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Here in this article, a halloysite nanotube/reduced graphene oxide/cobalt nickel composite (HNT/rGO/CoNi) was synthesized by co-precipitation and subsequent calcination processes. The microstructure, morphology, and chemical composition of the as-synthesized samples were characterized by X-ray diffractometer, Raman spectra, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The electromagnetic absorption performances of the composites/paraffin wax hybrids were tested in the frequency range 2-18 GHz. It was found that the synergistic attenuation of electricity and magnetism, as well as the fairly good impedance matching properties together have led to the impressive electromagnetic absorption performance of the optimized product. The maximum reflection loss can reach - 69.77 dB with the thickness of 2.38 mm at 14.72 GHz, and an effective absorption bandwidth of about 7.12 GHz (10.88 GHz-18.00 GHz) can be achieved in the HNT/rGO/CoNi (30) composite. The excellent microwave absorption performance was estimated to originate from the combination of multiple electromagnetic loss mechanisms, including interfacial polarization between graphene and magnetic nanoparticles, dipole orientation polarization caused by the defects of graphene, the natural ferromagnetic resonance, and eddy current of the magnetic nanoparticles. Furthermore, the halloysite plays the roles of improving dispersion of the magnetic nanoparticles as well as adjusting the complex permittivity of the composite. This work provides a new strategy for the design and fabrication of high performance microwave absorbing materials with natural and readily available components.

This study aimed to evaluate role of nano-sized zinc (Zn) on lactation performance, health status, and mammary permeability of lactating dairy cows. Thirty multiparous dairy cows with similar days in milk (158 ± 43.2) and body weight (694 ± 60.5 kg) were chosen based on parity and milk production and were randomly assigned to 3 treatment groups: basal diet (control, 69.6 mg/kg of Zn adequate in Zn requirement), basal diet additional Zn-methionine (Zn-Met, providing 40 mg/kg of Zn), and basal diet additional nano-sized Zn oxide (nZnO, providing 40 mg/kg of Zn). The study lasted for 10 wk, with the first 2 wk as adaptation. Feed intake, milk yield and the related variables, and plasma variables were determined every other week. Blood hematological profiles were determined in the 8th week of the study. We found that feed intake, milk yield, and milk composition were similar across the 3 groups. The nZnO- and Zn-Met-fed cows had greater milk Zn concentrations in the milk (3.89 mg/L (Zn-Met) and 3.93 mg/L (nZnO)) and plasma (1.25 mg/L (Zn-Met) and 1.29 mg/L (nZnO)) than the control cows (3.79 mg/L in milk and 1.21 mg/L in plasma). The nZnO-fed cows had higher Zn concentrations in plasma but not in milk compared to Zn-Met-fed cows. The Zn appearance in milk was greater in nZnO-fed (area under curve during the first 4 h post-feeding for milk Zn: 16.1 mg/L) and Zn-Met-fed cows (15.7 mg/L) than in control cows (15.0 mg/L). During the first 4 h post-feeding, milk to blood Zn ratio was greater in nZnO-fed animals but lower in Zn-Met-fed cows compared with control cows. Oxidative stress-related variables in plasma, blood hematological profiles, and mammary permeability related variables were not different across treatments. In summary, lactation performance, Zn concentrations in milk and plasma, hematological profiles, mammary permeability were similar in cows fed nZnO and Zn-Met. We therefore suggested that nZnO feeding can improve Zn bioavailability without impairing lactation performance, health status, and mammary gland permeability in dairy cows.

CeO2 aerogel (CeO2-A), nanorod (CeO2-R) and nanoflake (CeO2-F) were prepared via sol-gel, hydrothermal and coprecipitation methods, respectively. The effect of morphology and structure of CeO2 on the catalytic performance in toluene combustion reaction was investigated based on structure analysis provided by characterization. The results revealed that the activity of both CeO2-R and CeO2-F was inferior to that of CeO2-A, due to smaller specific surface area and only exposure of (111) crystal plane dominantly detected from their TEM images for CeO2-R and CeO2-F. While, the CeO2-A had a larger specific surface area and more exposed (111) and (100) facet, which contributed to exposure and formation of more oxygen vacancies and further to the adsorption of more gaseous oxygen. In addition, highly mobile lattice oxygen was another critical factor for influencing the catalytic performance of CeO2, which was beneficial to the redox cycle of Ce3+/Ce4+ and could further accelerate the toluene combustion. As a result, the CeO2-A catalyst exhibited the superior performance in toluene catalytic combustion with t50 of 223°C and t90 of 239°C, respectively, owing to the larger specific surface area, higher exposure of reactive crystal plane and stronger mobility of lattice oxygen.

