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As China shifts from a “human capital demographic dividend” to a “demographic dividend” as a source of economic growth, this paper examines the influence of social security system improvement on enterprises efforts to attract talent and enhance innovation ability.

This study uses a sample of Chinese listed firms from 2008 to 2019 to analyse the influences of social security contributions on enterprise innovation, and the mediating effect of human capital accumulation. The OLS, DID test, placebo test, 2SLS are used to test the research questions.

The authors find a significant positive correlation between social security contributions and enterprise innovation because social security contributions improve the accumulation of human capital, helping enterprises to attract talent, which in turn has a positive impact on corporate innovation. The positive correlation between social security contributions and enterprise innovation is more significant in private enterprises, STAR Market and GEM listed companies and labour-intensive enterprises.

These findings provide a theoretical basis for the formulation of relevant policies and the current reform of social security collection in China. The findings also have practical significance for the sustainable development of China's economy given its ageing population.

This study provides a new perspective, that is, from the perspective of human capital accumulation, to discuss the impact of social security contributions on enterprise innovation, and enriches the relevant literature on the economic consequences of social security contributions and the influencing factors of corporate innovation.

This paper examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on low-carbon consumption of dairy products through informational interventions. The empirical findings seek to enlighten developing countries' efforts in coping with climate change and potential dietary transitions.

A randomized controlled trial was designed to examine the effects of purpose-differentiated information interventions on individual dairy consumption. The experiment recruited and randomly assigned 1,002 college students into four groups to receive (or not) environmental or/and health information interventions.

The empirical analysis finds that health and combined information interventions have a positive impact on dairy consumption, while environmental information interventions' effect on dairy consumption is insignificant. In the context of the pandemic, health information interventions positively affected participants' perceptions and preferences for dairy products by delivering knowledge about their role in boosting immunity. However, environmental information interventions failed to do the same things as their insignificant effects on both perception and preference.

Macro-external shocks, such as public health events, may offset the impact of universal information interventions promoting pro-environmental behaviors. For a smooth dietary transition to achieve long-term environmental sustainability, diverse stakeholders must be included in more individualized interventions to guide daily consumption, especially in developing countries with large populations.

The purpose of this study is to discuss the principles and factors that influence the site selection of emergency medical facilities for public health emergencies. This paper discusses the selection of the best facilities from the available facilities, proposes the capacity of new facilities, presents a logistic regression model and establishes a site selection model for emergency medical facilities for public health emergencies in megacities.

Using Guangzhou City as the research object, seven alternative facility points and the points' capacities were preset. Nine demand points were determined, and two facility locations were selected using genetic algorithms (GAs) in MATLAB for programing simulation and operational analysis.

Comparing the results of the improved GA, the results show that the improved model has fewer evolutionary generations and a faster operation speed, and that the model outperforms the traditional P-center model. The GA provides a theoretical foundation for determining the construction location of emergency medical facilities in megacities in the event of a public health emergency.

First, in this case study, there is no scientific assessment of the establishment of the capacity of the facility point, but that is a subjective method based on the assumption of the capacity of the surrounding existing hospitals. Second, because this is a theoretical analysis, the model developed in this study does not consider the actual driving speed and driving distance, but the speed of the unified average driving distance and the driving distance to take the average of multiple distances.

The results show that the method increases the selection space of decision-makers, provides them with stable technical support, helps them quickly determine the location of emergency medical facilities to respond to disaster relief work and provides better action plans for decision makers.

The results show that the algorithm performs well, which verifies the applicability of this model. When the solution results of the improved GA are compared, the results show that the improved model has fewer evolutionary generations, faster operation speed and better model than the intermediate model GA. This model can more successfully find the optimal location decision scheme, making that more suitable for the location problem of megacities in the case of public health emergencies.

The research findings provide a theoretical and decision-making basis for the location of government emergency medical facilities, as well as guidance for enterprises constructing emergency medical facilities.

To solve the problem of low sensitivity of traditional capacitive proximity sensor, this paper aims to propose a novel capacitive sensor for detection of an approaching conductor.

Five capacitive proximity sensors with different structures are designed and the performance is compared with the traditional capacitive sensor. The impacts of geometrical parameters on the performance of the proposed capacitive sensor are studied. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the proposed capacitive sensor to an approaching conductor with different sizes is discussed. Also, how the designed capacitive sensor is sensitive to the lateral placement of the approaching object is analyzed.

