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• Reveals PBOC's green policy significantly enhances corporate ESG scores. • Utilizes a robust DID approach to assess policy's causal impact on ESG performance. • Identifies mechanisms of green innovation and financing constraints affected by central bank policy. • Demonstrates central banks' role in fostering sustainable corporate practices through monetary tools. In June 2018, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) adopted a groundbreaking initiative by including green assets as eligible collateral for the Medium-term Lending Facility (MLF). This paper utilizes this policy shift as a quasi-natural experiment to explore its effects on corporate ESG performance. Employing a difference-in-differences approach, our findings reveal a significant enhancement in the ESG scores of affected companies following the implementation of the policy. Further inquiry into the dynamics underlying this improvement suggests that the policy alleviates financing constraints and fosters green innovation and operational efficiency among these companies, thereby boosting their ESG performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-accuracy positioning and identification of vehicle parts are crucial for status detection, fault diagnosis, and the development of intelligent damage detection systems. However, detecting left–right and front-rear categories in vehicle parts remains challenging due to numerous categories and feature similarity. To address this, we propose the scene understanding vehicle part detection network (SU-VPDN). It comprises three subnetworks: vehicle orientation scene classification (VOSC), vehicle part instance segmentation (VPIS), and scene understanding (SU). VOSC performs preliminary classification of vehicle orientation scenes, while VPIS detects vehicle parts. SU fine-tunes VOSC results using the part logic correction module, fuses VOSC and VPIS results using the part replacement module, and obtains accurate VPIS results through confidence regulation and hierarchical filtering. SU-VPDN integrates results from multiple subnetworks, transforming the challenge of detecting similar objects into orientation scene detection for precise recognition. We evaluate the proposed method on a dataset containing 59 types of vehicle parts and compare it with advanced segmentation detection models. Experimental results demonstrate that SU-VPDN outperforms other models, achieving a 12.2% and 12.3% improvement in mean average precision (mAP) for box and mask, respectively, compared to the baseline model. Moreover, qualitative and quantitative experiments show that SU-VPDN significantly enhances the detection performance of objects with similar features. Overall, our proposed SU-VPDN offers a promising solution for detecting left–right and front-rear categories in vehicle parts. It surpasses existing models and can enable insurance companies to replace damaged parts and improve claims efficiency efficiently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the prospective study described here was to compare the tolerability, safety and diagnostic value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound-guided transoral core needle biopsy (CEUS-CNB) with that of conventional US-guided transoral CNB (US-CNB) and standard incisional biopsy in patients with oral masses. Between June 2017 and November 2019, consecutive patients with oral masses referred for biopsy were randomly assigned to undergo incisional biopsy, US-CNB or CEUS-CNB. Procedure time, intra‑operative blood loss volume, diagnostic performance and pain level before and after the procedure assessed by visual analogue score (VAS) were recorded and compared among the three procedures. Finally, 238 patients with pathology confirmation were analyzed: 80 patients underwent incisional biopsy, 78 patients US-CNB and 80 patients CEUS-CNB. In this study, no significant difference was found in biopsy time between CEUS-CNB, US-CNB and incisional biopsy (75 ± 11 s vs. 73.6 ± 12 s vs. 77 ± 13 s, p = 0.24). CEUS-CNB achieved the highest sensitivity (CEUS-CNB: 100%, US-CNB: 88.5%, incisional biopsy: 84.3%), negative predictive value (CEUS-CNB: 100%, US-CNB: 81.3%, incisional biopsy: 78.4%) and accuracy (CEUS-CNB: 100%, US-CNB: 92.3%, incisional biopsy: 90%). The VAS score for incision biopsy was higher (p = 0.01) and the amount of bleeding was larger (p < 0.001), yet there was no significant difference between CEUS-CNB and US-CNB. Our results indicate CEUS-guided transoral CNB is an efficient, safe and well-tolerated procedure, with biopsy time comparable to and diagnostic performance better than those of conventional US-guided transoral CNB and incisional biopsy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aimed to evaluate the value of sentinel lymph node contrast-enhanced ultrasound (SLN-CEUS) and surface tracing for the biopsy of intra-operative sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs). Between June 2015 and December 2017, a total of 453 patients with early invasive breast cancer were recruited. Patients received an intradermal injection of microbubble contrast agent around the areola on the day before surgery. The locations and sizes of lymphatic channels (LCs) and SLNs were marked on the body surface using gentian violet. Then, injection of double blue dye was performed half an hour before surgery. We compared the pathway of LCs and the location of SLNs obtained from SLN-CEUS and blue dye during surgery. Among the 453 patients, the mean numbers of LCs and SLNs detected by SLN-CEUS were 1.42 and 1.72, respectively, and the coincidence rate was 98.2% compared