose paper is as high as 93.8%, and the water evaporation rate is 1.87 kg m−2 h−1. Diffusion inhibition experiment results show that the Ag-Ni/cellulose paper exhibits excellent antibacterial performance, and the antibacterial performance is highly related with Ag NPs content. These provide new opportunities for commercial production of competitive cost, green, and portable solar evaporators for different application sceneries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a pricing model for a defaultable corporate bond with credit rating migration risk is established. The model turns out to be a free boundary problem with two free boundaries. The latter are the level sets of the solution but of different kinds. One is from the discontinuous second order term, the other from the obstacle. Existence, uniqueness, and regularity of the solution are obtained. We also prove that two free boundaries are C ∞. The asymptotic behavior of the solution is also considered: we show that it converges to a traveling wave solution when time goes to infinity. Moreover, numerical results are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have emerged as a promising functional filler in nanocomposites due to their unique anisotropy and resilience to harsh conditions. We report herein the use of Ti 0.91 O 2 nanosheets as a protective component against γ -irradiation to cellulose paper. The titanate nanosheets were prepared via a sequence of solid-state synthesis of lepidocrocite-type Cs 0.7 Ti 1.825 O 4 , proton exchange to H 0.7 Ti 1.825 O 4 ·H 2 O, and exfoliation with tetrabutylammonium hydroxide. The nanosheets were incorporated into the commercial cellulose filter paper by a simple dip coating up to 0.6 mg cm−2, equivalent to 10 wt% TiO 2. The nanosheets distribution was demonstrated by energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) mapping, synchrotron radiation X-ray tomographic microscopy (SRXTM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). It is found that γ -irradiation (up to 50 kGy) destroyed the cellulose I β crystallinity of uncoated paper, but this is less pronounced in the cellulose/titanate nanosheets composite. This was also confirmed by the lack of a 235 nm-absorption characteristics of irradiation-induced decomposition product(s) in nanosheets-containing papers, which also exhibit UVA shielding property. The coated samples remained white while the uncoated ones were darkened with γ -irradiation. In addition, the nanosheets-coated papers showed dielectric permittivity, loss tangent, and AC conductivity which were invariant of the γ -dose, unlike those from the uncoated ones. Our work demonstrates the use of lead-free Ti 0.91 O 2 nanosheets as a γ -shielding component to slow down/prevent structural, optical, and electrical properties damages in cellulose paper, which could extend to other nature-derived materials. [Display omitted] • Simple dip coating of commercial filter paper into titanate nanosheets suspension. • Nanosheets loadings were confirmed by several techniques. • The nanosheets (0.6 mg cm−2, or 10 wt% TiO 2) prevent structural, optical, and electrical properties damages by γ -irradiation (up to 50 kGy). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights the U.S. unemployment rate's slight increase to 3.80 present in August, despite efforts by the Fed to address inflation, with experts like doctor Ray Perryman and Wells Fargo noting the economy's resilience. It mentions Rajeev Dhawan expresses concern about a 'white-collar recession' due to job compressions in various sectors, affecting upward mobility and leading to reluctance in taking on higher-rate mortgages in certain segments of the workforce.

Paper with simultaneous fire-resistance and hydrophobicity have greatly potential applications in the fields of packing, storage and delivering information, which attracts increasing attention recently. Different from the traditional cellulose-based paper which is extremely easily damaged by water and fire, a new type of highly flexible, fire-resistant and hydrophobic paper based on Si 3 N 4 nanowires and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is reported. Specially, the Si 3 N 4 @PDMS core-shell nanowires with 3D interlocking structure are designed, in which the Si 3 N 4 nanowires act as the inorganic fire-resistant frameworks and the PDMS shell with low surface energy provides the hydrophobic surface. The Si 3 N 4 @PDMS core-shell nanowires are intertwined and interlaced to form a highly flexible Si 3 N 4 @PDMS paper. The tensile strength of Si 3 N 4 @PDMS paper is 6.19 MPa, indicating the good mechanical property. The obtained Si 3 N 4 @PDMS paper has the characteristics of writability, fire-resistance and hydrophobicity. The high thermal stability of Si 3 N 4 nanowires makes Si 3 N 4 @PDMS paper exhibit excellent fire resistance. No obvious change is observed for the commercial paper with Si 3 N 4 @PDMS paper as the fire-shielding layer after heating for 30 min. In addition, the contact angles of water droplets are all greater than 110° over the surfaces of Si 3 N 4 @PDMS paper after mechanical damages, chemical corrosions and thermal treatments. Si 3 N 4 @PDMS paper can be used in oil/water separation and oil collection. More importantly, Si 3 N 4 @PDMS paper can be used for writing without being damaged by fire or water. The present work may inspire the development and application of functional paper and is expected to become a breakthrough in the traditional paper industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is currently a lack of scientific reports on the use of composites based on UDMA resin containing HAp in conservative dentistry. The aim of this study was therefore to determine the effect of hydroxyapatite content on the properties of a hybrid composite used in conservative dentistry. This paper compares a commercial hybrid composite with experimental composites treated with 2% by weight (b/w), 5% b/w, and 8% b/w hydroxyapatite. The composites were subjected to bending strength, compression, and diametrical compression tests, as well as those for impact strength, hardness, and tribological wear. The obtained results were subjected to statistical analysis. Increased hydroxyapatite was found to weaken the mechanical properties; however, 2% b/w and 5% b/w hydroxyapatite powder was found to achieve acceptable results. The statistical analysis showed no significant differences. HAp is an effective treatment for composites when applied at a low concentration. Further research is needed to identify an appropriate size of HAp particles that can be introduced into a composite to adequately activate the surface and modification its composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Daily returns of the European corporate bond market are predicted using a penalized Lasso regression or Random forests. Predictions are utilized in investment strategies that allocate resources into risky position: interest-rate hedged corporate bonds or unhedged corporate