Fog is the main weather phenomenon that causes low visibility, which makes traffic and outdoor work extremely dangerous. In this paper, we propose a novel LSTM framework for short-term fog forecasting. The proposed network framework consists of an LSTM network and fully connected layer. In order to make the proposed LSTM framework work, the meteorological element observation data returned hourly is transferred into time series data. Based on these time series data, four datasets are created for short-term fog forecasting. In order to evaluate the proposed LSTM framework, we conduct comprehensive experiments with different machine learning algorithms. Compared with K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN), AdaBoost and convolutional neural network (CNN) algorithms, the experimental results show that the proposed LSTM framework achieves best prediction performance in four evaluation criteria. Especially in TS-Score, the proposed LSTM framework achieve 1.1%, 11%, 3%, and 11% higher performance than the best traditional machine learning algorithm.

This is a meta-analysis of emotional intelligence (EI) and Dark Triad traits. EI is significantly and negatively related to Machiavellianism (overall EI: = −0.29; ability EI: = −0.31; trait EI: = −0.27) and to psychopathy (overall EI: = −0.17; ability EI: = −0.21; trait EI: = −0.16). EI is not related to narcissism (overall EI: = 0.02; ability EI: = −0.10; trait EI: = 0.05). The types of EI did not moderate the relationships between EI and Dark Triad traits. EI measures and measures of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy exhibited significant moderator effects. Using EI scales may be a practical way to screen out candidates high in Machiavellianism and psychopathy.

Given the ongoing debate on the relationship between institutions and entrepreneurship, this study aims to better understand the joint effects of two country-level formal institutions, government effectiveness and political freedom, and whether the informal institution of religiosity moderates this relationship. To achieve this goal, the current study used multiple datasets, including the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), World Governance Indicators (WGIs), and the WIN-Gallup International Global Index of Religiosity and Atheism. The data cover 85 countries from 2010 to 2017. The results suggest that the rate of entrepreneurial activity across nations is shaped by the interplay between formal and informal institutions.

Cronobacter sakazakii (C. sakazakii) is a food-borne pathogen that can be spread by powdered infant formula (PIF) to cause illness in infants. Bacteriophages (phages) are an effective potential strategy to control food-borne pathogens. Phage JK004 which isolated from the native environment of C. sakazakii was a novel virulent phage with short latent period and large burst size. JK004 had tolerance to heat, pH and osmotic-stress. The phage JK004 did not contain known virulence, transduction or antibiotic resistance genes, indicating that JK004 is safe in the practical application. In addition, because of the biofilms formation, C. sakazakii could adhere to material surfaces and was difficult to remove, resulting in persistent contamination of the PIF. JK004 could effectively remove the biofilms that have formed on sterile 96-well plates with 87% inhibition rate. While the inhibition rate of bacteria adhered on the material surfaces such as polyethylene, rubber and stainless steel was 99.95%, 99.83%, 99.84%, respectively, with significant difference between the JK004 treated group and the control group (p

Global human resource managers need to understand which personality characteristics contribute to leadership effectiveness in different cultures for both selection and training purposes. This meta-analysis demonstrates that leaders’ emotional intelligence (EI) demonstrates incremental validity and relative weight in predicting subordinates’ task performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) after controlling for the Big Five and cognitive ability. The relationship between leaders’ EI and subordinates’ task performance is stronger in collectivistic, feminine, and high uncertainty avoidance cultures. The relationship between leaders’ EI and subordinates’ OCB is stronger in high power distance, collectivistic, feminine, high uncertainty avoidance, long-term oriented, and restraint cultures.

