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Under the backdrop of economic globalization and the digital economy, entrepreneurial behavior has emerged not only as a focal point of management research but also as an urgent topic within the domain of family finance. This paper scrutinizes the ramifications of financial literacy on household entrepreneurial behavior utilizing data from China's sample of the China Household Finance Survey spanning the years 2015 and 2017. Employing the ordered Probit model, we pursue our research objectives. Our findings suggest that financial literacy exerts immediate, persistent, and evolving positive effects on households' engagement in entrepreneurial activities and their proclivity toward entrepreneurship. Through the mitigation of endogeneity in the regression model, the outcomes of the two-stage regression corroborate the primary regression results. An examination of heterogeneity unveils noteworthy disparities between urban and rural areas, as well as gender discrepancies, in how financial literacy influences household entrepreneurial behavior. Furthermore, this study validates three potential pathways—namely income, social network, and risk attitude channels—demonstrating that financial literacy significantly augments household income, expands social networks, and enhances risk attitudes. Moreover, through supplementary analysis, we ascertain that financial education amplifies the impact of financial literacy on entrepreneurial behavior. Our study contributes to the enrichment of human capital theory and modern entrepreneurship theory. It advocates for robust efforts by governments and financial institutions to widely disseminate financial knowledge and foster family entrepreneurship, thereby fostering the robust and stable operation of both the global financial market and the job market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data for manufacturing firms listed on China A‐share markets between 2003 and 2018, this research explores the impact of institutional investors on corporate green innovation. The study finds that pressure‐resistant institutional investors (PR investors) positively contribute to green innovation, whereas pressure‐sensitive institutional investors (PS investors) hinder it. In addition, this study examines the moderating effect of political ties, distinguishing between ascribed and achieved ties. Ascribed ties weaken the positive relationship between PR investors and green innovation, whereas achieved ties strengthen it and weaken the negative association between PS investors and green innovation. Moreover, the study investigates the influence of institutional development on the relationship between institutional investors and green innovation, and finds that managerial myopia is the mechanism through which institutional investors influence green innovation. Furthermore, this study reveals that there are heterogeneity effects among small and large firms, polluting and non‐polluting firms, and firms facing different levels of market competition. Overall, the study sheds new light on how institutional investors, acting as 'invisible hands', interact with political ties, acting as 'visible hands', to impact green innovation in transition economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To solve the least-cost planning sequence problem of a manufacturing system which is modeled by labeled Petri nets, an algorithm based on backtracking method is proposed. Given a labeled Petri net with its structure and an initial marking, the searching stages are divided into parts according to the given labeled sequence. In each stage, the transition with the minimal cost fires at first. With the observation of all the labels following this rule, the sum of the costs of transitions in the firing sequence is the minimum total cost. The least-cost planning sequence and the corresponding total cost are stored. The proposed method traverses the solution space tree according to the depth-first strategy. By taking the current minimum total cost as the constraint condition, the markings and the sequence of transitions that do not need to be searched can be eliminated in other paths. Therefore, the searching space is reduced. An illustrative example shows the feasibility of the method. Compared with the execution of dynamic programming method, the proposed method needs a smaller amount of calculation and achieves higher work efficiency.