with blue dye during surgery. The median distance from the SLN to skin measured by pre-operative CEUS and blue dye was 1.95 ± 0.69 and 2.03 ± 0.87 cm (p = 0.35). There were three SLN enhancement in our research, including homogeneous enhancement, inhomogeneous enhancement and no enhancement, with the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of SLN-CEUS for the diagnosis of SLNs being 96.82%, 91.91%, 87.54% and 98.01%, respectively. SLN-CEUS with skin marking can identify the pathway of LCs and the location of the SLN before surgery, measure the distance from the SLN to skin and determine if the SLN is metastatic. SLN-CEUS can be used as an effective complement to the blue dye method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New difluoroboron β-diketonate complexes functionalized with tert -butyl carbazole and carbazole ( TCBM and CBM ) have been synthesized, and they give strong emission in solid states with the fluorescence quantum yields of 0.63 and 0.99, respectively. Reversible mechanofluorochromic behaviors of TCBM and CBM are realized upon the treatment of grinding/fuming with CH 2 Cl 2 . Interestingly, the emitting colors of the annealed samples gained from the ground powders of TCBM depend on the heating temperature, and change from orange to yellow, yellowish green, and green with increasing temperature. The X-ray diffraction patterns illustrate that the transformation processes from crystalline structure to partial destroyed crystalline structure, till to amorphous state lead to the multi-color solid-state luminescence during thermofluorochromism. We deduced that tert -butyl can lead to the incompact packing of luminophores, which is more sensitive to external stimuli, so that multi-color solid-state luminescence can be afforded during mechanofluorochromic and thermofluorochromic processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New triphenylvinyl substituted carbazole derivatives TPEICE , TPEC and TPECBr have been synthesized. They could self-assemble into nanofibers via organogelation processes in some organic solvents. Notably, the obtained xerogel-based films could emit strong fluorescence although the three compounds were non-emissive in solutions, indicating AIE in gel phases. The emission of TPEICE and TPEC in xerogel-based films could be quenched significantly upon exposed to gaseous DNT and TNT, while TPECBr could not sense nitro compounds on account of its poor electron donating ability. We also found that reversibility of the fluorescence response of TPEC was better than TPEICE because the photo-induced electron transfer would happen during the recognition of nitroaromatics for TPEICE and TPEC , except for the formation of charge–transfer complex between TPEICE and nitro compounds. Therefore, the different fluorescence response behaviors of TPEICE , TPEC and TPECBr towards nitroaromatics were resulted from their different electron donating abilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New branched benzothiadiazole-cored conjugated oligomers with terminal carbazoles 1 and 2 have been synthesized. It was found that no obvious shifts of the maximal absorption bands for 1 and 2 were detected in the films compared with those in solutions, indicating weak π-π stacking occurred in the solid states on account of site isolation effect of the branched architectures. Hence, the synthesized oligomers could emit strong red light in the films. Notably, the emission of the films based on 1 and 2 could be quenched obviously upon exposed to gaseous TNT and DNT. The fluorescence quenching efficiency of the oligomer 2 -based film reached 91% when exposed to the saturated vapor of DNT for 3 min at 55 °C. The linear Stern–Volmer plot and the decrease of the fluorescence lifetime of 2 induced by DNT suggested the fluorescence sensing mechanism was due to the photo-induced electron transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A benzoxazole derivative called BVDA was synthesized. BVDA exhibited an AIE effect although there was H-aggregated dimer in the crystal. According to the spectral results and crystal structure, the presence of excimer and the restriction of intramolecular rotation are responsible for the AIE phenomenon. Moreover, BVDA could respond to proton in solution and to volatile acid vapours in film. BVDA exhibited three colours because its binding sites to proton have different basicities. These binding sites can then be protonated in turn. These results indicate that AIE fluorophores with H-aggregated dimer is possible. Furthermore, these fluorophores can exhibit stimuli-responsive characteristics through the introduction of functional moieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A series of aldehyde-functionalized dithienylethenes have been designed and synthesized. • They displays good photochromism with excellent fatigue resistance. • They can be utilized as versatile building blocks for NIR photochromic materials. A series of aldehyde-functionalized dithienylethenes 1b , 1c , 2b and 2c with extended π-conjugated systems have been synthesized by Wittig reaction. Their structures are confirmed by 1H NMR, 13C NMR and HRMS (ESI). As expected, investigation on their photochromic properties indicates that dithienylethenes 1b, 1c, 2b and 2c have good photochromic behaviors with excellent fatigue resistance upon irradiation with UV or visible light. The DFT calculations further validate the differences in their photochromic properties in solution. Furthermore, they can be utilized as versatile building blocks to construct novel near-infrared photochromic materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]