bonds and risk-free position proxied by the Euro-Bobl futures that track the German government bonds. The strategies are more profitable with a lower risk than their passive alternatives, which only invest in corporate bonds (hedged or unhedged), but the daily rebalancing can be costly. Therefore, we examine the break-even transaction costs and suggest two approaches to lower the overall costs. Overall, even with costs, active strategies based on prediction can achieve higher returns with a lower risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we collect data of corporate bonds and government bonds issued from 2005 to 2019 from CSMAR database. Firstly, we make a stepwise regression analysis and research on the impact of climate risk, selling back and cross-market transaction on corporate bond yield. The impact of climate risk on corporate bond yield is positive because if carbon dioxide emission is more, the earth will be warmer and sea levels will be higher, then companies will face more climate risks and corporate bond yields will increase. The impact from the selling back on corporate bond yield is negative because if the bond can be resold, the risk will be lower and the bond yield will decrease. The impact of cross-market transaction on corporate bond yields is positive because if corporate bonds cannot be traded, the liquidity of corporate bonds will be low, and the risk will increase, then corporate bond yield will increase. Secondly, logarithmic regression analysis of climate risk factors shows that the climate risk is still significant and the model fits well. Selling back, cross-market trading and other factors are significant, and the pattern is more significant. Compared with the original model, it can better explain corporate bond yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the impact of climate risk on the yields of corporate bonds with different credit ratings. We find the impact of climate risk on AAA rated corporate bonds. When climate risk increases, the yield of AAA rated corporate bonds increases. But it explains only a tiny fraction of corporate bond yields. The model is more significant after taking the logarithm of climate risk. After maturity is added to the model, both the impact from climate risk and from maturity on the yield of AAA rated corporate bonds is significant. But the impact of climate risk on AA+ corporate bond yields is not significant and the impact of selling back on the yield of AA+ corporate bonds is significant and negative. When the selling back increases, the yield of AA+ corporate bonds decrease. The impact from the issuance on the yield of AA+ corporate bonds is significant and positive. When the issuance increases, the yield of AA+ corporate bonds increase. For AA rated corporate bonds, the impact from the independent variables on the yield of AA rated corporate bonds is not significant. Model does not hold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an examination of how investors in the corporate bond market in emerging economies react to patents. To empirically explore this question, we constructed a sample of 1862 Chinese corporate bonds issued between 2004 and 2020 and gathered data on Chinese domestic patents, reverse innovation patents, and the validity of patents. The empirical results suggest that domestic patents are the primary source of information for bond investors in China when evaluating corporate innovation and that investors can successfully discern between patents that are valid and those that are not. At the same time, the positive relationship between corporate innovation and bond prices is found to be negatively moderated by credit ratings and state ownership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most public health research on the commercial determinants of health (CDOH) to date has focused on a narrow segment of commercial actors. These actors are generally the transnational corporations producing so-called unhealthy commodities such as tobacco, alcohol, and ultra-processed foods. Furthermore, as public health researchers, we often discuss the CDOH using sweeping terms such as private sector, industry, or business that lump together diverse entities whose only shared characteristic is their engagement in commerce. The absence of clear frameworks for differentiating among commercial entities, and for understanding how they might promote or harm health, hinders the governance of commercial interests in public health. Moving forward, it is necessary to develop a nuanced understanding of commercial entities that goes beyond this narrow focus, enabling the consideration of a fuller range of commercial entities and the features that characterise and distinguish them. In this paper, which is the second of three papers in a Series on commercial determinants of health, we develop a framework that enables meaningful distinctions among diverse commercial entities through consideration of their practices, portfolios, resources, organisation, and transparency. The framework that we develop permits fuller consideration of whether, how, and to what extent a commercial actor might influence health outcomes. We discuss possible applications for decision making about engagement; managing and mitigating conflicts of interest; investment and divestment; monitoring; and further research on the CDOH. Improved differentiation among commercial actors strengthens the capacity of practitioners, advocates, academics, regulators, and policy makers to make decisions about, to better understand, and to respond to the CDOH through research, engagement, disengagement, regulation, and strategic opposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) was prepared from post-consumer old corrugated container (OCC) material, which was first disintegrated in water, cleaned to remove impurities, and then fibrillated by grinding. Those processed MFCs were treated with in-situ formation of calcium carbonate by adding calcium oxide and injecting carbon dioxide into the mixture up to the ratio of 1:40 (MFC: calcium carbonate) by weight. The MFCs had a dark brown color initially but turned into high brightness materials similar to commercial ground calcium carbonate (GCC) after the in-situ formation process. The MFCs that had calcium carbonate attached on their surfaces, which were lengthy and flexible, were called flexible calcium carbonate from OCC (FCCO). Paper containing FCCO gave higher bulk, higher stiffness, and higher tensile index without lowering smoothness when compared to the paper containing commercial GCC. However, brightness was slightly lowered because of initial low brightness of the OCC. This study also demonstrated the feasibility to substitute wood fibers up to 5% with FCCO without lowering essential properties for printing paper. Benefits of the waste paper are savings of both wood resources and production cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many economies, especially in Asia, implement different policies to incentivize the issuance of corporate green bonds. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence on the effectiveness of green bond policies. This study examines the impact of a broad range of green bond policies on the issuance of corporate green bonds in 56 green-bond-issuing economies, including 11 economies in Asia, from January 2010 to June 2020. Using the difference-in-difference specification within the multilevel probit model, the study shows that the following policies increase the probability of issuance of green bonds by corporates: (i) policies that reduce the cost of green bond issuance, such as green bond grants and tax incentives (such policies are particularly popular in Asia); (ii) coordination policies such as the establishment of green bond or green finance institutions, committees, groups, as well as other policy signals such as national commitments and targets; and (iii) global international cooperation and international standardization. Policies that reduce the cost of green bond issuance, such as green bond grants and tax incentives, incentivize the issuance of corporate green bonds. Coordination policies, such as the establishment of green bond or green finance institutions, committees, groups, as well as other policy signals, such as national commitments and targets, incentivize the issuance of corporate green bonds. Global international cooperation and standardization incentivize corporate green bond issuance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though politics and promotion have never been completely separate, the convergence between the two spheres is increasingly prominent in today's digital culture. To broaden our understanding of such promotional politics in social media, this paper examines commercial collaborations between four Swedish influencers and two private companies that offer services enabled by specific neoliberal reforms during recent decades, and how they strive to present these services in a way that attracts an affluent but socially conscious middle-class. It argues that the political potential of influencers might not always be as spokespersons for a cause or party, but rather as 'ideological intermediaries' who promote a lifestyle to be inspired by, and aspire to. The analysis identifies the discourses that influencers draw on to achieve the promotional and ideological outcomes of commercial collaborations, as well as the authenticity labour that they perform in the texts. Further, the paper analyses how notions of authenticity also impact audiences' interpretation and politicization of the collaborations, in the comment sections to the sponsored blogposts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to develop bio-based adhesives that can be used for various packaging papers. In addition to commercial paper samples, papers produced from harmful plant species in Europe, such as Japanese Knotweed and Canadian Goldenrod, were used. In this research, methods were developed to produce bio-based adhesive solutions in combinations of tannic acid, chitosan, and shellac. The results showed that the viscosity and adhesive strength of the adhesives were best in solutions with added tannic acid and shellac. The tensile strength with adhesives of tannic acid and chitosan was 30% better than with commercial adhesives and 23% for combinations of shellac and chitosan. For paper from Japanese Knotweed and Canadian Goldenrod, the most durable adhesive was pure shellac. Because the surface morphology of the invasive plant papers was more open and had numerous pores compared to the commercial papers, the adhesives penetrated the paper structure and filled the voids. There was less adhesive on the surface and the commercial papers achieved better adhesive properties. As expected, the bio-based adhesives also showed an increase in peel strength and exhibited favorable thermal stability. In summary, these physical properties support the use of bio-based adhesives use in different packaging applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, electrophotographic printing and inkjet printing systems were applied to some commercial A4 office papers and their effects on print quality were determined. It is to evaluate the print quality by determining the test parameters that measure the print quality by applying electrophotographic printing and inkjet printing systems to some commercial office papers that have determined the surface properties and optical properties supplied from the market. Print quality was measured by testing with parameters such as delta gloss 60°, print lightness, print chroma, print density. As a result of the tests determined for print quality; print density values were low in A4 office papers with high roughness and porosity values, and the specular gloss values of the samples decreased in both printing applications. In electrophotographic printing; it was determined that darker colors formed with print lightness parameter, and the color scale increases in two-sided printing with print chroma values. It was determined that the color scale of print chroma values increased in two-sided prints. It was determined that mostly some commercial office papers were positively affected by printing on one side in inkjet printing and by printing on two-sided in electrophotographic printing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper Commercial Pilot Preparation inspired optimization (CPPIO) algorithm, Mindarinae and Formica fusca rapport inspired optimization (MFO) algorithm, Red-footed Booby optimization (BO) algorithm are applied to solve the problem. Key objective of the problem is Real power loss reduction, Voltage deviation minimization and Voltage stability enhancement. Main segment of the CPPIO modernization is grounded on the choice of trainer by the beginner and at that time the preparation done by the designated trainer to the beginner. Amongst the beginner population, chosen quantities of the preeminent associates are deliberated as trainers and remaining as beginner. Preparation of the beginner to become as commercial pilot by the trainer is the exploration segment of the algorithm. Mindarinae and Formica fusca rapport inspired optimization algorithm combines dissimilar exploration stratagems, which pretend the dissimilar cooperative actions which exist in the natural lifecycle of Mindarinae and Formica fusca. Thus, algorithm employs dissimilar entities that permit sustenance each other and can track dissimilar exploration courses. In the Exploitation segment two additional activities are required to advance exploitation subsequent to the Red-footed Booby flashes into the marine by elongated - profound nosedive and then a squat -trivial nosedive. Astute fish in the marine is frequently supplemented by an unexpected revolving drive to spurt the Red-footed Booby pursuit. Commercial Pilot Preparation inspired optimization (CPPIO) algorithm, Mindarinae and Formica fusca rapport inspired optimization (MFO) algorithm, Red-footed Booby optimization (BO) algorithm are verified in G01--G24 benchmark functions, Six, IEEE bus test systems and in Practical Unified Egyptian Transmission Network. In six bus IEEE test systems real power loss obtained by proposed algorithm is CPPIO- 11. 