Flow separation and transitions of separation patterns are common phenomena of nozzles working with a wide Mach range. The maximum thrust method is applied to design the single-expansion ramp nozzle (SERN) for specific operating conditions. The nozzle is used to numerically simulate the transition processes of separation patterns under the linear change in the external flow Mach number and the actual trajectory take-off condition of a rocket-based combined cycle (RBCC), to investigate the mechanism through which the external flow field influences the separation pattern transition during acceleration. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method is briefly introduced, followed by experimental validation. Then, the design procedure of SERN is described in detail. The simulation results indicate that as the external Mach number increases, the flow field in the nozzle undergoes transitions from RSS (ramp) to FSS, and finally exhibits a no-flow separation pattern. The rate at which the external Mach number varies has little effect on the transition principle of the nozzle flow separation patterns, but it has a significant effect on the critical Mach number of the transition points. The external flow field of the nozzle has an airflow accumulation effect during acceleration, which can delay the transition of the flow separation pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the influence of environmental subsidies on enterprise environmental performance based on 257 heavily polluting A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchange from 2010 to 2017. We also discuss the mechanism of how these environmental subsidies influence enterprise environmental performance further. The study employs OLS and PSM methods to evaluate the association between environmental subsidies and enterprise environmental performance. The study finds that environmental subsidies have a positive incentive effect on the environmental performance of heavily polluting enterprises. Its positive incentive effect mainly contributes through three channels: promoting green technology innovation, increasing government environmental supervision and enhancing executives' environmental awareness. Further research shows that environmental subsidies significantly promote environmental performance in non-state-owned enterprises, with a high degree of financing constraints and high levels of risk-taking. This study contributes to prior works by revealing the black box of the government's macro policies affecting enterprise micro behaviour and exploring how environmental subsidies influence firm-specific behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty reduction and inclusive growth in poor rural areas attracted the increasing attention of governments and scholars around the world. We investigate financial literacy by conceptualizing its impacts on rural households' poverty reduction, considering current and long-term economic income dynamics. Using a database from 2015 to 2017 China Household Finance Survey, we find that financial literacy has current and long-term effects on promoting rural households' status by eliminating and effectively improving poverty (dynamic effects). Second, this study reveals that financial literacy and education have a significant complementary effect on rural households' poverty reduction. The study distinguishes financial literacy from knowledge obtained through general education. Third, financial education is shown to significantly improve rural households' financial literacy on and enhance poverty reduction. The policy implications of our findings include that the governments and financial institutions are also required to rigorously measure, understand and improve financial literacy. Reform of financial regulatory systems must include a national strategy for education projects and improvement in the quality and supervision of financial products and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Qijiang District is a high-risk area for geological hazards in Chongqing. In this study, Qijiang District is selected as the research area. Based on the topography, geomorphology, geological structure, and DEM data of the region, seven main factors of geological hazards within slope units were extracted, including slope structure, slope gradient, density of geological disaster points, engineering geological lithology, distance to the water system, inclination angle of rock strata, and geological structure. These factors were quantitatively analyzed and combined with field inspection of geological hazards to revise the weights and grading of each factor. The analytic hierarchy process was used to evaluate the susceptibility of geological hazards within slope units. Through this process, this study aims to establish a geological disaster susceptibility evaluation system suitable for Qijiang District. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study draws insights from the New Stakeholder Theory to investigate the influence of green credit policy on firm diversification. Using a sample of publicly listed firms in China from 2006 to 2018, we find that green credit policy has increased the degree of corporate diversification for heavily polluting firms. In addition, the positive impact of green credit policy on industrial diversity is more significant for heavily polluting firms which are state-owned, bigger in size, with institutional ownership of shares and located in provinces with higher level of marketisation. Moreover, financial constraint is an important mediating variable for green credit policy to influence corporate diversification. An important implication of our study is that corporate diversification can be a strategic choice made by heavily polluting firms to overcome financial constraints as a result of the green credit policy. In fact, greater corporate diversity can ensure the survival of polluting firms by allowing them to operate in industries with less environmental regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data for firms publicly listed in China A-share markets during 2008 and 2019, this study is one of the first to treat Green Credit Guidelines implemented by the government in 2012 as a quasi-natural experiment and construct a difference-in-differences (DID) model to empirically examine the impact of credit availability on corporate risk-taking. Our study finds that credit restrictions on heavily polluting firms reduce their risk-taking behaviour, and the impact is more pronounced on small firms, non-state-owned enterprises, firms without institutional investors or firms located in low marketisation regions. In addition, our study demonstrates that credit restrictions increase financing constraints and reduce investment levels, which leads to less corporate