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Public procurement is an important bridge between public demand and market supply and may affect corporate behavior. However, in the advocacy of sustainable development, the extant research has rarely combined sustainable public procurement (SPP) with corporate ESG performance, to explore whether governments have contributed to the development of sustainable corporate performance through their sustainable procurement activities. This paper fills in the gap by matching the actual implementation of SPP of 42,369 projects in China over 2015~2020 with 20,125 corporate ESG performance data, to analyze the relationship between SPP implementation and corporate ESG performance. The results show that the implementation of SPP has a significant positive impact on corporate ESG performance. Further heterogeneity analysis reveals that the impact is stronger in China’s eastern and central regions than in other regions, and corporates at a mature stage are more likely to follow the government sustainable behavior. In addition, the implementation of SPP has a long-term effect on corporate ESG performance. The above findings have important policy implications: firstly, there is a better role for government to play as the “invisible hand”, to participate in the market economy; Specifically, SPP policy should be added to government policy tool box to improve corporate ESG performance in addition to disclosure requirement, and the SPP policy employed should in particular attend to the “missing sectors” of sustainability in SPP for the good of corporate ESG; secondly, the government should implement differentiated policies tailored to the region’s economic development conditions and corporate development characteristics; thirdly, a long-term evaluation mechanism should be established so that the government can play a more long-term demonstration and leading role.

In recent years, increasing attention has been paid worldwide to the sustainable development of the economy and society. Because of its size and prevalence, public procurement has always been a powerful policy tool used to tackle issues related to the sustainability of society, economy, and environment. China has attached high priority to sustainable development, and many aspects of sustainable public procurement (SPP) have been implemented though no official documents have referred to the concept of SPP. Therefore, little is known about the actual implementation and patterns of SPP in practice. The purpose of the study is to assess the actual implementation and patterns of SPP in China. We obtained 42,369 public procurement documents for 2015–2020 using the web crawler technique and the actual implementation of SPP was assessed through the text-mining technique. The research shows that SPP is implemented in more than 82% of the documents and appears in an upward trend in the past 6 years. Several patterns of SPP implementation are also identified. First, most documents implement more than one category of SPP. Second, small and medium-sized enterprise-oriented procurement is the most implemented SPP main category, overtaking environmentally friendly procurement only by a small margin, and the procurement for the circular economy is the least implemented. Third, there seem to be some relationships between the level of SPP implementation and the award method, tender price, and contract type. Finally, there is a substantial transformation of China’s SPP toward social aspects of SPP in recent years. Policy implications, limitations, and issues for future studies are also discussed.

Plant fiber isolated cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) are the materials with excellent mechanical properties. However, application of CNFs in polymer reinforcement is normally unsatisfactory due to its intertwined size distribution. Efforts to produce uniform sized CNFs have yet to be studied. In present work, spiral microchannel was used to fractionate CNFs based on the balance between inertial lift force (FL) and Dean drag force (FD) exerted on CNFs. The results showed that the smaller length of CNFs equilibrated near the inner microchannel while the larger length of CNFs occupied the equilibrium position away from the inner wall. With the increase of flowrates from 50 to 220 μL/min, fractionation efficiency between inner and middle outlet (EIM) of spiral microchannel A with larger radius curvature (R) from 5 to 15 mm increased from 0 to 75.4%. However, stronger Dean flow attributing to decrease of R (3 mm to 10 mm) of single spiral microchannel B enabled satisfactory fractionation efficiency of 70.9% at flowrate of 90 μL/min. Moreover, the fractionation efficiency of double spiral microchannel with twice as length as microchannel A and three times as length as microchannel B was lower than that of single spiral microchannel at flowrate lower than 90 μL/min. Furthermore, this study exhibited a versatile and simple method for CNFs fractionation with high fractionation efficiency.Graphic abstract

Machine scheduling is to assign a group of jobs to a set of machines in an efficient strategy, such that some objectives such as minimizing the makespan time are satisfied under some constraints. Considering the human uncertainty in operations, this paper assumes the processing times of the jobs are uncertain variables, and proposes an uncertain goal programming model for the machine scheduling problem, in which each machine is supposed to finish all its jobs before a predetermined time under the cost constraints. A crisp equivalent model is obtained, and an intelligent algorithm is introduced to solve the equivalence based on a revised genetic algorithm. In addition, a numerical experiment is given to illustrate the efficiency of the intelligent algorithm.