0069 (MW), MFO-11. 0043 (MW) and BO -11. 0036 (MW). In IEEE 30 bus system CPPIO- 4.49012 (MW), MFO-4.49009 (MW) and BO -4.49005 (MW). In IEEE 57 bus system CPPIO- 21.67901 (MW), MFO-21.67893 (MW) and BO -21.67889 (MW). In IEEE 118 bus system CPPIO- 113.54321 (MW), MFO- 113.54305 (MW) and BO -113.54298 (MW). In IEEE 300 bus system CPPIO- 360.0601 (MW), MFO-360.0589 (MW) and BO -360.0581 (MW). In IEEE 354 bus system CPPIO- 336.5153 (MW), MFO-336.5133 (MW) and BO -336.5129 (MW). In Practical Unified Egyptian Transmission Network CPPIO- 29. 0526 (MW), MFO-29. 0509 (MW) and BO -29. 0495 (MW). Real power loss reduction, Voltage deviation minimization and Voltage stability enhancement has been attained in the electrical power transmission network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The workforce is digitizing. Leading consultancies estimate that algorithmic systems will replace 45 percent of human-held jobs by 2030. One feature that algorithms share with the human employees they are replacing is their capacity to cause harm. Even today, corporate algorithms discriminate against loan applicants, manipulate stock markets, collude over prices, and cause traffic deaths. Ordinarily, corporate employers would be responsible for these injuries, but the rules for assessing corporate liability arose at a time when only humans could act on behalf of corporations. Those rules apply awkwardly, if at all, to silicon. Some corporations have already discovered this legal loophole and are rapidly automating business functions to limit their own liability risk. This Article seeks a way to hold corporations accountable for the harms of their digital workforce: some algorithms should be treated, for liability purposes, as corporate employees. Drawing on existing functional characterizations of employment, the Article defines the concept of an "employed algorithm" as one over which a corporation exercises substantial control and from which it derives substantial benefits. If a corporation employs an algorithm that causes criminal or civil harm, the corporation should be liable just as if the algorithm were a human employee. Plaintiffs and prosecutors could then leverage existing, employee-focused liability rules to hold corporations accountable when the digital workforce transgresses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the return sensitivity of public farmland and timberland real estate investment trusts (REITs) to private-equity farmland, timberland and real estate, long-term corporate bonds and large- and small-cap stocks. The study also examines time-dependent contributions of selected asset classes to farmland and timberland REIT volatility. Design/methodology/approach: The authors use a multi-factor asset pricing model under a seemingly unrelated regression framework to evaluate farmland and timberland REIT returns, and a state-space model with the Kalman filter to evaluate the time-dependent contributors of farmland and timberland REIT volatility. The authors first perform orthogonalized regressions to obtain pure independent factors, and then decompose volatility into individual asset components. Findings: Significant loadings on financial assets are found for both farmland and timberland REITs, suggesting that they are generally driven by some common state variables. Large-cap stocks are found to be the major contributor of farmland and timberland REIT volatility, despite some differing patterns over time. Originality/value: Empirical analysis of farmland REIT is very scarce. The authors compare the risk-return characteristics of farmland and timberland REITs under a state-space framework with the Kalman filter. This study can improve the understanding of the roles of farmland and timberland REITs in a multi-asset portfolio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fiber length, chemical composition, and mycototoxins of oat and barley hulls were analyzed in order to study the suitability to utilize hulls for paper and paperboard manufacturing. Oat fibers were observed to be slightly longer than those of barley (0.80 ± 0.19 mm and 0.51 ± 0.17 mm, respectively). There were no differences in the composition of the hemicellulose sugars, with the predominance of xylose and glucose. The amount of Klason lignin in oat and barley hulls was at almost the same level (23% and 25% of dry weight, respectively). Guaiacyl (G) units derived from coniferyl alcohol dominated as shown by pyrolysis-GC-MS. To achieve fibrillation beneficial for the papermaking, oat and barley hulls were refined with a disc refiner. Oat hulls were observed to be harder than barley hulls. This affected both calendering and the appearance of the sheets produced. Laboratory sheets were prepared in a sheet-former with different percentage of softwood pulp and oat and barley hulls. Hull-containing paper mostly met the same quality requirements as the commercial paper except for the burst strength in sheets containing either species' hulls, and the tensile strength in sheets containing barley hulls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porous 3D composite materials are interesting anode electrodes for single chamber microbial fuel cells (SCMFCs) since they exploit a surface layer that is able to achieve the correct biocompatibility for the proliferation of electroactive bacteria and have an inner charge transfer element that favors electron transfer and improves the electrochemical activity of microorganisms. The crucial step is to fine-tune the continuous porosity inside the anode electrode, thus enhancing the bacterial growth, adhesion, and proliferation, and the substrate's transport and waste products removal, avoiding pore clogging. To this purpose, a novel approach to synthetize a 3D composite aerogel is proposed in the present work. A 3D composite aerogel, based on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as a conductive filler, was obtained by pouring this mixture over the commercial sugar, used as removable template to induce and tune the hierarchical continuous porosity into final nanostructures. In this scenario, the granularity of the sugar directly affects the porosities distribution inside the 3D composite aerogel, as confirmed by the morphological characterizations implemented. We demonstrated the capability to realize a high-performance bioelectrode, which showed a 3D porous structure characterized by a high surface area typical of aerogel materials, the required biocompatibility for bacterial proliferations, and an improved electron pathway inside it. Indeed, SCMFCs with 3D composite aerogel achieved current densities of (691.7 ± 9.5) mA m−2, three orders of magnitude higher than commercial carbon paper, (287.8 ± 16.1) mA m−2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the