This study established and calculated the flash system model of 7-effects low-temperature multi-effect distillation (LT-MED) system with an installed capacity of 4500 m3/d. The calculation results showed that the brine and distillate flashing accounts for 6.0% of the total water production, which indicate the significant effect of such flashing heat recovery system. Furthermore, a three-dimensional simulation of water–vapor flow in the flashing tank of a LT-MED plant was conducted by using a FLUENT CFD code coupled with a user-defined function. The factors related to the flash efficiency, including flashing tank diameter, length, and internal platform height, were simulated and analyzed. Finally, an improved scheme for setting a platform inside the flashing tank was proposed. The simulation results revealed that the improved scheme ensures the sufficient flash of water inside the tank. These finds of the present study can serve as a reliable reference for the design of flashing tank in LT-MED plant.

For many scientific disciplines that rely on surveys and voluntary participation (e.g., organizational behavior, psychology), nonresponse bias (NRB) has been shown to bias estimates, create range restriction, and lead to both Type I and Type II errors. The present research endeavors to fill a methodological gap in the entrepreneurship literature by presenting the following findings: (a) response rates in entrepreneurship research (39%) are higher than firm-level research in management, but lower than individual-level management research, (b) there is virtually no evidence that response rate has any meaningful or consistent influence on relationships in entrepreneurship, and (c) there is little evidence of selective reporting when response rates are low. These promising findings should give entrepreneurship researchers cautious optimism that at least in the aggregate, NRB has limited impact.

Bootstrapping, the pursuit of creative ways of acquiring resources in non-traditional ways, is a defining entrepreneurial behavior in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, after nearly three decades of research there is no quantitative synthesis of the literature. We meta-analyze data from 22 empirical samples, across 62 effect sizes, and find no significant overall relation between bootstrapping and SME performance. We examined a set of moderators (i.e., type of performance, type of bootstrapping, and bootstrapping measures). Some moderators alter the direction and influence the statistical significance of the bootstrapping-SME performance relation, but none of these moderators were statistically significant.

This research project examines whether emotional intelligence (EI) is related to organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and counterproductive work behavior (CWB). A key question concerns the degree to which EI is related to OCB and CWB after controlling for other established predictors. The study uses meta-analytical summaries of existing research (for EI-OCB, k = 68, N = 16,386; for EI-CWB, k = 17, N = 3914). It uses meta-analytical controls to obtain the best estimates of effect sizes, incremental validity, and relative importance. This meta-analysis found that EI is positively associated with OCB and negatively related to CWB. When controlling for ability measures of EI, the Big Five personality measures, general self-efficacy, cognitive intelligence, and self-rated performance, both self-report measures of EI and mixed competency measures of EI show incremental validity and relative importance in predicting OCB and CWB. An analysis of self-report EI found that the effects of EI on OCB and CWB are stronger in health care and service industries than in industries where emotional labor demands are lower. The results imply that organizations can increase OCB and reduce CWB by recruiting employees high in EI and by training employees in emotional competencies.

Building on the resource orchestration literature, we use meta-analytic structural equation modeling to test a model where entrepreneurial orientation (EO) mobilizes resources to influence firm performance. Our results indicate that (1) EO mediates (partially) the human and social capital - firm performance relationships; (2) social capital is positively associated with human capital; (3) the relationship between social capital and firm performance is mediated in two steps, first, by human capital, and then, by EO; and (4) the human capital – EO relationship is stronger in high in-group collectivistic, low future oriented, and high uncertainty avoidance cultures.

Based on a meta-analysis, leaders' emotional intelligence (EI) positively relates to subordinates' job satisfaction ( ρ = 0.308). All three EI streams (ability, self-report, mixed) exhibit significant incremental validity and relative importance (RW) in the presence of personality and cognitive ability in predicting subordinates' job satisfaction (ability EI: ΔR2 = 0.002, RW% = 3.5%; self-report EI: ΔR2 = 0.021, RW% = 25.3%; mixed EI: ΔR2 = 0.085, RW% = 49.9%). Leaders' EI demonstrates significant incremental validity and RW in the presence of subordinates' EI in predicting subordinates' job satisfaction (leaders' EI: ΔR2 = 0.054, RW% = 48.0%). Subordinates' EI positively relates to leaders' EI and mediates the relationship between leaders' EI and subordinates' job satisfaction. Moderator analyses indicate that (1) ability EI has a lower association with subordinates' job satisfaction than self-report EI and mixed EI; and (2) leaders' EI more positively relates to subordinates' job satisfaction in low in-group collectivistic or low humane oriented cultures.

