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Using corporate social responsibility (CSR) ratings for 23,000 companies from 114 countries, we find that a firm's CSR rating and its country's legal origin are strongly correlated. Legal origin is a stronger explanation than \"doing good by doing well\" factors or firm and country characteristics (ownership concentration, political institutions, and globalization): firms from common law countries have lower CSR than companies from civil law countries, with Scandinavian civil law firms having the highest CSR ratings. Evidence from quasi-natural experiments such as scandals and natural disasters suggests that civil law firms are more responsive to CSR shocks than common law firms.

This study investigates the dynamics and factors affecting immigrant residential segregation in Japan between 2000 and 2020, a period marked by Japan’s emergence as a global immigrant destination. Using restricted-access census microdata, I examined the segregation of the 12 largest immigrant groups to the Japanese majority and among each other. I then assessed the relationship between dissimilarity and factors affecting integration using pooled linear regressions and individual location attainment models. My findings reveal that all immigrant groups exhibit high residential segregation from the Japanese majority and notable pairwise segregation. There is a general trend of spatial assimilation that higher levels of socioeconomic factors predict less segregation, while Brazilians and Peruvians, the earliest contemporary immigrant group who arrived in Japan as ethnic descendants, demonstrate a pronounced tendency towards place stratification. These observations provide support for both spatial assimilation and place stratification theory. Moreover, there is a strong trend of self-segregation among highly skilled elite, particularly Western immigrants from the Japanese majority and peer immigrants. The results provide support for a dichotomy in segregation trends, underlining the integration challenges for minority groups in global new destinations and the pronounced self-segregation among elite skilled minorities.

We investigate how firms react to their product-market peers’ commitment to and adoption of corporate social responsibility (CSR) using a regression discontinuity design approach. Relying on the passage or failure of CSR proposals by a narrow margin of votes during shareholder meetings, we find the passage of a close-call CSR proposal and its implementation are followed by the adoption of similar CSR practices by peer firms. In addition, peers that have greater difficulty in catching up with the voting firm in CSR experience significantly lower stock returns around the passage, consistent with the notion that the spillover effect of the adoption of CSR is a strategic response to competitive threat. Using alternative definitions of peers and examining underlying mechanisms, we further rule out alternative explanations, such as that based on propagation by financial intermediaries. This paper was accepted by Gustavo Manso, finance department.

A highly versatile Z-scheme heterostructure, Ho2SmSbO7/YbDyBiNbO7 (HYO), was synthesized using an ultrasonic-assisted solvent thermal method. The HYO heterojunction, composed of dual A2B2O7 compounds, exhibits superior separation of photogenerated carriers due to its efficient Z-scheme mechanism. The synergistic properties of Ho2SmSbO7 and YbDyBiNbO7, particularly the excellent visible light absorption, enable HYO to achieve exceptional photocatalytic performance in the degradation of fenitrothion (FNT). Specifically, HYO demonstrated an outstanding removal efficiency of 99.83% for FNT and a mineralization rate of 98.77% for total organic carbon (TOC) during the degradation process. Comparative analyses revealed that HYO significantly outperformed other photocatalysts, including Ho2SmSbO7, YbDyBiNbO7, and N-doped TiO2, achieving removal rates that were 1.10, 1.20, and 2.97 times higher for FNT, respectively. For TOC mineralization, HYO exhibited even greater enhancements, with rates 1.13, 1.26, and 3.37 times higher than those of the aforementioned catalysts. Additionally, the stability and durability of HYO were systematically evaluated, confirming its potential applicability in practical scenarios. Trapping experiments and electron paramagnetic resonance analyses were conducted to identify the active species generated by HYO, specifically hydroxyl radicals (•OH), superoxide anions (•O2−), and holes (h+). This facilitated a comprehensive understanding of the degradation mechanisms and pathways associated with FNT. In conclusion, this study represents a substantial contribution to the advancement of efficient Z-scheme heterostructure and offers critical insights for the development of sustainable remediation approaches aimed at mitigating FNT contamination.

