Photocatalytically splitting water into hydrogen upon semiconductors has tremendous potential for alleviating environmental and energy crisis issues. There is increasing attention on improving solar light utilization and engineering photogenerated charge transfer of TiO2 photocatalyst because it has advantages of low cost, non-toxicity, and high chemical stability. Herein, oxygen vacancies and cocatalysts (Cu and MoS2) were simultaneously introduced into TiO2 nanoparticles from protonic titanate by a one-pot solvothermal method. The composition and structure characterization confirmed that the pristine TiO2 nanoparticle was rich in oxygen vacancies. The photocatalytic performances of the composites were evaluated by solar-tohydrogen evolution test. The results revealed that both Cu-TiO2 and MoS2- TiO2 could improve the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution ability. Among them, 0.8% Cu-TiO2 showed the best hydrogen evolution rate of 7245.01 μmol·g−1·h−1, which was 3.57 and 1.34 times of 1.25% MoS2- TiO2 (2726.22 μmol·g−1·h−1) and pristine TiO2 material (2028.46 μmol·g−1·h−1), respectively. These two kinds of composites also had good stability for hydrogen evolution. Combined with the results of photocurrent density and electrochemical impedance spectra, the incorporation of oxygen vacancies and cocatalysts (Cu and MoS2) could not only enhance the light-harvesting of TiO2 but also improve the separation and transfer capabilities of light-induced charge carriers, thus promoting water splitting to hydrogen.

Semiconductor-based photocatalytic carbon dioxide ( CO2) reduction is of great scientific importance in the field of alleviating global warming and energy crisis. Surface amine modification and cocatalyst loading on the catalyst surface could improve CO2 adsorption capacity and photogenerated charge separation. Herein, amine-modified brookite–TiO2 ( NH2–B–TiO2) coupled metal species (Cu, Ag, Ni(OH)2) cocatalysts have been successfully synthesized by chemical reduction method. The photocatalytic CO2 reduction results show that the CH4 production rates of NH2– B–TiO2/Cu, NH2– B–TiO2/Ag, and NH2– B–TiO2/Ni(OH)2 are 3.2, 12.5, and 1.7 times that of NH2– B–TiO2 (0.74 μmmol g− 1 h− 1), respectively. Results show the introduction of metal species on the surface of the catalyst enhances the absorption range of sunlight and the photogenerated carrier separation efficiency, resulting in enhancing the performance of photocatalytic CO2 reduction. This work provides a strategy for designing metal species-loaded amine-modified brookite–TiO2 by surface/interface regulation to improve photocatalytic efficiency.

Photocatalytic CO2 reduction is a promising approach for reducing CO2 emissions and achieving the goal of carbon neutrality. In this work, selectively coupling Cu(OH)2 and CuO with amine-modified brookite TiO2 ( NH2–B–TiO2) has been achieved by a simple precipitation method. The results show that CuO is better than Cu(OH)2 as a co-catalyst to enhance the CO2 photoreduction capability of NH2– B–TiO2. The highest rates of CO2 conversion to CH4 and CO of NH2– B–TiO2–CuO composite reach 6.05 and 3.25 μmol h− 1 g− 1, respectively, which is higher than 8 times the yield of CH4 of NH2– B–TiO2. It is proposed that the NH2– B–TiO2–CuO composite offers an effective charge transfer through the formation of a p–n junction between NH2– B–TiO2 and CuO interfaces, while in the NH2– B–TiO2–Cu(OH)2 composite, the Cu(OH)2 dominantly serves as an electron sink to capture photo-induced electrons, promoting photo-induced carrier separation. This work provides an ingenious synthetic method for selectively anchoring Cu(OH)2 and CuO on semiconductors with different charge transfer routes for an efficient CO2 photoreduction.

The conversion of CO2 into solar fuels by photocatalysis is a promising way to deal with the energy crisis and the greenhouse effect. The introduction of oxygen vacancy into semiconductor has been proved to be an effective strategy for enhancing CO2 photoreduction performance. Herein, TiO2- x nanostructures have been prepared by a simple solvothermal method and engineered by the reaction time. With the prolonging of reaction time, the oxygen vacancy signal gradually increases while the band gap becomes narrow for the as-synthesized TiO2- x nanostructures. The results show that the TiO2- x-6 h, TiO2- x-24 h, and TiO2- x-48 h samples have the main product of CH4 (more) and CO (less) for CO2 photoreduction. Among the three oxygen vacancy photocatalysts, the TiO2- x-24 h sample shows the highest CH4 generation rate of 41.8 μmol g− 1 h− 1. On the basis of photo/electrochemical measurements, the TiO2- x-24 h sample exhibits efficient electron–hole separation and charge transfer capabilities, thus allows much more electrons to participate in the reaction and finally promotes the photocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction. It further confirms that the optimization of oxygen vacancy concentration could facilitate the photoinduced charge separation and accordingly improve photocatalytic CO2 conversion.

