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When plants are subjected to high metal exposure, different plant species take different strategies in response to metal-induced stress. Largely, plants can be distinguished in four groups: metal-sensitive species, metal-resistant excluder species, metal-tolerant non-hyperaccumulator species, and metal-hypertolerant hyperaccumulator species, each having different molecular mechanisms to accomplish their resistance/tolerance to metal stress or reduce the negative consequences of metal toxicity. Plant responses to heavy metals are molecularly regulated in a process called metal homeostasis, which also includes regulation of the metal-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) signaling pathway. ROS generation and signaling plays an important duel role in heavy metal detoxification and tolerance. In this review, we will compare the different molecular mechanisms of nutritional (Zn) and non-nutritional (Cd) metal homeostasis between metal-sensitive and metal-adapted species. We will also include the role of metal-induced ROS signal transduction in this comparison, with the aim to provide a comprehensive overview on how plants cope with Zn/Cd stress at the molecular level.

Purpose - The study sets out to examine the influence of individual factors (enjoyment in helping others and knowledge self-efficacy), organizational factors (top management support and organizational rewards) and technology factors (information and communication technology use) on knowledge sharing processes and whether more leads to superior firm innovation capability. Design methodology approach - Based on a survey of 172 employees from 50 large organizations in Taiwan, this study applies the structural equation modeling (SEM) to investigate the research model. Findings - The results show that two individual factors (enjoyment in helping others and knowledge self-efficacy) and one of the organizational factors (top management support) significantly influence knowledge-sharing processes. The results also indicate that employee willingness to both donate and collect knowledge enable the firm to improve innovation capability. Research limitations implications - Future research can examine how personal traits (such as age, level of education, and working experiences) and organizational characteristics (such as firm size and industry type) may moderate the relationships between knowledge enablers and processes. Practical implications - From a practical perspective, the relationships among knowledge-sharing enablers, processes, and firm innovation capability may provide a clue regarding how firms can promote knowledge-sharing culture to sustain their innovation performance. Originality value - The findings of this study provide a theoretical basis, and simultaneously can be used to analyze relationships among knowledge-sharing factors, including enablers, processes, and firm innovation capability. From a managerial perspective, this study identified several factors essential to successful knowledge sharing, and discussed the implications of these factors for developing organizational strategies that encourage and foster knowledge sharing.

Objective We use a family systems approach to examine how stepfamily structure is associated with both positive and negative parent–child relationships while considering mothers' and fathers' discrepant reports. Background Two in five older couples with children are in stepfamilies. Past research on later‐life stepfamily dynamics has focused mainly on positive aspects of relationships and compared reports of mothers and fathers from different families. Method Using the U.S. Health and Retirement Study, we estimated multilevel models with data from married couples in which both spouses reported living children and answered all questions about positive and negative parent–child relationships (N = 2150). Results Couples in stepfamilies reported less positive and more negative relationships with their children than did couples in non‐stepfamilies. Mothers reported more positive relationships than fathers, but there was no gender difference in reports of negative relationships. The patterns of perceived parent–child relationships and divergent reports between mothers and fathers also varied by stepfamily structure. Structural complexity was not consistently related to positive or negative relationships. Conclusion This study underscores the importance of considering mothers' and fathers' different points of view in the same family and examining both positive and negative parent–child interactions as negative relationships are not merely the reverse of positive relationships.

The hole transport material (HTM) of organic–inorganic perovskite solar cells (PVSCs) plays a very important role for achieving high power conversion efficiency and long‐term stability. 2,2’,7,7’‐tetrakis[N,N‐di(4‐methoxyphenyl)amino]‐9‐9’‐spirobifluorene (spiro‐OMeTAD) is the first solid‐state HTM used in PVSCs and has gained tremendous attention during the last decade. Herein, the concept of spirolinkage for synthesis of spiro‐based HTMs is discussed, followed by an overview of the desirable optical and electrical properties of spiro‐OMeTAD. Recent progress in efficiency improvements of spiro‐based PVSCs is analyzed systematically, and the impacts of interface engineering, dopant‐free spiro‐OMeTAD, and novel spiro‐based HTMs are reviewed in detail. The hole mobility of spiro‐OMeTAD depends on the types of dopants and doping concentration. Commonly used lithium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide and 4‐tert‐butylpyridine additives reduce the PVSC stability due to hygroscopicity and corrosiveness, respectively. The effects of additives on device stability and the techniques to improve the long‐term stability of spiro‐based PVSCs are also discussed. The review and analysis of various methods and strategies presented is useful for the perovskite research community, providing guidance and directions toward the further development of spiro‐based HTMs for PVSCs with improved efficiency and stability. A critical analysis on the recent advances in spiro‐OMeTAD and analogs as hole transporting materials is summarized for perovskite solar cells (PVSCs). The dopant engineering, device interface engineering, new materials design, and synthesis are discussed for achieving highly efficient and stable PVSCs.