risk-taking. Furthermore, our research shows that credit restrictions increase the cost of debt and reduce investment value and development capacity for firms in energy intensive and high pollution industries. An important implication is that to effectively curb the expansion of heavily polluting industries and promote environmental transformation, green credit policies should target small firms, firms with less state and institutional ownership as well as firms located in regions with poorer institutional reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The single-expansion ramp nozzle (SERN) has a compact structure and adaptability under off-design conditions, which is one of the nozzle configurations that the combined cycle engine gives priority to. Flow separation is likely to occur when the nozzle operates at low-pressure ratios. Subsonic regions, such as separation bubbles, recirculation zone, and boundary layer, also exist in the overexpanded flow field. At this point, the varying external flow field can affect the flow field inside the nozzle, which may lead to the transition of the flow separation pattern. The majority of relevant studies are conducted in a static environment because of experimental conditions limitations. This paper numerically simulates the transitions of separation patterns during the acceleration and deceleration processes of a short flap SERN. The separation transitions mechanism is analyzed, as well as the performance impact of the transitions. Current results show that the separation pattern transition happens during both the acceleration and deceleration processes, and free shock separation is a relatively stable state. The separation pattern transition occurs as a function of the external flow field, recirculation zone, boundary layer, and separation shock wave coupling. Compared with previous studies on the long flap SERN, the coupling mechanisms of the internal and external flow fields of the two nozzles were found to be different. The shock wave structure of the short flap SERN's flow field is stable during the transition processes, and the nozzle performance does not exhibit a step change. The hysteresis of the short flap SERN is also weaker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is an important measure in the reform of state-owned enterprises to improve the efficiency of capital operation by introducing non-state-owned shareholders. This paper explores the impact of non-state shareholder governance on capital structure decision-making by using the data of 2008–2021 A-share state-owned listed companies from the perspective of the speed and deviation of capital structure adjustment. The results reveal that only non-state shareholding has no significant impact on the capital structure adjustment of a company. However, the appointment of senior management by non-state shareholders can speed up the capital structure adjustment and lower the degree of capital structure deviation. Moreover, when the capital structure goes down, the appointment of non-state-owned shareholders plays a larger role in accelerating the capital structure adjustment, which makes the deviation from the actual capital structure and the target capital structure smaller. Further research shows that the above relationship between non-state shareholder governance and the optimization and adjustment of the capital structure only exists in local SOEs and competitive SOEs. In addition, the path test found that non-state shareholder governance affects the dynamic adjustment of capital structure by reducing opportunism behavior of management rather than by financing constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial literacy is essential for every individual concerned with public welfare and household portfolio choices. In this study, we investigate the impact of household financial literacy on individuals' financial behavior using the China Household Financial Survey Data (CHFS) of 2015 and 2017. The results show that financial knowledge has significant current, long-term, and dynamic effects on financial behavior. This finding suggests that financial literacy is an important factor in shaping and improving financial behavior. Second, financial literacy can improve residents' limited attention, and residents with high attention tend to have formal bank accounts, participate in the stock market, and engage in financial behaviors in situations such as risky financial markets. High attention also helps to improve residents' financial behavior. This relationship suggests that financial literacy positively impacts formal bank account holding, participation in financial markets, participation in commercial insurance, participation in pension plans, and credit card holdings through limited attention channels that facilitate access to specific financial information. In addition, heterogeneity analysis showed that the impact of financial literacy on financial behavior differs significantly between urban and rural households, between men and women, and between high and low education levels. The study provides valuable insights for policy implications to enhance financial literacy, such as carrying out financial training to improve residents' knowledge about financial aspects, which further helps to optimize household financial decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have emerged as promising catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, they typically require the engineering of additional actives sites (e.g. vacancies and dopants) and/or the application of large external strains to launch the HER on their basal planes. Herein, we investigate the HER proceeding on the experimentally available single-layer PdX2 (X = S, Se), a novel group of pentagonal TMDs with high amounts of intrinsic X vacancies, through density functional theory computations. Our results indicate that single-layer PdX2 nanosheets with low concentrations of X vacancies exhibit favorable hydrogen adsorption free energy (ΔGH*) values, which is desirable for facilitating the HER. Their HER performance can be greatly enhanced using small external strains, during which ΔGH* can reach the optimal value of 0 eV. Moreover, a kinetic analysis based on the explicit water model and charge extrapolation scheme demonstrates that the HER occurs on the PdX2 nanosheets according to the Volmer–Tafel mechanism with low energy barriers. This work highlights the realization of high HER activity on TMDs featuring unique structural characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co-composting of sheep manure and jujube branch, a potential technology of waste management in Xinjiang, China, is currently undermined by the low degradation rate of jujube branch waste. This study investigated the potential to improve the