This study aims to develop the designs and patterns of yoga tops that are better adjusted to suit females in their 30s and 40s. After conducting a comparative analysis of three different popular yoga garments, one yoga top currently on the market was selected. Subsequently, a fit evaluation was conducted on Trail 1-garment α, which was developed body analysis performed based on selected yoga top C, followed by the production of the Trial 2 garment after making adjustments according to the comparative observation results. Based on these results, garment C with the longest top length was evaluated as the best. The results of the evaluation of appearance and fit conducted of Trial 1-garment α compared to those of C showed that Trial 1-garment α was superior in both evaluations. Trial 2-garment β was produced after making improvements on Trial 1-garment α and then placed under identical comparative evaluation condition as Trial 1-garment α. Results showed a significant improvement compared to Trial 1-garment α, and the Trial 2 garment with an additional arm pattern was shown to be superior in shoulder strap width stability, shoulder strap pressure, chest stability, degree of waist pressure, waist comfort, general fitting, and supportiveness.

DLC has been attractive as semiconductor materials for solar cell due to its biological friendliness, flexible microstructures, and especially its tunable band gap. In order to fabricate high-efficiency multiband gap solar cell, it is important to control the sp3/ sp2 bonds ratio of DLC film corresponding to optical band gap (Eg). There are many references reporting the relations among the fabrication conditions, Eg, sp3/ sp2, and ID/ IG. However, a more comprehensive database is needed for controllable fabrication. Especially, the quantitative relationship of sp3/ sp2 ratio to Eg of DLC film by PECVD is unclear. In this paper, 36 sets of DLC films were fabricated by RF-PECVD. Characterization methods of XPS, Raman spectroscopy, and IR absorption have been used to determine the sp3/ sp2 ratio of DLC films. UV/visible light absorption method has applied to evaluate Eg. The Eg obtained is in the range 1.45–3.0 eV. Our results agree well with the references. The XPS spectra gives a linear relationship as Eg = − 0.161 (± 0.136) + 26.095 (± 1.704) · {sp3 (XPS)/sp2}, the Raman spectra shows a linear function that Eg = 1.327 (± 0.046) + 0.428 (± 0.036) · (ID/IG), as well as the FTIR analysis demonstrates that Eg = − 0.492 (± 0.093) + 0.464 (± 0.044) · {sp3 (FTIR)/sp2}.

Modified pitch A (MPA) and modified pitch B (MPB) were prepared by oxidative polymerization and thermal polycondensation reaction with refined pitch as the raw material, respectively. The toluene soluble components (TS-1 and TS-2) were obtained by solvent extraction from MPA and MPB, separately. The Flynn-Wall-Ozawa method and Kissinger-Akahira- Sunose method were used to calculate the pyrolysis activation energy of TS. The Satava- Sestak method was used to investigate the pyrolysis kinetic parameters of TS. Moreover, the optical microstructure of the thermal conversion products (TS-1-P and TS-2-P) by calcination shows that TS-1-P has more contents of mosaic structure and lower contents of fine fiber structure than TS-2-P. The research result obtained by a combination of X-ray diffraction and the curve-fitting method revealed that the ratios of ordered carbon crystallite (Ig) in TS-1-P and TS-2-P were 0.3793 and 0.4417, respectively. The distributions of carbon crystallite on TS-1-P and TS-2-P were calculated by Raman spectrum and curve-fitting analysis. They show that the thermal conversion product of TS-2 has a better graphite crystallite structure than TS-1.

While it was found that consumers’ experience on purchase intention is significantly affected by greater involvement in blogging (Hsu & Tsou, 2011), not many fashion companies use blogs to improve online consumption and relationship with their employee or customer (Fieseler & Fleck, 2013). Further, despite the growing significance of blog communication, there is a lack of understanding for the impact of accumulation of social capital in the blogosphere on the consumers’ attitude and engagement in previous research. This study is designed to address this gap, and particularly the role of three dimensions of social capital (i.e., structural, relational, and cognitive) in understanding blog user’s attitude and engagement. The purpose of this study is to investigate 1) the effect of blog user’s motivation (i.e., perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, reputation, altruism, enjoyment, community identification) on their level of social capital within the blog 2) the influence of structural social capital and cognitive social on user’s relational social capital and 3) the impact of relational social capital on blog user’s attitude and engagement. Data was collected through a marketing research firm utilizing online survey method. With 530 usable data, the results of this study indicated enjoyment have positive significant effect on structural social capital while community identification have negative significant effect on structural social capital. For the effect of blogging motivation on cognitive social capital, the result showed positive significant effect of perceived usefulness, altruism and community identification on cognitive social capital Further, structural social capital does not have relationship with relational social capital while cognitive social capital has significant effect on relational social capital. The results also indicated that the relational social capital has influence on blogging attitude, which in turn has strong positive relationship with blogging engagement. The findings of this study contribute some useful knowledge about fashion blog and the relationships of the three social capital dimensions to the literature. Also, this study not only provides theoretical insight into understanding the influence of fashion blog user’s motivation on blogging behavior and satisfaction of needs of belong, it also exposes the influence of relationships building in blog community on user’s blogging attitude and engagement. Previous studies focused more on social influence on knowledge sharing motivation, and most of the researchers paid attention to the interaction of cognitive social capital and relational capital. This study employs the knowledge sharing motivation findings of previous studies, and it uses the effective motivation factors to test if they have the same impacts on people’s blogging behavior.

