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Do firms in China share rents with their workers? We address this question by examining firm‐level panel data covering virtually all manufacturing firms over the period 2000–2007, representing an average of 52 million workers per year. We find evidence of rent sharing (RS), with wage–profit elasticities of between 4% and 6%. These results are based on multiple instrumental variables, including firm‐specific international trade shocks. We also present a number of complementary findings to understand better the nature of RS in the country: it involves an element of risk sharing, as wages also decrease when profits fall; RS is lower in regions with more latent competition from rural workers; higher minimum wages tend to reduce RS; and, while employer labour market power reduces wages, it increases RS. Overall, despite its importance, RS in China is smaller and more symmetric than in developed economies, which reflects the weaker bargaining power of its workers and the earlier stage of development of its labour market institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expanded graphite/polyaniline (EG/PANT) composites were prepared by in situ polymerization, using EG as matrix, ammonium persulfate (APS) as oxidant and hydrochloric acid (HCl) as dopant. The morphology, composition, and electromagnetic parameters of EG/PANT composites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), the four-point probe and vector network analyzer (VNA). The influence of the addition of aniline on the microwave absorbing properties of EG/ PANT composite was studied. The results showed that the electrical conductivity of the composite decreased gradually with the increase of the amount of aniline. When the mass ratio of aniline/EG was 5 : 1, the reflection loss peak of the sample moved toward the low frequency direction with the increase of the matching thickness. The minimum reflection loss of EG/PANT composites reached -48.5 dB at 5.5 GHz with the matching thickness of 3.5 mm, indicating that the EG/PANT composite could be a potential microwave absorbing material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel composite material combined organic xylem fibers (XFs) with inorganic nanospheres Fe3O4 has been designed to meet the requirements of microwave absorption in the frequency range of 2-18 GHz. Xylem fibers/Fe3O4 (XFs/Fe3O4) nanocomposites were successfully synthesized via one-step solvothermal method, in which the XFs were used as matrix and Fe3O4 nanoparticles were deposited on their surfaces. The formation mechanism of the nanocomposites was discussed in detail according to SEM and XRD analysis. The morphology, magnetic properties, and microwave absorbing properties of the XFs/Fe3O4 nanocomposites have also been investigated. The results show that the XFs in the nanocomposites have still maintained their original morphology and played a significant role in the spatial distribution of Fe3O4 nanoparticles and the electromagnetic properties of the nanocomposites. The minimum reflection loss (RLmin) value of − 37.64 dB has been obtained at 17.28 GHz with the thickness of 5.0 mm and 0.4000 g addition of XFs. Especially, two reflection loss peaks appear and are corresponding to C band (4-8 GHz) and Ku band (12-18 GHz), respectively. The microwave absorption mechanism of the nanocomposites is attributed to natural resonance, eddy current loss and destructive interference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online user-generated content in various social media websites, such as consumer experiences, user feedback, and product reviews, has increasingly become the primary information source for both consumers and businesses. In this study, we aim to look beyond the quantitative summary and unidimensional interpretation of online user reviews to provide a more comprehensive view of online user-generated content. Moreover, we would like to extend the current literature to the more customer-driven service industries, particularly the hotel industry. We obtain a unique and extensive dataset of online user reviews for hotels across various review sites and over long time periods. We use the sentiment analysis technique to decompose user reviews into different dimensions to measure hotel service quality and performance based on the SERVPERF model. Those dimensions are then incorporated into econometrics models to examine their effect in shaping users’ overall evaluation and content-generating behavior. The results suggest that different dimensions of user reviews have significantly different effects in forming user evaluation and driving content generation. This paper demonstrates the importance of using textual data to measure consumers’ relative preferences for service quality and evaluate service performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hotel industry continues to develop strategies for addressing consumer-generated online reviews, and particularly responding to poor reviews, which can have a damaging effect on a hotel’s reputation. To