co-composting process by the addition of expanded perlite, a potential additive more economical than biochar and zeolite. Expanded perlite was added into the co-compost system in the ratios 0%, 1%, 5% and 10% based on the initial compost volume. Addition of expanded perlite extended the thermophilic phase up to 8 days and helped to increase the speed of compost maturation. Expanded perlite enhanced the degradation of organic matter by accelerating the decomposition of cell wall hemicelluloses during the very early stages and cellulose during the thermophilic and cooling stages. Moreover, total nitrogen was improved by 10.2% and 11.8% through adding 5% and 10% expanded perlite, respectively. From both economic and functionality perspectives, expanded perlite is a potential additive to compost, and 5% EP is a suitable ratio to co-composting mixes of sheep manure and jujube branch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaria parasites have adaptive mechanisms to modulate their intracellular redox status to tolerate the enhanced oxidizing effects created by malaria fever, hemoglobinopathies and other stress conditions, including antimalaria drugs. Emerging artemisinin (ART) resistance in Plasmodium falciparum is a complex phenotype linked to the parasite's tolerance of the activated drug's oxidative damage along with changes in vesicular transport, lipid metabolism, DNA repair, and exported proteins. In an earlier study, we discovered that many of these metabolic processes are induced in P. falciparum to respond to the oxidative damage caused by artemisinin, which exhibited a highly significant overlap with the parasite's adaptive response mechanisms to survive febrile temperatures. In addition, there was a significant overlap with the parasite's survival responses to oxidative stress. In this study, we investigated these relationships further using an in vitro model to evaluate if oxidative stress and heat-shock conditions could alter the parasite's response to artemisinin. The results revealed that compared to ideal culture conditions, the antimalarial efficacy of artemisinin was significantly reduced in parasites growing in intraerythrocytic oxidative stress but not in heat-shock condition. In contrast, heat shock significantly reduced the efficacy of lumefantrine that is an important ART combination therapy partner drug. We propose that prolonged exposure to intraerythrocytic microenvironmental oxidative stress, as would occur in endemic regions with high prevalence for sickle trait and other hemoglobinopathies, can predispose malaria parasites to develop tolerance to the oxidative damage caused by antimalarial drugs like artemisinin., Importance: Emerging resistance to the frontline antimalarial drug artemisinin represents a significant threat to worldwide malaria control and elimination. The patterns of parasite changes associated with emerging resistance represent a complex array of metabolic processes evident in various genetic mutations and altered transcription profiles. Genetic factors identified in regulating P. falciparum sensitivity to artemisinin overlap with the parasite's responses to malarial fever, sickle trait, and other types of oxidative stresses, suggesting conserved inducible survival responses. In this study we show that intraerythrocytic stress conditions, oxidative stress and heat shock, can significantly decrease the sensitivity of the parasite to artemisinin and lumefantrine, respectively. These results indicate that an intraerythrocytic oxidative stress microenvironment and heat-shock condition can alter antimalarial drug efficacy. Evaluating efficacy of antimalarial drugs under ideal in vitro culture conditions may not accurately predict drug efficacy in all malaria patients., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Risk attitude is a vital component of public mental health. Thus, the public should be guided to fully comprehend risks to improve public mental health. Using panel data from China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) in 2017, this study examined the impact of risk attitudes on household consumption behavior by constructing a micro-econometric model. Results suggest that risk attitude can promote household consumption, with multiple robustness tests supporting this conclusion. In addition, after dividing the consumption types into subsistence consumption, development consumption, and enjoyment consumption, we show risk preference promotes all three types of consumption and has the greatest impact on enjoyment consumption. Concurrently, risk neutrality can promote household survival consumption, but its promotion effect is smaller than that of risk preference. Moreover, risk aversion has an inhibitory effect on total consumption behavior, but this inhibitory effect does not show heterogeneity for different consumption behaviors. Heterogeneity analysis found that for male households, risk attitude remains an important factor in consumption behavior. When men's risk attitude is more risk averse, it can promote more survival consumption, whereas women's risk attitude is more risk averse. With increasing age, risk attitude remains a crucial factor in the occurrence of consumer behavior. However, education level has no bearing on the effect of risk attitude on household consumption behavior. This research holds theoretical and practical significance for improving public mental health, optimizing residents' consumption structure, and achieving high-quality economic development., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Xie, Tong and Xu.)

Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have emerged as promising catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, they typically require the engineering of additional actives sites ( e.g. vacancies and dopants) and/or the application of large external strains to launch the HER on their basal planes. Herein, we investigate the HER proceeding on the experimentally available single-layer PdX 2 (X = S, Se), a novel group of pentagonal TMDs with high amounts of intrinsic X vacancies, through density functional theory computations. Our results indicate that single-layer PdX 2 nanosheets with low concentrations of X vacancies exhibit favorable hydrogen adsorption free energy (Δ G H* ) values, which is desirable for facilitating the HER. Their HER performance can be greatly enhanced using small external strains, during which Δ G H* can reach the optimal value of 0 eV. Moreover, a kinetic analysis based on the explicit water model and charge extrapolation scheme demonstrates that the HER occurs on the PdX 2 nanosheets according to the Volmer-Tafel mechanism with low energy barriers. This work highlights the realization of high HER activity on TMDs featuring unique structural characteristics.