International Joint Venture (IJV) is one of the most popular market entry mode in emerging markets. The instability and stability of IJV have also been receiving ongoing attention in the literature (e.g. Deitz et al. 2010; Kogut 1989; Rhoades & Lush 1997; Sim & Ali 2000). IJV instability and stability are often treated as opposite to one another in the literature, and assumed the factors that account for instability has an inverse impacts on stability. However, conceptually and empirically they are not exactly two contrasting phenomena. This study adopts the perspectives of Superficial Friendship theory (Yan 2010) to differentiate the determinants of IJV instability and stability and empirically compares their determinants. The results indicate that the factors that account for instability do not have inverse impacts on stability. The empirical results not only contribute to an understanding of the different drivers of IJV instability and stability but also have important implications for international business managers in both parents and IJVs with regard to keeping an IJV profitable and successful.

The paper addresses the phenomenon of the opportunism that arises from a parent (principal) toward an IJV (agent) and its antecedents. This study integrates Agency Theory and Resource Dependence Theory (RDT) to discover its determinants from the perspectives of principal opportunism. Using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) techniques and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) based on a sample of 185 Chinese-foreign IJVs in China, which are useful to reals the overall story of the principal opportunism. This study finds an IJV depends on parents’ support in both knowledge- and property-based resources has more chances to subject to principal opportunism. The result also indicates that psychic distance has a negative impact on principal opportunism. fsQCA, however, provides further solutions that the specific combinations of these predictors or their negation predicts principle opportunism.

This study used the methods of decision tree analysis, association rule analysis, and Kano’s model to explore the behavior patterns of mainland China tourists staying at the international tourist hotels in Taiwan. To this end, the data of their demographics, travel variables, overall satisfaction with the lodging experience, different service quality perceptions, and loyalty intentions were included. The decision tree analysis showed that a tourist’s overall satisfaction with the lodging experience, satisfaction with the quality of core intangible services, and certain demographic characteristics are three important determinants of tourist loyalty towards the hotels. In terms of the effect of demographics, the customers’ monthly income and length of stay at the hotel are two main determinants in this study. In addition, if the customer perceptions of different parts of hotel service quality are taken into account, among the five hotel service quality domains, core intangible services from the receptionist, housekeeping personnel, and food & beverage personnel are found to be important influences on hotel customer loyalty intention. In other words, high quality intangible services are important for luxury hotels to demonstrate their unique ability to help customers experience the service quality that creates loyalty intentions. With regard to the association rule analysis, the results showed that core intangible service aspects from the receptionist, housekeeping personnel, and food & beverage personnel are strongly associated with customer loyalty intentions, as are the tangible aspects of the reception and hotel room facilities. The former indicated that reception in the hotel lobby could be considered one of the most important servicescapes because of its impact in forming many of the first impressions of hotel guests, while the latter is treated as core offerings in hotels that would be encountered by most hotel customers. If the tourists are mainly from package tours, the intangible services and tangible facilities of these areas are the important areas to create customer satisfaction. However, if the tourists are mainly independent tourists because they have more time and free choice to stay at the hotel longer than the package tour tourists, the intangible services and tangible facilities of the entertainment or business centers would be even more important to these tourists than to the package tour tourists. With regard to Kano’s model analysis, the results showed that, based on mainland China tourists’ perceptions, most of the service elements fit into the category of one-dimensional quality attributes. This means that these service elements are positively and linearly related to customer satisfaction, and the greater fulfillment of the attribute results in a greater degree of satisfaction. This also means that hotels should make more effort to innovate their intangible services and tangible facilities to create business advantages in the market.