gain a greater understanding of the dynamics of poor reviews, this study analyzed 1,946 one-star reviews from ten popular online review websites, as well as 225 management responses from eighty-six Washington, D.C., hotels. A comprehensive complaint framework found that the most common complaints related to front desk staff, bathroom issues, room cleanliness, and guestroom noise issues. Complaints were also analyzed by hotel characteristics, including chain-scale segments, and reviewer characteristics, including purpose of travel and geographic location. Examining the reviews, highly rated hotels often respond to online complaints with appreciation, apologies, and explanations for what had gone wrong. Compensation adjustments are rarely mentioned by any hotel. The increasingly prominent role of social media necessitates that hotels use online reviews for market research and service recovery opportunities, regardless of whether they respond publicly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peer-to-peer sharing networks have seen explosive growth recently. In these networks, sharing files is completely voluntary, and there is no financial reward for users to contribute. However, many users continue to share despite the massive free-riding by others. Using a large-scale data set of individual activities in a peer-topeer music-sharing network, we seek to understand users' continued-sharing behavior as a private contribution to a public good. We find that the more benefit users "get from" the network, in the form of downloads, browses, and searches, the more likely they are to continue sharing. Also, the more value users "give to" the network, in the form of downloads by other users and recognition by the network, the more likely they are to continue sharing. Moreover, our findings suggest that, overall, "getting from" is a stronger force for the continued-sharing decision than "giving to." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water-use efficiency (WUE) is an important indicator for understanding the coupling of carbon and water cycles in terrestrial ecosystems. It provides a comprehensive reflection of ecosystems' responses to various environmental factors, making it essential for understanding how ecosystems adapt to complex environmental changes. Using satellite-based estimates of gross primary productivity (GPP) and evapotranspiration (ET), our study investigated the spatiotemporal variations in WUE across China's terrestrial ecosystems from 2001 to 2020. We employed the geographic detector method, partial correlation analysis, and ridge regression to assess the contributions of different factors (temperature, precipitation, solar radiation, vapor pressure deficit, leaf area index, and soil moisture) to GPP, ET, and WUE. The results show significant increases in GPP, ET, and WUE during the study period, with increase rates of 6.70 g C m−2 yr−1, 2.68 kg H2O m−2 yr−1, and 0.007 g C H2O m−2 yr−1, respectively. More than three-quarters of the regions with significant trends in WUE (p < 0.05) displayed notable increases in WUE (p < 0.05). Among all driving factors, leaf area index (LAI) made the largest contribution to WUE, particularly in warm temperate semi-humid regions. Precipitation and solar radiation were the primary climatic influences in arid regions of northern China and humid regions of southwestern China, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel betaine-amino acid based NDES was prepared at room temperature. • [Bet][AA] NDES showed excellent lignin and xylan solubility. • MCC and corncob showed enhanced glucose yield after pretreatment. • The mechanism of [Bet][AA] NDES pretreatment was proposed. A novel natural deep eutectic solvent (NDES) with water content ranging from 65 to 93 wt%, in which betaine (Bet) acts as the cation and amino acids (AAs) as the anions, was prepared by a simple and green chemical route. [Bet][AA] NDES showed excellent xylan and lignin solubility, however, scare cellulose solubility. A mild and facile pretreatment process with [Bet][AA] NDES was carried out at 60 °C for 5 h. The enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency of cellulose and corncob was significantly improved. Detailed characterization showed that the enhancement of cellulose digestibility derived mainly from xylan and lignin removal. Xylan and lignin removal for [Bet][Lys]-W87 was 47.68 and 49.06%, while it was 42.20% and 57.01% for [Bet][Arg]-W82, respectively. FT-IR, SEM, XRD, and HSQC NMR studies confirmed the effectiveness and mechanism of [Bet][Lys]-W87 and [Bet][Arg]-W82 on biomass pretreatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Influenza vaccination coverage was low among healthcare workers (HCWs) in China. In October 2018, the National Health Commission of China began to require all hospitals to provide free influenza vaccination for HCWs to increase vaccine uptake, and no study on vaccine coverage among HCWs at the national level after the announcement of new policy. This evaluation aims to investigate self-reported influenza vaccination