Emotion recognition in classrooms plays a crucial role in enhancing human-computer interactions, especially in educational environments. This paper proposes a novel MoE-Sparse Transformer architecture for classroom emotion recognition that integrates visual, auditory, and textual data. The model leverages the Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) mechanism and sparse attention to efficiently process multimodal streams, improving computational efficiency while maintaining high accuracy. Additionally, it incorporates Identity Irreversible Desensitization (IID) to decouple identity-related features from emotional signals, ensuring privacy protection. We evaluate our model on three multimodal datasets (SAMSEMO, EmotionTalk, and IEMOCAP), achieving an average Weighted Average F1-score (WA-F1) of 78.5% and Unweighted Average Recall (UAR) of 74.8% across these datasets. Our model outperforms existing methods, such as TFN and HyFusER, by 4–6% in WA-F1. While incorporating IID slightly reduces performance by 0.4−0.6%, it effectively ensures privacy with an identity leakage rate of 53.8%, compared to the 86.3% leakage in models without IID. This approach provides a robust solution for emotion recognition in both traditional and remote classroom settings, balancing performance and privacy protection.Introduces a privacy-aware multimodal model for reliable emotion recognition in classroom-like settings.Improves robustness when visual or audio cues are noisy or partially missing.Reduces identity leakage while maintaining strong emotion recognition performance.

A novel photocatalytic nanomaterial, Ho2YSbO7, was successfully synthesized for the first time using the solvothermal synthesis technique. In addition, a Ho2YSbO7/Bi2MoO6 heterojunction photocatalyst (HBHP) was prepared via the hydrothermal fabrication technique. Extensive characterizations of the synthesized samples were conducted using various instruments, such as an X-ray diffractometer, a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, a Raman spectrometer, a UV-visible spectrophotometer, an X-ray photoelectron spectrometer, and a transmission electron microscope, as well as X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, a photocurrent test, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy, and electron paramagnetic resonance. The photocatalytic activity of the HBHP was evaluated for the degradation of diuron (DRN) and the mineralization of total organic carbon (TOC) under visible light exposure for 152 min. Remarkable removal efficiencies were achieved, with 99.78% for DRN and 97.19% for TOC. Comparative analysis demonstrated that the HBHP exhibited markedly higher removal efficiencies for DRN compared to Ho2YSbO7, Bi2MoO6, or N-doped TiO2 photocatalyst, with removal efficiencies 1.13 times, 1.21 times, or 2.95 times higher, respectively. Similarly, the HBHP demonstrated significantly higher removal efficiencies for TOC compared to Ho2YSbO7, Bi2MoO6, or N-doped TiO2 photocatalyst, with removal efficiencies 1.17 times, 1.25 times, or 3.39 times higher, respectively. Furthermore, the HBHP demonstrated excellent stability and reusability. The mechanisms which could enhance the photocatalytic activity remarkably and the involvement of the major active species were comprehensively discussed, with superoxide radicals identified as the primary active species, followed by hydroxyl radicals and holes. The results of this study contribute to the advancement of efficient heterostructural materials and offer valuable insights into the development of sustainable remediation strategies for addressing DRN contamination.