post-COVID-19 era, the importance of green finance in green recovery is underlined. As a financial instrument serving green development, green bonds promise to raise funds to support climate- and environment-friendly projects. However, whether green bonds can improve corporate performance is of great concern to companies, affecting the long-term intrinsic driving force of green bond issuance. This study applies the dynamic difference-in-differences (DID) model to explore the impact of green bonds on corporate performance and its potential pathway by using the panel data of Chinese listed companies from 2010 to 2020. The main findings are as follows: (1) Green bonds can significantly increase corporate performance by an overall effect of 1.65%. (2) The positive effect of green bonds could be transferred and enhanced by possible mechanisms, including internal green patents and external social reputations. (3) The overall effect of green bonds varies among companies due to different ownership and eco-geographical locations. (4) Green bonds would motivate better corporate performance if the company is related to renewable energy or located in provinces with high renewable energy consumption. Therefore, it is necessary to promote green bonds, ultimately helping to achieve green recovery. • The effects and mechanisms of green bonds on corporate performance are explored. • Green bonds can increase corporate performance by an overall effect of 1.65%. • Potential mechanisms include internal green patents and external social reputations. • The overall effect varies among different ownership and eco-geographical locations. • Green bonds motivate a better performance of renewable-energy-related companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, we loaded cobalt-based zeolite imidazolate frameworks, ZIF-67 (Co), onto commercial filter paper to prepare catalytic filter paper (ZFP) for the in situ degradation of bisphenol A (BPA) in water by activating peroxymonosulfate. The results showed that ZIF-67 (Co) was densely and uniformly distributed on the surface of the filter paper. The prepared ZFP could effectively degrade BPA in situ through a gravity-driven filtration process. Specifically, when the flow rate of the BPA solution passing through ZFP was lower than 10 mL/min, 0.02 mM of BPA could be completely degraded by ZFP. Furthermore, ZFP showed promising water matrix adaptability, which could provide promising BPA degradation efficiency in a wide pH range or in the existence of multiple anions. The scavenging tests demonstrated that both sulfate radical and hydroxyl radical were generated for BPA degradation, in which hydroxyl radical was the dominant active species. The ZFP also exhibited promising long-time use stability with a high mineralization rate. This study provides a novel method to prepare high-efficient catalyst paper for the in situ organic pollutant removal in water media via a prompt filtration process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commercial polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) films are widely used as separators for lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs). However, owing to the poor thermal stability of PP and PE films, current LIBs suffer from serious safety risks in their practical applications. As an effective path, the design of novel high‐safety composite separators can significantly overcome the safety issues of LIBs. Herein, a universal and cost‐effective strategy is developed to fabricate highly‐thermal‐stable separators via coating natural halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) on both sides of commercial papers or waste newspaper. The resulted separators show superior properties, including thermal stability, heat conduction, wettability, and electrolyte uptake. Compared with commercial PP separators, both HNTs coated A4 paper and waste newspaper composite separators enable better cycling and rate performance for Li/LiFePO4 cells. Even after burning in fire or treating under 180 °C, the composite separators still present a normal structure, and the assembled cell can perform as regular. Furthermore, the nail penetration test of pouch cells illustrates that such separator significantly prevents thermal runaway of LIBs. The inexpensive and environmentally friendly materials with a facile coating process provide a highly‐thermal‐stable separator for commercial LIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The promotion of cellulose-based paper straws is one of the important ways to improve white pollution nowadays. However, developing composite straws that are simultaneously highly biocompatible, safe, and non-toxic and that overcome the low water stability and physical strength problems caused by the inherent hydrophilicity of the raw material cellulose has become an important challenge in the development process. In this study, a new all-natural superhydrophobic straw (CFS) made of a composite of cellulose nanofibers and stearic acid was introduced. Stearic acid is a saturated fatty acid derived from plant and animal oils. Inspired by the specific hydrophobicity of sugarcane cane peel, a green straw with both superhydrophobicity (water contact angle up to 153°) and remarkable mechanical strength (tensile strength up to 67.15 MPa) was developed by controlling the hydrophobic modification conditions of stearic acid through solvent vaporization. Furthermore, the composite straws under wet conditions had lower water absorption and exhibited excellent wet tensile strength compared to commercial paper straws. In addition, the composite straw without the addition of chemical binders avoids the defects of non-renewable products, fits into the global green development concept, and brings new strategies for the development of cellulose-based materials. [Display omitted] • Superhydrophobic CFS straws inspired by sugarcane epidermis. • CFS straws exhibited remarkable mechanical strength. • CFS straws showed the property of being easily recycled and reused. • CFS straws presented new options for plastic products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decade education has experienced a shift from privatization to commercialization. This paper argues that the commercialization of education has evolved more recently as a result of artificially intelligent corporate players, enabling forms of insights sales called 'Dark Advertising'. It unpacks how Dark Advertising are profiting from data-driven predictions that reveal where demand is emerging, rather than responding to perceived problems by examining reports by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). Able to produce techno-solutions 'just in time' through Dark Advertising, Dark Advertising are considered to be enabling new forms of governance and influencing educational policy. Findings of the examination reveal associations in terms of teachers' privacy, ability to provide consent, and agency. Arguably, circumnavigating Codes of Conduct and Privacy