Opinion statement Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, with about 85% of patients being diagnosed as non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); and most presenting with stage IV disease initially. With the continuous advancement of treatment strategies of oncology, immunotherapy with/without chemo-immunotherapy has become the first-line treatment for patients with stage IV NSCLC. However, a proportion of patients still develop resistance to the treatment regimen and experience local progression, and primary lung lesion progression is the main progression pattern of stage IV NSCLC. Preclinical and clinical studies have demonstrated the potential of radiotherapy in anti-tumor treatment and suggest that administering local radiotherapy prior to cancer progression can prolong survival. Therefore, we consider whether adding local radiotherapy before the progression of a pulmonary lesion in stage IV NSCLC patients receiving chemo-immunotherapy would be beneficial. The present review aims to explore the efficacy and safety of combining radiotherapy with immunotherapy in the treatment of stage IV NSCLC, delving into the intricacies of their underlying mechanism.

Multi-step real-time prediction based on the spatial correlation of wind speed is a research hotspot for large-scale wind power grid integration, and this paper proposes a multi-location multi-step wind speed combination prediction method based on the spatial correlation of wind speed. The correlation coefficients were determined by gray relational analysis for each turbine in the wind farm. Based on this, timing-control spatial association optimization is used for optimization and scheduling, obtaining spatial information on the typical turbine and its neighborhood information. This spatial information is reconstructed to improve the efficiency of spatial feature extraction. The reconstructed spatio-temporal information is input into a convolutional neural network with memory cells. Spatial feature extraction and multi-step real-time prediction are carried out, avoiding the problem of missing information affecting prediction accuracy. The method is innovative in terms of both efficiency and accuracy, and the prediction accuracy and generalization ability of the proposed method is verified by predicting wind speed and wind power for different wind farms.

As sensors, wireless communication devices, personal health monitoring systems, and autonomous microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) become distributed and smaller, there is an increasing demand for miniaturized integrated power sources. Although thin-film batteries are well-suited for on-chip integration, their energy and power per unit area are limited. Three-dimensional electrode designs have potential to offer much greater power and energy per unit area; however, efforts to date to realize 3D microbatteries have led to prototypes with solid electrodes (and therefore low power) or mesostructured electrodes not compatible with manufacturing or on-chip integration. Here, we demonstrate an on-chip compatible method to fabricate high energy density (6.5 μWh cm ⁻²⋅μm ⁻¹) 3D mesostructured Li-ion microbatteries based on LiMnO ₂ cathodes, and NiSn anodes that possess supercapacitor-like power (3,600 μW cm ⁻²⋅μm ⁻¹ peak). The mesostructured electrodes are fabricated by combining 3D holographic lithography with conventional photolithography, enabling deterministic control of both the internal electrode mesostructure and the spatial distribution of the electrodes on the substrate. The resultant full cells exhibit impressive performances, for example a conventional light-emitting diode (LED) is driven with a 500-μA peak current (600-C discharge) from a 10-μm-thick microbattery with an area of 4 mm ² for 200 cycles with only 12% capacity fade. A combined experimental and modeling study where the structural parameters of the battery are modulated illustrates the unique design flexibility enabled by 3D holographic lithography and provides guidance for optimization for a given application. Significance Microscale batteries can deliver energy at the actual point of energy usage, providing capabilities for miniaturizing electronic devices and enhancing their performance. Here, we demonstrate a high-performance microbattery suitable for large-scale on-chip integration with both microelectromechanical and complementary metal-oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) devices. Enabled by a 3D holographic patterning technique, the battery possesses well-defined, periodically mesostructured porous electrodes. Such battery architectures offer both high energy and high power, and the 3D holographic patterning technique offers exceptional control of the electrode’s structural parameters, enabling customized energy and power for specific applications.

