Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) can be used to manufacture any complex geometry and internal structures, and it has been widely applied in many industries, such as the biomedical, manufacturing, ...aerospace, automobile, industrial, and building industries. The purpose of this research is to characterize the polylactic acid (PLA) and polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) materials of FDM under four loading conditions (tension, compression, bending, and thermal deformation), in order to obtain data regarding different printing temperatures and speeds. The results indicated that PLA and PETG materials exhibit an obvious tensile and compression asymmetry. It was observed that the mechanical properties (tension, compression, and bending) of PLA and PETG are increased at higher printing temperatures, and that the effect of speed on PLA and PETG shows different results. In addition, the mechanical properties of PLA are greater than those of PETG, but the thermal deformation is the opposite. The above results will be a great help for researchers who are working with polymers and FDM technology to achieve sustainability.
New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase (NDM) had been reported to be the predominant carbapenemase among Escherichia coli in Taiwan. However, studies focusing on the clonal background and epidemiology of ...plasmids carrying NDM genes were limited. Between 2016 and 2018, all clinical E. coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates that were non-susceptible to ertapenem, meropenem, and imipenem were tested for carbapenemase-encoding genes (CEGs) and antimicrobial susceptibilities. Molecular typing was performed on all carbapenemase-producing isolates. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) was performed on all NDM-positive E. coli isolates. Twenty-three (29.5%) of 78 carbapenem non-susceptible E. coli and 108 (35.3%) of 306 carbapenem non-susceptible K. pneumoniae isolates carried CEGs. The most prevalent CEGs in carbapenemase-producing E. coli (CPEc) were bla
(39.1%) and bla
(30.4%), while that in carbapenemase-producing K. pneumoniae was Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC) (72.2%). Fifteen sequence types were identified among 23 CPEc, and 55.6% of NDM-positive E. coli isolates belonged to ST410. WGS showed ST410 isolates were highly clonal and similar to those from other countries. All NDM-5-positive E. coli isolates carried identical IncX3 plasmid harboring bla
but no other antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes. In each of the four NDM-1-positive E. coli isolates, the bla
was present in a ∼ 300 kb IncHI2/IncHI2A plasmid which carried an array of AMR genes. NDMs are the most prevalent carbapenemase among CPEc in Taiwan. Awareness should be raised as the prevalence of NDM-positive E. coli might increase rapidly with IncX3 plasmid and globally distributed strain ST410 being the potential vectors for wide dissemination.
This study explores how green human resource management (GHRM) and green transformational leadership (GTL) affect green organizational pride (GOP). We conduct a survey study of moderated‐mediation ...sustainable practice in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in “Hokkien Golden Triangle” of China based on the combination of resource‐based view, social exchange theory, positive psychology, and social cognitive theory. Especially, we develop two new concepts, “green organizational pride” and “green psychological capital” (GPC) to verify that the positive relationships between GHRM/GTL and GOP are mediated by GPC. Besides, we expand the research of environmental culture (EC) by further predicting that it could amplify the indirect effects of GHRM/GTL on GOP via GPC. The findings contribute to sustainability literature by highlighting the importance of GHRM and GTL in Chinese sustainable practice. Moreover, the results can advance the prior literature in the area of sustainability and create a new green path for developing countries.
The paper explores the influence of greenwash on green trust and discusses the mediation roles of green consumer confusion and green perceived risk. The research object of this study focuses on ...Taiwanese consumers who have the purchase experience of information and electronics products in Taiwan. This research employs an empirical study by means of the structural equation modeling. The results show that greenwash is negatively related to green trust. Therefore, this study suggests that companies must reduce their greenwash behaviors to enhance their consumers' green trust. In addition, this study finds out that green consumer confusion and green perceived risk mediate the negative relationship between greenwash and green trust. The results also demonstrate that greenwash is positively associated with green consumer confusion and green perceived risk which would negatively affect green trust. It means that greenwash does not only negatively affect green trust directly but also negatively influence it via green consumer confusion and green perceived risk indirectly. Hence, if companies would like to reduce the negative relationship between greenwash and green trust, they need to decrease their consumers' green consumer confusion and green perceived risk.