legislation, the author calls for greater scrutiny into various information asymmetries associated with Insight Sales strategies that predict, nudge and experiment with teachers' behavior for profit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2007, opinion has been divided over whether its root cause was weak regulation and bank funding problems or the pressure of investor demand for US safe assets. New research on the European banks' role in the crisis may finally help to resolve the issue. Far from being peripheral players in the crisis, European banks were deeply implicated in its causal origins as evidenced by their activities in the two US debt markets that were at the heart of the crisis: those for collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) and for asset backed commercial paper (ABCP). These activities would seem to lend weight to the conclusion that regulation and bank funding issues were the key causal variables in the financial crisis. However, it is a conclusion only made possible by ignoring the pre-crisis connection between the federal funds rate and the rate of ABCP demand from the institutional money market mutual funds (MMMFs). This paper argues that when this connection is closely examined, it turns out that the evidence surrounding the European banks' role in the financial crisis gives greater weight to the safe asset demand explanation of the crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large corporations usually cover their capital and operating expenses by issuing bonds with fixed rates and different maturities. This paper proposes a multistage stochastic programming (MSP) model with multiple objectives to optimize bond issuance by satisfying the three common objectives of corporate managers, as follows: (i) Minimizing expected discounted cost under cash liquidity and financial leverage risk constraints. (ii) Minimizing financial leverage risk under expected discounted cost and cash liquidity risk constraints. (iii) Minimizing cash liquidity risk under expected discounted cost and financial leverage risk constraints. We measure liquidity risk as conditional payment-at-risk (C P a R), according to the corporation's financial characteristics. Financial leverage risk is captured by conditional financial leverage-at-risk C F L a R , which we design based on conditional value-at-risk (C V a R). Through empirical analysis of a company in China, we explore the efficient frontier curves for the three above objectives and provide the corresponding issuance compositions of an optimal bond portfolio. Our MSP model offers guidance for corporations on achieving a trade-off between cost and risk when issuing corporate bonds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrafast high-temperature heating methods based on the Joule heating of carbon heaters can dramatically shorten the time required for material synthesis/sintering. However, commonly used porous carbon heaters cannot provide stable high temperatures in air, limiting their applicability to the processing of atmosphere-sensitive materials. In this study, we present a novel configuration for ultrafast high-temperature heating in air using commercial graphite paper. This configuration enables stable high temperatures of ~1330–2230 °C in air, on the time-scale of minutes, and ultrafast heating rates, reaching ~104 oC/min. We describe the mechanism behind the excellent performance of our proposed configuration, and further demonstrate its flexibility and controllability by considering ultrafast high-temperature sintering of ZnO ceramics with tunable microstructures using different heating profiles. Our configuration provides a complementary approach to simplifying the ultrafast high-temperature heating process, reducing costs, and meeting the requirements of synthesis/sintering in air. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electronic platforms have been increasingly popular for executing large corporate bond orders by asset managers, who in turn have to assess the quality of their executions via Transaction Cost Analysis (TCA). One of the challenges in TCA is to build a realistic benchmark for the expected transaction cost and to characterize the price impact of each individual trade with given bond characteristics and market conditions. Taking the viewpoint of retail investors, this paper presents an analytical methodology for TCA of corporate bond trading. Our analysis is based on the TRACE Enhanced dataset; and starts with estimating the initiator of a bond transaction, followed by estimating the bid-ask spread and the mid-price dynamics. With these estimations, the first part of our study is to identify key features for corporate bonds and to compute the expected average trading cost. This part is on the time scale of weekly transactions, and is by applying and comparing several regularized regression models. The second part of our study is using the estimated mid-price dynamics to investigate the amplitude of its price impact and the decay pattern of individual bond transaction. This part is on the time scale of each transaction of liquid corporate bonds, and is by applying a transient impact model to estimate the price impact kernel using a non-parametric method. Our benchmark model allows for identifying abnormal transactions and for enhancing counter-party selections. A key discovery of our study is the price impact asymmetry between customer-buy orders and consumer-sell orders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addresses interest rate sensitivity of emerging market corporate debt. Previous research suggests that interest rate sensitivity of corporate bonds depends on residual maturity of issues, creditworthiness of issuers, embedded options and other idiosyncratic factors. However, the dependence of interest rate sensitivity on phases of the business cycle has not received an appropriate academic attention. This paper provides empirical evidence and theoretical interpretation of a dichotomy of interest rate sensitivity across the phases of the cycle, and sheds light on how credit spreads respond to interest rates. The historical span of the research covers the period of 2004–2016. The findings imply that hedging interest rate risk ought to be a dynamic process and take into consideration where the economy is positioned in the current business cycle. This research provides important insights on the nature of interest rate sensitivity, capable of enhancing financial stability and improving efficiency of financial system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that i n March 2020, commercial paper markets experienced disruptions related to the outbreak of COVID-19 and its associated shutdowns. Investor flows out of money market funds were exacerbated by uncertainty about the impact of COVID-19 on businesses. Anecdotally, commercial paper investors were unwilling to extend credit to issuers except at very short maturities (less than five days).