coverage among HCWs and factors that may affect vaccine receipt during the 2018/2019 influenza season. We delivered an opt-in internet panel survey among registered HCWs of DXY forum (the biggest online forum for HCWs in China). The survey was self-administered using a standard questionnaire to collect information on demographics, occupational characteristics, policy implementation, influenza vaccination and influence factors. We conducted multivariate logistic regression analysis to assess factors associated with receipt of influenza vaccine. The response rate of this online survey was 3.6%. The seasonal influenza vaccine coverage reported among HCWs surveyed during the 2018/2019 season was 11.6% (472/4078). Only 19.0% (774/4078) of HCWs surveyed reported free policy in their workplace. Combing free policy and workplace requirement proved to be effective to improve influenza vaccination coverage in HCWs (PR = 6.90, 95% CI: 6.03–7.65). The influenza vaccination coverage among surveyed HCWs in China was low during the 2018/2019 season. To increase future vaccination uptake, we recommend a multi-faceted strategy that include free policy, workplace requirement and promotion, on-site vaccination, and monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2,3,7,8 -tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) is a teratogen that can induce cleft palate formation, a common birth defect. Competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs), including circular RNAs (circRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), indirectly regulate gene expression via sharing microRNAs (miRNAs). Nevertheless, the mechanism by which they act as ceRNAs to regulate palatal development remains to be explored in greater detail. Here, the cleft palate model of C57BL/6 N pregnant mice was constructed by gavage of TCDD (64 ug/kg) on gestation day (GD) 10.5, and the palatal shelves were taken on gestation day (GD) 14.5 for whole-transcriptome sequencing to investigate the underlying mechanisms of the roles of circRNAs and lncRNAs as ceRNAs in cleft palate. Sequencing results revealed that 293 lncRNA, 589 circRNA, 47 miRNA, and 138 messenger RNA (mRNA) were significantly dysregulated, and the cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes and the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) pathway play key roles in the induction of cleft palate upon exposure to TCDD. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis revealed the function of TCDD function was mainly related to the metabolic processes of intracellular compounds, including the metabolic processes of cellular aromatic compounds and the metabolism of exogenous drugs by cytochrome P450, etc. Furthermore, quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) indicated that the circRNA_1781/miR-30c-1–3p/PKIB and XR_380026.2/miR-1249–3p/DNAH10 ceRNA networks were hypothesized to be a hub involved in palatal development suggesting that the circRNA_1781/miR-30c-1–3p/PKIB and XR_380026.2/miR-1249–3p/DNAH10 ceRNA networks may be critical for palatogenesis, setting the foundation for the investigation of cleft palate. • CYP450 enzymes and the AhR pathway play key roles in TCDD-induced cleft palate. • The function of TCDD is mainly related to the metabolic processes of intracellular compounds. • The circRNA_1781/miR-30c-1–3p/PKIB and XR_380026.2/miR-1249–3p/DNAH10 ceRNA networks may be critical in causing cleft palate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protein glycosylation is one of the ubiquitous post-translational modifications in eukaryotic cells, which play important roles in plant growth and adverse response. In this study, we performed the first comprehensive wheat plasma membrane N -glycoproteome analysis under drought stress via glycopeptide HILIC enrichment and LC-MS/MS identification. In total, 414 glycosylated sites corresponding to 407 glycopeptides and 312 unique glycoproteins were identified, of which 173 plasma membrane glycoproteins with 215 N -glycosylation sites were significantly regulated by drought stress. Functional enrichment analysis reveals that the significantly regulated N -glycosylation proteins were particularly related to protein kinase activity involved in the reception and transduction of extracellular signal and plant cell wall remolding. The motifs and sequence structures analysis showed that the significantly regulated N -glycosylation sites were concentrated within [NxT] motif, and 79.5% of them were located on the random coil that is always on the protein surface and flexible regions, which could facilitate protein glycosylated modification and enhance protein structural stability via reducing protein flexibility. PNGase F enzyme digestion and glycosylation site mutation further indicated that N -glycosylated modification could increase protein stability. Therefore, N -glycosylated modification is involved in plant adaptation to drought stress by improving the stability of cell wall remodeling related plasma membrane proteins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The