Air pollution has emerged as a global problem in recent years. Particularly, particulate matter (PM2.5) with a diameter of less than 2.5 μm can move through the air and transfer dangerous compounds to the lungs through human breathing, thereby creating major health issues. This research proposes a large-scale, low-cost solution for detecting air pollution by combining hyperspectral imaging (HSI) technology and deep learning techniques. By modeling the visible-light HSI technology of the aerial camera, the image acquired by the drone camera is endowed with hyperspectral information. Two methods are used for the classification of the images. That is, 3D Convolutional Neural Network Auto Encoder and principal components analysis (PCA) are paired with VGG-16 (Visual Geometry Group) to find the optical properties of air pollution. The images are classified into good, moderate, and severe based on the concentration of PM2.5 particles in the images. The results suggest that the PCA + VGG-16 has the highest average classification accuracy of 85.93%.

The doubling of the gray divorce rate (i.e., divorce at age 50 or older) over the past few decades portends growth in later-life repartnering, yet little is known about the mechanisms undergirding decisions to repartner after gray divorce. Using data from the 1998-2014 Health and Retirement Study, we examined women's and men's likelihoods of forming a remarriage or cohabiting union following gray divorce by estimating competing risk multinomial logistic regression models using discrete-time event history data. About 22 % of women and 37 % of men repartnered within 10 years after gray divorce. Repartnering more often occurred through cohabitation than remarriage, particularly for men. Resources such as economic factors, health, and social ties were linked to repartnering, but constraints captured by the contours of the marital biography were also salient, underscoring the distinctive features of union formation in later life.

Biomaterial-based tissue culture platforms have emerged as useful tools to mimic in vivo physiological microenvironments in experimental cell biology and clinical studies. We describe herein a three-dimensional (3D) tissue culture platform using a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based hanging drop array (PDMS-HDA) methodology. Multicellular spheroids can be achieved within 24 h and further boosted by incorporating collagen fibrils in PDMS-HDA. In addition, the spheroids generated from different human tumor cells exhibited distinct sensitivities toward drug chemotherapeutic agents and radiation as compared with two-dimensional (2D) cultures that often lack in vivo -like biological insights. We also demonstrated that multicellular spheroids may enable key hallmarks of tissue-based bioassays, including drug screening, tumor dissemination, cell co-culture, and tumor invasion. Taken together, these results offer new opportunities not only to achieve the active control of 3D multicellular spheroids on demand, but also to establish a rapid and cost-effective platform to study anti-cancer therapeutics and tumor microenvironments.

The doubling of the divorce rate among individuals over age 50 during the past 20 years underscores the urgency of studying the consequences of gray divorce and subsequent repartnering for adult well-being. We filled this gap by using the 1998-to-2014 Health and Retirement Study to evaluate how the levels of depressive symptoms changed following gray divorce versus widowhood. Individuals who divorced or became widowed already had experienced higher levels of depressive symptoms before dissolution relative to those who remained married. Compared with those who became widowed, those who transitioned to divorce experienced a lower elevation and a shorter time to recovery in depressive symptoms. When repartnering, both groups experienced similar magnitudes of initial reduction and subsequent rates of increase. Both the negative consequences of marital dissolution and the beneficial effects of repartnership for mental health persisted for several years, although ultimately they reverted to their predissolution levels of depressive symptoms.

Forgery and tampering continue to provide unnecessary economic burdens. Although new anti-forgery and counterfeiting technologies arise, they inadvertently lead to the sophistication of forgery techniques over time, to a point where detection is no longer viable without technological aid. Among the various optical techniques, one of the recently used techniques to detect counterfeit products is HSI, which captures a range of electromagnetic data. To aid in the further exploration and eventual application of the technique, this study categorizes and summarizes existing related studies on hyperspectral imaging and creates a mini meta-analysis of this stream of literature. The literature review has been classified based on the product HSI has used in counterfeit documents, photos, holograms, artwork, and currency detection.

Purpose – This study aims to develops the decomposed model to examine the influence of knowledge management orientation (KMO) dimensions (organizational memory, knowledge sharing, knowledge absorption and knowledge receptivity) on balanced scorecard outcomes (learning and growth, internal process, customer satisfaction and financial performance). Design/methodology/approach – Survey data from 244 managers (in charge of KM projects in their companies) in large Taiwanese firms were collected and used to test the decomposed model using the structural equation modeling approach. Findings – This study finds that knowledge sharing is the strongest predictor of internal process performance, while knowledge absorption is pivotal in improving customer satisfaction. The results also show that non-financial performance measures (i.e. learning and growth, internal process and customer satisfaction) directly and indirectly affect financial performance through cause-and-effect relationships. Practical implications – In an increasingly dynamic environment, the building of internal knowledge stocks is likely insufficient, but knowledge must be moved between a firm and external entities (e.g. customers, business partners and education and research institutes) (i.e. building knowledge flows) to achieve increased customer satisfaction and financial performance. Originality/value – Theoretically, the findings of this study suggest that the decomposed approach helps to understand the complex relationships embodied in the KMO–performance link, which cannot be surmised using a composite model. From the managerial perspective, the findings of this study may help academics and managers design and sustain KMO implementation throughout the organization to achieve higher effectiveness, efficiency and profitability.