The article reports that COVID-19 pandemic sparked selling across an unprecedented array of asset classes. We examine market dysfunction in the corporate bond market and measures implemented by the Federal Reserve with the support of the U.S. Treasury to ensure access to capital markets credit for U.S. corporate bond issuers.

In recent decades, financial securities have become a dominant form of private property, accounting for much of the growth of wealth around the world. But what kind of property are financial securities? What are the sources of the income they provide, and what are the social relations that underlie its flow? This article addresses these questions through the Marxist category of fictitious capital. Focusing on corporate stocks and bonds, the article shows that the social relations expressed in these securities are based on the relation of capital and labor and the exploitation of workers in the sphere of production. It concludes that although the rise of financial securities leaves the basic conflict between capital and labor intact, it opens new strategies within this class struggle. JEL Classification: B51, E44, P10 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fed's recent corporate-bond buying program is approached from a political economy perspective, placing it in the context of its interventions during the 2008 crisis, and the broader swathe of facilities launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The response in 2008 can be understood in terms of the doom-loop arising from the structural power exercised by finance and the implication of the Fed in the political compulsions of helping preserve this structural power while reinforcing the speculative tendencies of finance. These interventions set the stage for significant changes in the financial landscape as asset-management funds rose in importance and the US corporate sector became more deeply implicated channels of market-based finance dominated by these asset-management funds. The recent interventions of the Fed, understood in the context of the systemic risks arising from these trends, reflect the resurgence and reinforcement of the doom-loop. JEL Classification: E58, G23, G3 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper selects weekly transaction data from the Shenzhen Exchange and Shanghai Exchange for 2012 to 2018 to investigate factors including corporate size, the ration of book-to-market, default risk, term and credit rating that influence the corporate bond spread. It can be concluded that small firms prefer to issue high yield spread bonds while large firms issue bonds with low yield spreads. High (low) book-to-market firms issue high (low) yield spread bonds. The most important factors influencing corporate bond spread yield are default risk, terms, and credit ratings. We suggest that China Securities Regulatory Commission should encourage small firms to issue corporate bonds and there should be more kinds of credit ratings bonds in China bond market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a defaultable bonds pricing model extending the traditional spread process definition. The posited model is able to incorporate any potential cyclical, non-linear, or long-term process not fully captured by the stochastic behavior of the spot rate and the instantaneous default rate process. Under this framework, we analyze the empirical ability of our model to capture the spread dynamics of three different Investment-grade US Corporate bonds indexes. Our findings show that when compared to the Benchmark, our model improves the empirical performance reducing the yield spread mispricing by 35%, 37%, and 29% for the High grade, Upper medium grade, and Lower medium grade index, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several measures have been recently developed in the financial networks literature to quantify the vulnerabilities of firms in specific markets for risk management. However, firms are often active in multiple asset markets simultaneously with potentially different degrees of vulnerabilities across markets. One can hypothesize that since assets are backed by similar firm-level fundamentals, the vulnerability measures across markets would be highly correlated. In this paper, we present two results based on the empirical correlation of network-based measures of vulnerabilities by studying US firms' asset returns that are active in stock as well as corporate bond markets. First, the magnitude of the relationship, while positive and significant, is not very large. Quantitatively, a unit percent increase in vulnerability measure of a firm in the stock market is associated with 0.15% increase in the vulnerability in the bond market. Second, the vulnerability of the firms in the stock market is negatively related to firm size proxied by market capitalization, indicating that 'too-big-to-fail' firms tend to be 'too-central-to fail'. By adopting instrumental variables, we show that the coefficient has a higher magnitude. The results are robust with respect to choices of asset classes, maturity horizons, model selection, time length of the data, as well as controlling for return sensitivities to market-level factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A portmanteau-type statistic based on sample covariance is proposed to test for the existence of the unit-root of an autoregressive model under a heavy-tailed linear noise, where the noise ɛ t = ∑ j = 0 ∞ d j η t − j and { η t } is a sequence of i.i.d. innovations belonging to the domain of attraction of an α -stable distribution for some α ∈ (0 , 2). The proposed procedure is nonparametric and easy to implement. Under certain regular assumptions, the limit distribution of the statistics is shown to be a functional of a standard stable distribution. Further, the good finite sample studies show that the new test outperforms PP, DF and ADF tests in size and power. Applications to the daily world crude oil price and 3-month AA financial commercial paper rate are also given to illustrate the performance of the new test. • The suggested references have been cited in the paper. • Details about the simulations are provided in the revision. • We have deleted "ARIMA" on page 4 to avoid the confusion. • Two new data sets are presented to illustrate the Hill estimator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micro Fuel cells or microfluidic fuel cells (μMFCs) are one of the most promising power supplies for portable electronics. However, the necessary electrode spacing is required to prevent fuel-crossover and maintain the stable operation, introducing the unavoidable ohmic resistance and retarding the miniaturization. Herein, we propose a novel μMFC device combining the cellulose paper as separator, with selective catalysts at the cathode side to eliminate the unwanted side reactions and increase the system compactness. One single reactant solution containing fuel and electrolyte is applied to keep the device stable operation. The power-generation properties are evaluated in typical