Metabolic reprogramming is of great significance in the progression of various cancers and is critical for cancer progression, diagnosis, and treatment. Cellular metabolic pathways mainly include glycolysis, fat metabolism, glutamine decomposition, and oxidative phosphorylation. In cancer cells, reprogramming metabolic pathways is used to meet the massive energy requirement for tumorigenesis and development. Metabolisms are also altered in malignant osteosarcoma (OS) cells. Among reprogrammed metabolisms, alterations in aerobic glycolysis are key to the massive biosynthesis and energy demands of OS cells to sustain their growth and metastasis. Numerous studies have demonstrated that compared to normal cells, glycolysis in OS cells under aerobic conditions is substantially enhanced to promote malignant behaviors such as proliferation, invasion, metastasis, and drug resistance of OS. Glycolysis in OS is closely related to various oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, and numerous signaling pathways have been reported to be involved in the regulation of glycolysis. In recent years, a vast number of inhibitors and natural products have been discovered to inhibit OS progression by targeting glycolysis-related proteins. These potential inhibitors and natural products may be ideal candidates for the treatment of osteosarcoma following hundreds of preclinical and clinical trials. In this article, we explore key pathways, glycolysis enzymes, non-coding RNAs, inhibitors, and natural products regulating aerobic glycolysis in OS cells to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between glycolysis and the progression of OS and discover novel therapeutic approaches targeting glycolytic metabolism in OS.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is an exceptional public health crisis that demands the timely creation of new therapeutics and viral detection. Owing to their high specificity and reliability, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have emerged as powerful tools to treat and detect numerous diseases. Hence, many researchers have begun to urgently develop Ab-based kits for the detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and Ab drugs for use as COVID-19 therapeutic agents. The detailed structure of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is known, and since this protein is key for viral infection, its receptor-binding domain (RBD) has become a major target for therapeutic Ab development. Because SARS-CoV-2 is an RNA virus with a high mutation rate, especially under the selective pressure of aggressively deployed prophylactic vaccines and neutralizing Abs, the use of Ab cocktails is expected to be an important strategy for effective COVID-19 treatment. Moreover, SARS-CoV-2 infection may stimulate an overactive immune response, resulting in a cytokine storm that drives severe disease progression. Abs to combat cytokine storms have also been under intense development as treatments for COVID-19. In addition to their use as drugs, Abs are currently being utilized in SARS-CoV-2 detection tests, including antigen and immunoglobulin tests. Such Ab-based detection tests are crucial surveillance tools that can be used to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Herein, we highlight some key points regarding mAb-based detection tests and treatments for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a worldwide chronic disease that can cause severe inflammation to damage the surrounding tissue and cartilage. There are many different factors that can lead to osteoarthritis, but abnormally progressed programmed cell death is one of the most important risk factors that can induce osteoarthritis. Prior studies have demonstrated that programmed cell death, including apoptosis, pyroptosis, necroptosis, ferroptosis, autophagy, and cuproptosis, has a great connection with osteoarthritis. In this paper, we review the role of different types of programmed cell death in the generation and development of OA and how the different signal pathways modulate the different cell death to regulate the development of OA. Additionally, this review provides new insights into the radical treatment of osteoarthritis rather than conservative treatment, such as anti-inflammation drugs or surgical operation.

This study presents a pioneering synthesis of a direct Z-scheme Y2TmSbO7/GdYBiNbO7 heterojunction photocatalyst (YGHP) using an ultrasound-assisted hydrothermal synthesis technique. Additionally, novel photocatalytic nanomaterials, namely Y2TmSbO7 and GdYBiNbO7, were fabricated via the hydrothermal fabrication technique. A comprehensive range of characterization techniques, including X-ray diffractometry, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, UV-visible spectrophotometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray energy-dispersive spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, photocurrent testing, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy, and electron paramagnetic resonance, was employed to thoroughly investigate the morphological features, composition, chemical, optical, and photoelectric properties of the fabricated samples. The photocatalytic performance of YGHP was assessed in the degradation of the pesticide acetochlor (AC) and the mineralization of total organic carbon (TOC) under visible light exposure, demonstrating eximious removal efficiencies. Specifically, AC and TOC exhibited removal rates of 99.75% and 97.90%, respectively. Comparative analysis revealed that YGHP showcased significantly higher removal efficiencies for AC compared to the Y2TmSbO7, GdYBiNbO7, or N-doped TiO2 photocatalyst, with removal rates being 1.12 times, 1.21 times, or 3.07 times higher, respectively. Similarly, YGHP demonstrated substantially higher removal efficiencies for TOC than the aforementioned photocatalysts, with removal rates 1.15 times, 1.28 times, or 3.51 times higher, respectively. These improvements could be attributed to the Z-scheme charge transfer configuration, which preserved the preferable redox capacities of Y2TmSbO7 and GdYBiNbO7. Furthermore, the stability and durability of YGHP were confirmed, affirming its potential for practical applications. Trapping experiments and electron spin resonance analyses identified active species generated by YGHP, namely •OH, •O2−, and h+, allowing for comprehensive analysis of the degradation mechanisms and pathways of AC. Overall, this investigation advances the development of efficient Z-scheme heterostructural materials and provides valuable insights into formulating sustainable remediation strategies for combatting AC contamination.