Most lacustrine dissolved organic matter (DOM) still lacks comprehensive environmental sources and molecular characterization, especially in plateau lakes. Herein, macrophytes and algae from contrasting lakes of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, together with Suwannee River fulvic acid (SRFA), were used to characterize the total identified DOM (Bulk-DOM) and low-molecular-weight DOM (LMW-DOM, <200 Da). To address this, we combined spectroscopy with Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) and Orbitrap mass spectrometry (MS). Algae-derived DOM (ADOM) exhibited endogenous DOM characteristics, while macrophyte-derived DOM (MDOM) showed the characteristics of endogenous and terrigenous DOM. ADOM contained numerous heteroatoms, with high proportions of proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids. The chemical structures of ADOM were more aliphatic and degradable than that of MDOM. Conversely, MDOM and SRFA had higher degree of humification and aromaticity and showed greater resistance to microbial degradation. The capability of Orbitrap MS to characterize P-containing molecules was superior to FT-ICR MS. Moreover, significant differences were found between FT-ICR and Orbitrap MS in weighted average carbon atom number, weighted average mass-to-charge ratio, carbohydrates, and P-containing compounds. LMW-DOM accounted for approximately 10% of Bulk-DOM. Compared to Bulk-DOM, LMW-DOM was more active than Bulk-DOM because of the reduced state and more N-containing compounds. This study provides a valuable perspective to reveal the molecular characteristics and behaviors of ADOM and MDOM, which has crucial implications for carbon cycling in aquatic ecosystems.

Formation of thick, high energy density, flexible solid supercapacitors is challenging because of difficulties infilling gel electrolytes into porous electrodes. Incomplete infilling results in a low capacitance and poor mechanical properties. Here we report a bottom-up infilling method to overcome these challenges. Electrodes up to 500 μm thick, formed from multi-walled carbon nanotubes and a composite of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), polystyrene sulfonate and multi-walled carbon nanotubes are successfully infilled with a polyvinyl alcohol/phosphoric acid gel electrolyte. The exceptional mechanical properties of the multi-walled carbon nanotube-based electrode enable it to be rolled into a radius of curvature as small as 0.5 mm without cracking and retain 95% of its initial capacitance after 5000 bending cycles. The areal capacitance of our 500 μm thick poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), polystyrene sulfonate, multi-walled carbon nanotube-based flexible solid supercapacitor is 2662 mF cm –2 at 2 mV s –1 , at least five times greater than current flexible supercapacitors. The development of high performance flexible solid supercapacitors calls for an effective approach to infill gel electrolytes into porous electrodes. Here the authors report a bottom-up method to address this technical challenge, which leads to enhanced areal capacitance and durability.

Background Insulin resistance (IR) during gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) has been linked to dysregulated insulin-PI3K/Akt pathway. A defective insulin-PI3K/Akt pathway and dysregulated circular RNA (circRNA) levels have been observed in the placentas of patients with GDM; however, the mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear. Methods circRNAs potentially associated with GDM were selected through bioinformatics analysis and initially identified by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) in 9 GDM patients and 9 healthy controls, of which circMAP3K4 was further validated in additional 84 samples by qPCR. circMAP3K4 identity and localization were verified. Pearson correlation analysis was applied to evaluate the correlation between circMAP3K4 expression in the placental tissues of GDM patients and IR-related indicators. An IR model of trophoblasts was constructed using glucosamine. Interactions between miR-6795-5p and circMAP3K4 or PTPN1 were confirmed using a dual-luciferase reporter assay. The circMAP3K4/miR-6795-5p/PTPN1 axis and key markers in the insulin-PI3K/Akt pathway in placentas and trophoblasts were evaluated through qRT-PCR, immunofluorescence, and western blotting. The role of circMAP3K4 in glucose metabolism and cell growth in trophoblasts was determined using the glucose uptake and CCK8 assay, respectively. Results circMAP3K4 was highly expressed in the placentas of patients with GDM and the IR trophoblast model; this was associated with a dysregulated insulin-PI3K/Akt pathway. circMAP3K4 in the placentas of GDM patients was positively correlated with weight gain during pregnancy and time-glucose area under the curve of OGTT. circMAP3K4 and PTPN1 could both bind to miR-6795-5p. miR-6795-5p and PTPN1 were downregulated and upregulated, respectively, in the placentas of GDM patients and the IR trophoblast model. circMAP3K4 silencing or miR-6795-5p overexpression partially reversed the decrease in glucose uptake, inhibition in cell growth, and downregulated IRS1 and Akt phosphorylation in IR-trophoblasts; this restoration was reversed upon co-transfection with an miR-6795-5p inhibitor or PTPN1 . Conclusion circMAP3K4 could suppress the insulin-PI3K/Akt signaling pathway via miR-6795-5p/PTPN1 axis, probably contributing to GDM-related IR.