This study examines an unexplored area in services—namely, the existence of inauthentic retail establishments. These fake establishments, which mimic the service and product offerings of genuine establishments, such as Starbucks, McDonald’s, 7-Eleven, Apple, and others, prevail across Southeast Asia, primarily in China, Vietnam, and Cambodia. By employing grounded theory methodology, this study offers an original framework that illustrates why consumers accept and patronize both authentic and inauthentic retail establishments. The model shows that many consumers are satisfied with inauthentic retail establishments, and that some inauthentic retailers are building a loyal customer following. Thus, service organizations should respond to these inauthentic companies by viewing them as potential partners for innovation and expansion, rather than as future parties for costly litigation. That is, the authors suggests that authentic retail organizations should target their inauthentic competitors as possible joint venture partners, especially because these competitors have the ability to mimic authentic operations by operating counterfeit schemes.

The effects of geometrical parameters on mechanical properties of graphite-vinylester nanocomposites and their constituents(matrix, reinforcement and interface) are studied using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Young’s modulii of 1.3TPa and1.16TPa are obtained for graphene layer and for graphite layers respectively. Interfacial shear strength resulting from themolecular dynamic (MD) simulations for graphene-vinylester is found to be 256MPa compared to 126MPa for graphite-vinylester. MD simulations prove that exfoliation improves mechanical properties of graphite nanoplatelet vinylesternanocomposites. Also, the effects of bromination on the mechanical properties of vinylester and interfacial strength of thegraphene–brominated vinylester nanocomposites are investigated. MD simulation revealed that, although there is minimal effectof bromination on mechanical properties of pure vinylester, bromination tends to enhance interfacial shear strength betweengraphite–brominated vinylester/graphene-brominated vinylester in a considerable magnitude.

Spectral measurement was applied to monitor degradation of steppe grassland in Inner Mongolia, China. Supply of drinking water for domestic animal is an important for nomadic peoples in Xilingol steppe. There is only one main drinking place (site-00) for animals at the center of Branch No.4 of Baiyinkulun Livestock Farm. So the distance from the village (site-00) can be used as an effective indicator for grazing intensity since the water tank in the village is the main drinking place for animals. In addition to the measurement of surface reflectance, vegetation surveys were carried out as a function of the distance from site-00 at every 1-㎞ interval to each four directions until the 5-㎞ point. It has cleared that the effects of grazing on vegetation mitigated according to the distance from site-00. Negative plant indicators of grazing intensity such as Stipa grandis increased in dominance with distance from site-00, whereas positive indicators of grazing intensity, such as Cleistogenens squarrosa decreased. Changes in growth parameters along the environmental gradients were reflected on NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), in which NDVI was positively correlated with the aboveground biomass (r=0.77), plant height (r=0.69) and coverage (r=0.89), respectively. These results suggested that a spectral vegetation index is effective for the detection of the degradation in free grazing grassland.

Since the origin of the web site in ti)e first part of the 90's there has been discussion regarding the function of aesthetics. Visual aesthetics has for the most part played an absolutely necessary role in human-computer interactive research. This study is intended to design websites on aesthetic aspects which focuses on the websites of universities in Korea and China. What exactly are the differences and commonalities of each; and how they have been clarified by methods of empirical research on aesthetic measurements.

It has been a big mystery what drives filament eruptions and flares. We have studied in detail an X1.8 flare and its associated filament eruption that occurred in NOAA Active Region 9236 on November 24,2000. For this work we have analyzed high temporal (about 1 minute) and spatial (about 1 arcsec) resolution images taken by Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, Hα centerline and blue wing (-0.6Å) images from Big Bear Solar Observatory, and 1600 Å UV images by the Transition Region and Corona Explorer (TRACE). We have found that there were several transient brightenings seen in Hα and, more noticeably in TRACE 1600 Å images around the preflare phase. A closer look at the UV brightenings in 1600 Å images reveals that they took place near one end of the erupting filament, and are a kind of jets supplying mass into the transient loops seen in 1600 Å. These brightenings were also associated with canceling magnetic features (CMFs) as seen in the MDI magnetograms. The flux variations of these CMFs suggest that the flux cancellation may have been driven by the emergence of the new flux. For this event, we have estimated the ejection speeds of the filament ranging from 10 to 160 km s-1 for the first twenty minutes. It is noted that the initiation of the filament eruption (as defined by the rise speed less than 20 km s-1) coincided with the preflare activity characterized by UV brightenings and CMFs. The speed of the associated LASCO CME can be well extrapolated from the observed filament speed and its direction is consistent with those of the disturbed UV loops associated with the preflare activity. Supposing the Hα/UV transient brightenings and the canceling magnetic features are due to magnetic reconnect ion in the low atmosphere, our results may be strong observational evidence supporting that the initiation of the filament eruption and the preflare phase of the associated flare may be physically related to low-atmosphere magnetic reconnection.