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As an overarching goal of the European Union's (EU) policies, sustainable development has become one of the trickiest challenges in the EU. Despite the burgeoning literature on sustainable development in EU member states, few studies have explored the relationship between green cooperation and sustainable development. From the resource orchestration perspective, we aim to investigate how EU green cooperation affects member states' pursuit of sustainable development. Empirically, we constructed a sample of well-documented EU joint green projects, and found that the participation of the higher education sector (HES), business sector (BUS), and government (GOV) in EU green cooperation contributes to achieving its member states' sustainable development goals in different ways. Specifically, the contributions of the HES and BUS, compared to those of the GOV, are more essential for EU green cooperation projects, because of their dominant roles in green knowledge generation and carbon emissions make them pivotal for the EU member states' sustainable development. Moreover, our findings suggest that green cooperation among the HES, BUS, and GOV has a more significant impact on EU member states' sustainable development when those states possess a stronger capacity for transnational knowledge spillovers and a higher national digital level. These findings have important implications for the design of green policies in pursuit of sustainability within the EU region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact toughness and deformation mechanism of near-α-type low-temperature titanium alloy CT20 at different temperatures (20 °C, 0 °C, −50 °C, −100 °C and − 196 °C) are studied. The results show that the impact toughness is as high as 90 J/cm2 at 20 °C, and does not decrease obviously at 0 °C, −50 °C and − 100 °C, but brittle fracture occurs at −196 °C (29 J/cm2). The tortuosity of the crack path decreases with decreasing temperature. At 20 °C, the grain boundary and α colony interface with high-angle grain boundary deflect the crack propagation direction effectively, forming a tortuous crack path, while crack tends to cut through α lamellae, forming a relatively straight path at cryogenic temperature. The lamellar α undergoes kink deformation at 20 °C, showing severe plastic deformation characteristics. In addition, deformation twins and geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs) are observed near and far from the fracture surface, indicating that the plastic zone is large. As the temperature decreases, the twin density near the crack path tends to increase. However, few twins are seen in the region far from the fracture surface, and GND densities are low at −196 °C, implying that the plastic zone is small. In a word, the synergistic effect of tortuous crack path, dislocation slip and deformation twinning enable CT20 to achieve high impact toughness at 20 °C. At −196 °C, the plastic deformation capacity of the microstructure decreased significantly, resulting in the formation of a small plastic zone and brittle fracture. • α colony interface deflects crack propagation direction at 20 °C, while crack tends to cut through α lamellae at cryogenic temperature. • The synergistic effect of tortuous crack path, dislocation slip and twinning enables CT20 to achieve the highest impact toughness at 20 °C. • The coordinated deformation of dislocation slip and twins keeps the impact toughness at a high level at 0 °C ∼ -100 °C. • The plastic deformation ability decreases significantly, resulting in the formation of a small plastic zone and brittle fracture at −196 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Prognostic values of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) in myriad diseases have been studied. During the natural progression of atherosclerotic renal artery disease (ARVD) changes of NT-proBNP levels and its significance is not understood. A prospective longitudinal follow-up study was conducted among 61 ARVD patients (77.7±5.2 years old). NT-proBNP was determined at baseline and six month intervals over 25.89±12.44 months and its correlation with death and/or newly occurred CVEs were assessed. Level of NT-proBNP increased from baseline median 210.0pg/mL (25th–75th percentile, 98.0pg/mL–540.0pg/mL) to 900.9pg/mL (25th–75th percentile, 704.5pg/mL–1583.5pg/mL) (p =0.032) at the end of follow-up. Among 44.26% of the cohort (n =27) NT-proBNP level ≥450pg/mL was detected, which 6 deaths happened (22.22% death rate) and CVEs occurred to 62.96% of patients, comparing to 0% death rate (p =0.077) and 8.82% affected by CVEs (p =0.019) in other 55.74% of cohort (n =34) whose NT-proBNP <450pg/mL. Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that NT-proBNP level ≥450pg/mL was a risk factor related to CVEs (HR=3.96, p =0.03). Cox regression analysis found NT-proBNP level ≥450pg/mL was an independent risk factor of CVEs (HR=5.12, p =0.022) after adjustment of body mass index, blood pressure, kidney function. The negative predictive value was 90.9% of NT-proBNP levels ≥450pg/mL for new CVEs. NT-proBNP levels diverge throughout ARVD natural progression in elderly males over 75 years of age. Elevated NT-proBNP level of ≥450pg/mL was predictive for CVEs with 90.9% of negative predictive value. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Increasingly stringent environmental regulations have prompted firms to go green. In this context, employees are being urged to engage in green training to update their skills and improve their abilities pertaining to green practices. Using a dual-stage moderated mediation model, this study analyzed whether, how, and when green training contributes to the promotion of employees' career growth. The results demonstrated that green training is positively related to employee career growth. The findings also showed that employee performance mediates the relationship between green training and career growth. Furthermore, this study provided support for the negative moderating role of hindrance stressors on the indirect effect of green training on career growth through employee performance; conversely, self-efficacy was shown to amplify the indirect effect of green training on career growth via employee performance. Overall, this work extends our understanding of green training in the context of transitional economies by demonstrating that green training can help employees accelerate their career growth. Image 1 • Green training positively relates to employee career growth. • Green training promotes employee career growth via employee performance. • Green training has more positive impact on employees with low hindrance stressors. • Green training has more positive impact on employees with high self-efficacy. • Developing a dual-stage moderated mediation framework for adopting green training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spherical-like Tb 3+ and Eu 3+ co-doped Gd 2 O 3 nanoparticles with a particle size around 5.5 nm were synthesized by a polyol route. The optimized luminescence property was obtained when 5 mol% Tb 3+ and 2 mol% Eu 3+ were co-doped. The influence of different polyalcohol solvents (DEG/PEG) on particle size and luminescence properties was investigated. The results show that the nanoparticles Gd 2 O 3 :5%Tb 3+ prepared in PEG presented greater particle size (around 79 nm) and higher luminescence intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact toughness of titanium alloys is one of the key factors determining their safe service in cryogenic temperature environments. In this work, the temperature-related impact properties of grade 2 pure titanium and Ti-2.5Al–3Zr–1Mo alloys are investigated. It is found that the impact properties and deformation mechanisms of the above two materials are different with decreasing temperature (20 °C, 0 °C, −50 °C, −100 °C and −196 °C). Speaking of pure titanium: the impact toughness doesn't change obviously, and crack initiation energy (W i) gradually increases while crack propagation energy (W p) decreases (W p of −196 °C is 40% lower than that of 20 °C while W i is 90% higher). The slip-dominated deformation mechanism at 20 °C gradually transforms into twinning-dominated deformation mechanism under cryogenic temperature. High-density twins formed at −100 °C and −196 °C can effectively relieve stress concentration and lead to better cryogenic impact toughness. By contrast, W i and W p of Ti-2.5Al–3Zr–1Mo alloy decrease with decreasing temperature. The impact toughness of Ti-2.5Al–3Zr–1Mo alloy is higher than that of pure titanium when the temperature is above −100 °C. At 20 °C, the synergistic effect of the tortuous crack path and deformation twins of Ti-2.5Al–3Zr–1Mo alloy promotes its impact toughness higher than that of pure titanium. However, the twinning density of Ti-2.5Al–3Zr–1Mo at −196 °C is much lower than that of pure titanium, which cannot release stress effectively and cause a brittle fracture. The research provides theoretical and experimental basis for the application of titanium alloys in cryogenic environment, and provides guidance for the development of titanium alloys with better cryogenic impact toughness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Basic region/leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factors function as critical regulators in numerous abiotic stress responses. Massive bZIPs have been systematically identified in plants, but not in sweetpotato. In this study, 87 sweetpotato IbbZIPs unevenly distributed onto 15 chromosomes were identified, and segmental duplications were shown to play dominant roles in the diversity of IbbZIPs. The collinearity between IbbZIPs and the related orthologs from nine plants depicted evolutionary insights into bZIP gene family. Additionally, IbbZIP proteins were clustered into 11 subfamilies while no members were found in the M subfamily, and the regularity of gene structures and conserved motifs was consistent with the subgroup classification. Evidence from transcriptome data and qRT-PCR analysis of 12 selected IbbZIPs revealed that they were significantly and varyingly induced under multiple abiotic stresses (salt, drought, heat and cold) and hormone treatments (ABA, ACC, JA and SA). Consistently, the promoters of IbbZIPs harbored multiple stress- and hormone-related cis-acting elements. Besides, IbbZIP17 and IbbZIP61 exhibited transactivation activity in yeasts, while IbbZIP-14/-69/-84 did not. These findings supply worthy foundations for further functional investigation of IbbZIPs , and multiple members may serve as promising regulators to enhance the abiotic stress tolerance of transgenic plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]