We present high efficiency and stable inverted PSCs (i-PSC) by employing sol-gel processed simultaneously doped ZnO by Indium and fullerene derivative (BisNPC60-OH) (denoted as InZnO-BisC60) film as ...cathode interlayer and PTB7-Th:PC71BM as the active layer (where PTB7-Th is a low bandgap polymer we proposed previously). This dual-doped ZnO, InZnO-BisC60, film shows dual and opposite gradient dopant concentration profiles, being rich in fullerene derivative at the cathode surface in contact with active layer and rich in In at the cathode surface in contact with the ITO surface. Such doping in ZnO not only gives improved surface conductivity by a factor of 270 (from 0.015 to 4.06 S cm(-1)) but also provides enhanced electron mobility by a factor of 132 (from 8.25*10(-5) to 1.09*10(-2) cm(2) V(-1) s(-1)). The resulting i-PSC exhibits the improved PCE 10.31% relative to that with ZnO without doping 8.25%. This PCE 10.31% is the best result among the reported values so far for single junction PSC.
Purpose - This study aims to develop an original framework of green intellectual capital to explore the positive effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on green intellectual capital through ...the partial mediator - environmental consciousness.Design methodology approach - This study summarizes the concepts of CSR and green management to develop an integral framework to enhance green intellectual capital. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is applied to verify the research framework.Findings - This study utilizes SEM to explore the influences of CSR and environmental consciousness on three types of green intellectual capital - green human capital, green structural capital, and green relationship capital. The empirical results of this study demonstrate that CSR and environmental consciousness have positive effects on three types of green intellectual capital. Besides, this study verifies that environmental consciousness is a partial mediator between CSR and three types of green intellectual capital. In addition, this study classifies the Taiwanese manufacturing companies into three groups - highly, medially, and lowly ethic companies. The results show that three types of green intellectual capital of highly ethic companies are the most, and those of medially ethic companies are the next, while those of lowly ethic companies are the least.Originality value - This study integrates the theories of CSR and green management to develop an integral conceptual model of green intellectual capital to explore its managerial implications and determinants.
This study combined virtual reality (VR) technology, the 6E (Engage, Explore, Explain, Engineer, Enrich, and Evaluate) model, and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education to ...develop a hands‐on activity aimed at helping students to achieve “learning by doing.” The participants were 162 tenth‐grade students, divided into the Experimental Group (hands‐on activity using VR technology) and the Control Group (hands‐on activity via lectures). Using sequential analysis, this study investigated how the hands‐on activity influenced the students' behavioral patterns in learning. The results showed that all of the students' learning performances and hands‐on abilities were enhanced. Moreover, the students who used VR technology achieved both significantly better learning performances and hands‐on abilities, indicating that VR might be able to help the students understand scientific concepts and build mental models, which they used to internalize and organize knowledge structures. Furthermore, this study discovered that the students who learned using VR technology formed a cyclical learning pattern, starting with a group discussion (G), moving on to solving problems (S) and developing a product (D), and then going back to another group discussion. However, the students who learned via lectures produced a linear learning pattern in the order of G→S→D.
Lay Description
What is already known about this topic:
The VR provides students with the visualization of concepts and novel points of view that is impossible to display in a real environment.
STEM knowledge can be integrated into hands‐on activities to foster students' core competencies through engineering design and producing procedures.
What this paper adds:
Used VR technology, 6E model, and STEM education to design a hands‐on learning activity.
In the activity, students learned how to solve problems, modify their product, and enhance their quadcopter's operational performance, which was a specific representation of “learning by doing.”
Implications for practise and/or policy:
This study combined VR, the 6E model, and STEM education to develop a hands‐on activity to improve students' scientific concepts, interdisciplinary knowledge, and hands‐on ability.
The differences of the learning behaviour patterns during the hands‐on process between the VR technology and lectures were also found.
Abstract
Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a major public health problem with limited therapeutic options. There is a clear need to identify novel mediators of PF to develop effective therapeutics. Here we ...show that an ER protein disulfide isomerase, thioredoxin domain containing 5 (TXNDC5), is highly upregulated in the lung tissues from both patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and a mouse model of bleomycin (BLM)-induced PF. Global deletion of
Txndc5
markedly reduces the extent of PF and preserves lung function in mice following BLM treatment. Mechanistic investigations demonstrate that TXNDC5 promotes fibrogenesis by enhancing TGFβ1 signaling through direct binding with and stabilization of TGFBR1 in lung fibroblasts. Moreover, TGFβ1 stimulation is shown to upregulate TXNDC5 via ER stress/ATF6-dependent transcriptional control in lung fibroblasts. Inducing fibroblast-specific deletion of
Txndc5
mitigates the progression of BLM-induced PF and lung function deterioration. Targeting TXNDC5, therefore, could be a novel therapeutic approach against PF.
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