Fatty acid has recently received considerable interest as a possible precursor for producing renewable hydrocarbon. In this study, we investigated hydrothermal catalytic deoxygenation of palmitic acid to produce paraffin over a Ni/ZrO2 catalyst with no or low-pressure (100 psi) external supply of H2. The results show that the presence of water greatly improved conversion of palmitic acid and paraffin yield. Significant improvement was attributed to the formation of in-situ H2. Without an external H2 supply, a 64.2 C% conversion of palmitic acid was achieved in the presence of water, while only a 17.2 C% conversion was achieved without water. The results also show that the presence of water suppressed the side reactions of palmitic acid, specifically ketonization and esterification. We concluded that, compared with decarboxylation and hydrodeoxygenation, decarbonylation was the major route for palmitic acid deoxygenation catalyzed by Ni/ZrO2. Varieties of shorter-chain paraffin (C8–C14) were formed through hydrogenolysis, which also produced a considerable amount of CH4. A viable reaction pathway for hydrothermal catalytic deoxygenation of palmitic acid in the presence of Ni/ZrO2 was suggested. The results show that hydrogenolysis and decarbonylation were the major reactions that occurred. This study demonstrates that this hydrothermal catalytic process is a promising approach for producing liquid paraffin (C8–C15) from fatty acids under no or low-pressure H2.

The falling film evaporation outside the elliptical tube was studied and compared with the circular tube for the design and improvement of seawater desalination system using the method of theoretical analysis, CFD numerical simulation and experiments. The experiment shows that the thickness of liquid film outside elliptical tube of E (ellipticity) = 1.5 obtained from the simulation agrees well with the experimental data and the maximum deviation is within 8%. This fully illustrates that the numerical model is correct and that analog calculation is feasible. The experimental results also manifested that heat transfer coefficient of the system with E = 1.5 elliptical tubes increases by 20–22% compared with circular tubes. This study testified that it is superiority and feasibility that elliptical tubes were applied to falling-film evaporation and seawater desalination of horizontal tubes. The exploratory researches will be conducted for promoting the design and application of falling film evaporation with elliptical tubes in the seawater desalination system.

The present research focuses on supervisor-subordinate guanxi (SSG) – a non-work or personal tie that reflects the relationship between a subordinate and their supervisor. Although SSG has received considerable attention, results are mixed. Further, how the Eastern conceptualization of SSG differs from the Western conceptualization of leader-member exchange (LMX) remains nebulous. We meta-analyzed 71 samples that contain 238 effect sizes. We found that: (1) SSG has a strong overlap with LMX (ρ = 0.56); (2) SSG has small magnitude relations with its correlates (age, gender, education, and tenure); (3) SSG demonstrates smaller relative weights than LMX in predicting outcome variables (task performance, organizational citizenship behavior, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover intention, subordinates' perceived distributive justice, subordinates' perceived procedural justice, and trust in supervisor); and (4) SSG contributes statistically significant, yet very small (ranging from 0.00 to 0.04), incremental validity above and beyond LMX in predicting all of the aforementioned outcome variables except for subordinates' perceived distributive justice. We conclude with a discussion of future directions for research on SSG.

An efficient process for biodiesel production from fast-refined microalgal oil was demonstrated. A low cost catalyst prepared from pyrolysis-derived bio-char, was applied in pre-esterification to reduce free fatty acid (FFA) content. Results showed that the bio-char catalyst was highly active in esterification; however, the performance of the catalyst significantly reduced when crude microalgal oil was used as feedstock. To solve the problem caused by catalyst-fouling, a fast and scalable crude oil refinery procedure was carried out to remove chlorophyll and phospholipids that might degrade the catalyst and the quality of biodiesel. The activity and reusability of bio-char catalyst were remarkably improved in the fast-refined oil. FFA content in the refined microalgal oil was reduced to less than 0.5% after pre-esterification. The bio-char catalyst could be reused for 10 cycles without dramatic loss in activity. The pre-esterification fits the first-order kinetic reaction with activation energy of 42.16 kJ/mol. The activity of bio-char catalyst was superior to commercial Amberlyst-15 under the same reaction condition. A total fatty acid methyl ester (FAME, namely biodiesel) yield of 99% was obtained following the second-step CaO-catalyzed transesterification. The cost-effective bio-char catalyst has great potential for biodiesel production using feedstocks having high FFA content.