alkaline conditions. A great construction simplification makes the device a substantial high-power density of 2.14 W cm−3 and maximum current density of 15.82 A cm−3. The μMFC stacks are arranged in series and parallel manners, which delivers a maximum power output of 23.6 mW and current of 194.6 mA. It is expected that innovative and customizable performance from commercial paper and low-cost carbonaceous catalysts can provide a forum for future advancement in chip-based electrochemical energy generation and storage devices. • Filter paper served as a membrane for μMFC is proposed. • The electrode-pair distance is greatly minimized (∼140 μm). • The optimized μMFC delivers an ultrahigh power density of 2.14 W cm−3. • The μMFC stacks power output of 23.6 mW and current output of 194.6 mA are achievable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aging and acidification behavior of paper archives affect their long-term preservation. Therefore, delaying or preventing aging and acidification has become an important topic in the field of paper archives management. the aging and acidification behavior of commercial archival paper were studied by measuring pH value, electrical conductivity, mechanical properties and whiteness in this work. The results show that the aging and acidification phenomena are obvious after dry-heat aging treatment. The molecular degradation of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin and other components results in the decrease of pH value of the system, which decrease with the increase of the treatment temperature and time. The electrical conductivity of the system increases because of the molecular degradation and structural degradation, and with the increase of the treatment temperature and time, the electrical conductivity increases more significantly. After aging treatment, the paper appears etching and increasing microcosmic pores. With the occurrence of molecular degradation and structural degradation, the tensile index and whiteness of the paper decrease, and with the increase of the treatment temperature and time, the tensile index and whiteness decrease more significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of multidimension liquidity, credit risk, and the interaction between liquidity and credit risk on corporate bond spreads based on a large transaction data set from July, 2006 to June, 2016, including the monthly data of 3716 bonds in China. Our main findings reveal that liquidity premiums are the main parts of corporate bond spreads. The interaction between liquidity and credit risk plays a significant role in determining corporate bond spreads. In addition, the differences between the interbank market and the exchange market have a significant impact on corporate bond spreads in normal period, and the interaction between liquidity and credit risk has an enhanced impact on corporate bond spreads during financial crisis. We also find that the interaction between liquidity and credit risk will increase with the increase of liquidity risk and credit risk and it is a time-varying dynamic process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fixed-income corporate bond markets were the last bastion of non-electronic trading activity. For most of the twentieth century these markets were also dominated by the largest Wall Street dealer-banks. These banks had long argued that corporate bonds were too complex and illiquid to be electronified. In reality though, opaque Over-The-Counter trading in these bonds allowed Wall Street to monopolise highly uncompetitive markets; this market environment had changed very little over the decades, despite the financial services revolutions that had gripped other markets. By the 2010s however, Wall Street banks had finally begun to lose their stranglehold. This paper tracks the two explanatory factors, the emergence of new financial technology and the decisive intervention of state managers and post-crisis regulation – in the form of the Volcker Rule and Basel III. Recent accounts have become increasingly sceptical of the disruptive, pro-competitive impact of fintech. We argue that – at least in markets for US corporate bonds – there is evidence of a more competitive, democratic market environment emerging as a direct result of new financial technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Legal advice privilege operates in the corporate context subject to a dominant purpose test and an agency-based control mechanism. This mechanism fails to reflect the privilege's rationale and prevents the dominant purpose test from giving corporations the same level of protection that the privilege provides to other client types. Following analysis of approaches in other common law jurisdictions, this article concludes that the optimum control mechanism for English Law is the dominant purpose test unfettered by the agency-based control mechanism and extended to encompass third parties. It is the first significant attempt to consider the merits of the agency-based control mechanism since the operation of the dominant purpose test in this context was confirmed by the Court of Appeal. It rebuts the suggestion by some academics that legal advice privilege should be restricted in the corporate context by asserting that it is by expansion of the privilege's ambit that consistency of protection across client types will be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we separately used a laboratory Hollander beater, a pilot scale 12″ single-disc refiner and an expanded trial with a commercial paper mold mill to investigate the feasibility of using thermal-alkali/enzyme pretreated rice straw semi-chemical mechanical pulp to substitute portions of old corrugated carton board (OCC) pulp in the paper industry. In the laboratory plan, sequential treatments of NaOH at a 5–10% dosage and enzymes at a 0.2–4% dosage were applied to rice straw, followed by beating using a Hollander beater for 1–2 h to complete the rice straw semi-chemical mechanical pulping process. When the NaOH dosage, enzyme dosage and refining time were 10%, 0.2% and 1 h, the best quality rice straw pulp was obtained. Along with the increase in NaOH dosage, the pulp freeness decreased significantly, and the pulp accepted rate increased. Enzymatic treatment enhanced rice straw quality only after NaOH dosage treatment, which then reacted with rice straw to increase the quality of pulp. In the expanded trial, the rice straw semi-chemical mechanical pulp was blended with OCC pulp (0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%) to form handsheets. Along with an increase in rice straw proportions, the tensile index, burst index, and ring-crush index increased by 109–200%, 13–196%, and 124–187%, respectively. In an online commercial paper mold mill trial, blending rice straw pulp with OCC could successfully make paper-mold egg cartons, with both mill operation and product smoothness appearance being highly acceptable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]