working conditions of rolling bearings usually is very complex, which makes it difficult to diagnose rolling bearing faults. In this paper, a novel method called the adaptive deep convolutional neural network (CNN) is proposed for rolling bearing fault diagnosis. Firstly, to get rid of manual feature extraction, the deep CNN model is initialized for automatic feature learning. Secondly, to adapt to different signal characteristics, the main parameters of the deep CNN model are determined with a particle swarm optimization method. Thirdly, to evaluate the feature learning ability of the proposed method, t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE) is further adopted to visualize the hierarchical feature learning process. The proposed method is applied to diagnose rolling bearing faults, and the results confirm that the proposed method is more effective and robust than other intelligent methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

8:2 Chlorinated polyfluoroalkyl ether sulfonate (8:2 Cl-PFESA) is a substitute for perfluorooctane sulfonate and an emerging environmental pollutant, yet its bioaccumulation and health risks are poorly understood. We established a subchronic exposure model in mice (0.04, 0.2, and 1 mg/kg/d) to evaluate its adverse effects. Our findings show extensive distribution of 8:2 Cl-PFESA in various tissues (plasma, liver, kidney, brain, heart, lung, testis, ovary, spleen, thymus, thyroid, uterus, large intestine, small intestine, muscle, and fat), with the highest accumulation in the liver, identified as the primary storage organ. Liver histopathology revealed elevated alanine aminotransferase levels, reduced triglycerides, and ballooning degeneration. Proteomics analysis indicated significant involvement of amino acid metabolism in 8:2 Cl-PFESA-induced hepatotoxicity. Metabolomics analysis further highlighted pronounced alterations in amino acid interconversion. Multi-omics integration revealed disruptions in amino acid metabolism, particularly with alanine, histidine, and tryptophan, identifying key proteins EHHADH, HAL, MAO-A, ALDH3A2, and TDO2 as crucial connectors in these metabolic processes, validated by Western blot experiments. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of 8:2 Cl-PFESA accumulation and distribution in biological systems, demonstrating that hepatotoxicity is primarily mediated through amino acid metabolism disruption, offering insights for pollution mitigation strategies and future toxicological research. [Display omitted] • 8:2 Cl-PFESA accumulates in 16 tissues, with the highest levels found in the liver. • Integrative proteomics and metabolomics approach is applied to explore the hepatotoxicity of 8:2 Cl-PFESA. • 8:2 Cl-PFESA induces liver damage in mice by disrupting amino acid metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The initial reaction of BTBPE molecule was dominated by concerted mechanism. • 2,4,6-Tribromophenoxy radical can further catalyze the decomposition of BTBPE. • Debromination at ortho -position is the most important reaction for BTBPE to react with H radicals. • The yield of PBDD is higher than that of PBDFs. 1,2-Bis(2,4,6-tribromophenoxy)ethane (BTBPE), as a novel brominated flame retardant, is widely applied to various plastic products to improve flame resistance. In this paper, we have carried out theoretical and experimental studies on the pyrolysis of BTBPE. The density functional theory (DFT) method at M06/cc-pVDZ theoretical level was used to calculate thermodynamic and kinetic parameters, and the pyrolysis mechanisms of BTBPE were in detail analyzed based on theoretical calculation data and relevant experimental findings. In unimolecular pyrolysis reaction, concerted reaction mechanism with a four-membered ring transition state at low temperatures leads to high yields of 2,4,6-tribromophenol and vinyl 2,4,6-tribromophenol ether, and free radical reaction at high temperatures generates 2,4,6-tribromophenoxy and 2,4,6-tribromophenoxy-ethyl by direct breakage of the C O bond. The 2,4,6-tribromophenoxy radical can further catalyze BTBPE decomposition to form 2,4,6-tribromophenol and vinyl 2,4,6-tribromophenol ether. Reactions of the BTBPE molecule with H radicals mainly proceed via debromination, which results in the production of HBr and low-brominated congeners. The 2,4,6-tribromophenol and 2,4,6-tribromophenoxy undergo a C O coupling reaction to eliminate OH, which is the principal pathway for the generation of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). The formation of polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PBDD/Fs) involves the self-condensation of 2,4,6-tribromophenoxys, debromination, rearrangement, and cyclization. The energy barrier of the reaction path forming PBDD is lower than that of the reaction path forming PBDFs. Therefore, the yield of brominated dibenzo-p-dioxin is higher than that of brominated dibenzofuran. The experimental results of pyrolysis are in good agreement with our theoretical research. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]