Primary head and neck mucosal melanoma (HNMM) is a rare tumor with a poor prognosis. Controversy remains as to whether postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy (PORT) achieves a significant benefit in HNMM treatment. Because of the lack of available conclusive prospective data, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of all relevant available studies to clarify the benefits of PORT. A comprehensive literature search of PubMed and Google Scholar electronic databases was conducted to collect relevant studies until April 30, 2014. Studies published in the English language comparing surgery alone and surgery plus PORT for HNMM were included, with more than 15 study populations. All statistical analyses were performed using STATA version 12.0. A total of 423 patients were available from eight studies and the median sample size was 53 cases. The median follow-up time was 38.2 months (range 18.3–65.2 months). There was a positive association between PORT and loco-regional recurrence of HNMM (odds ratio [OR] = 0.36, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.22–0.60, P = 0.000). No associations were found between the PORT and 3-year and 5-year overall survival (OS) (OR = 1.41, 95% CI = 0.94–2.09, P = 0.093 and OR = 1.06, 95% CI = 0.70–1.61, P = 0.161, respectively). PORT had no impact on 3-year and 5-year OS (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.14, 95% CI = 0.80–1.61, P = 0.472 and HR = 1.34, 95% CI = 0.97–1.85, P = 0.227, respectively). PORT improved loco-regional recurrence of HNMM independent of OS.

The simple equations for prediction of the density and viscosity of mixed electrolyte solutions were extended to the related properties of mixed ionic liquid solutions. The density and viscosity were measured for ternary solutions [C2q]Br(N-ethylquinolinium bromide)+[C4q]Br (N-butylquinolinium bromide)+H2O, [C2q]Br+[C6q]Br(N-hexylquinolinium bromide)+H2O, and [C4q]Br+[C6q]Br+H2O and their binary subsystems [C2q]Br+H2O, [C4q]Br+H2O, and [C6q]Br+H2O at 15, 20 and 25 °C, respectively. The results were used to test the predictability of the extended equations. The comparison results show that these simple equations can be used to predict the density and viscosity of the mixed ionic liquid solutions from the properties of their binary subsystems of equal ionic strength.

A two-step sequential hydrothermal liquefaction (SEQHTL) model for simultaneous extraction of polysaccharide at the first step followed by bio-oil in the second was established. The effects of reaction temperature, residence time, and biomass/water ratio on the product distribution of each SEQHTL step were evaluated. Maximum yield (32wt.%) of polysaccharides was obtained at 160°C, 20min and 1:9 biomass/water ratio. Considering the operation cost and bio-oil yield (>30%); 240°C, 20min and 1:9 biomass/water ratio was preferred as ideal SEQHTL condition for bio-oil extraction. SEQHTL always produced ∼5% more bio-oil and ∼50% less bio-char than direct hydrothermal liquefaction (DHTL). Free fatty acid content of the bio-oils exhibited a sharp decrease with increase in temperature. Comparative analysis of the energy input and net energy balance showed that SEQHTL requires ∼15% less MJ/kg bio-oil than DHTL. Energy recovery rate for SEQHTL is nearly 4% higher than the DHTL.

Viscosities were measured for the ternary systems Y(NO3)3+La(NO3)3+H2O,La(NO3)3+Ce(NO3)3+H2O,and La(NO3)3+Nd(NO3)3+ H2O and their binary subsystems Y(NO3)3+H2O,La(NO3)3+H2O,Ce(NO3)3+H2O,and Nd(NO3)3+H2O at 293.15,298.15 and 308.15 K.The results were used to test the applicability of simple equations for the viscosity of the mixed solutions.The predictions agreed well with measured values,implying that the viscosities of the examined electrolyte solutions could be related to those of their constituent binary solutions using these simple equations.