Several capacitive proximity sensor structures have been designed and analyzed. It is found that the capacitive sensor with the top small ring-bottom large ring structure shows stronger electric field distribution around the top electrode and higher sensitivity to the approaching conductor than other sensors. Through further analysis of the proposed sensor, the results demonstrate that proposed capacitive sensor is effective for proximity object detection.

This paper proposes a novel capacitive proximity sensor with top small ring-bottom large ring structure. Compared with the traditional capacitive sensor, the proposed capacitive sensor is more sensitive to the approaching object. This would be helpful for the accurate detection of the approaching object. Also, the top and bottom electrodes are much smaller.

The COVID-19 epidemic is still spreading globally and will not be completely over in a short time. Wearing a mask is an effective means to combat the spread of COVID-19. However, whether the public wear a mask for epidemic prevention and control will be affected by stochastic factors such as vaccination, cultural differences and irrational emotions, which bring a high degree of uncertainty to the prevention and control of the epidemic. The purpose of this study is to explore and analyze the epidemic prevention and control strategies of the public in an uncertain environment.

Based on the stochastic evolutionary game model of the Moran process, the study discusses the epidemic prevention and control strategies of the public under the conditions of the dominance of stochastic factors, expected benefits and super-expected benefits.

The research shows that the strategic evolution of the public mainly depends on stochastic factors, cost-benefit and the number of the public. When the stochastic factors are dominant, the greater the perceived benefit, the lower the cost and the greater the penalty for not wearing masks, the public will choose to wear a mask. Under the dominance of expected benefits and super-expected benefits, when the number of the public is greater than a certain threshold, the mask-wearing strategy will become an evolutionary stable strategy. From the evolutionary process, the government’s punishment measures will slow down the speed of the public choosing the strategy of not wearing masks. The speed of the public evolving to the stable strategy under the dominance of super-expected benefits is faster than that under the dominance of expected benefits.

The study considers the impact of stochastic factors on public prevention and control strategies and provides decision-making support and theoretical guidance for the scientific prevention of the normalized public.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no research has considered the impact of different stochastic interference intensities on public prevention and control strategies. Therefore, this paper can be seen as a valuable resource in this field.

This study aims to synthesize pigment and resin from agro-wastes and use them in the formulation of eco-friendly surface coatings.

The pigments and resin were synthesized through a chemical modification of agro-wastes. The pigments were characterized by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and were screened for their antimicrobial activities. The physicochemical characteristics of the cashew nutshell liquid (CNSL)-modified resin were evaluated. These precursors and other natural additives were used to formulate surface coatings, and their drying and adhesive properties were evaluated using international testing methods.

It was observed that the curing of the CNSL-modified resin depended on time and temperature. The pigments exhibited antimicrobial activity against E. coli and S. aureus and had high melting points, affirming their stability. The chemically modified precursors successfully yielded surface coatings with acceptable drying times and adhesion to the base substrate.

The use of agro-wastes as the main components of the surface coatings implies waste valorization, a reduction in production costs and the creation of job opportunities for sustainable development. To increase the chemical, physical, corrosion resistance and antimicrobial qualities of paint compositions, chemically modified peanut skin extracts and CNSL can be used as pigments and resins, respectively. This could be a green approach to achieving the targets of Sustainable development goals 11 and 12.

The paper outlines a prospective approach to use unwanted waste (peanut skin, cashew nutshells) and other natural additives as industrial raw materials. These novel surface coating precursors are cost-effective, readily available, eco-friendly and could replace conventional precursors.

The purpose of this study is to investigate which of the two carbon allowance allocation methods (CAAMs), i.e. grandfathered system carbon allowance allocation (GCAA) and baseline system carbon allowance allocation (BCAA), is more beneficial to capital-constrained supply chains under the carbon emission allowance repurchase strategy (CEARS).

Adopting CEARS to ease the capital-constrained supply chains, this study develops two-period game models with manufacturers as leaders and retailers as followers from the perspective of profit and social welfare maximization under two CAAMs (GCAA and BCAA), where the first period produces normal products, and the second period produces low-carbon products.

First, higher carbon-saving can better use CEARS and achieve a higher supply chain profit under the two CAAMs. However, the higher the end-of-period carbon price is, the lower the social welfare is. Second, when carbon-saving is small, GCAA achieves both economic and environmental benefits; BCAA reduces carbon emissions at the expense of economic benefit. Third, the supply chain members gain higher profits and social welfare under GCAA, so the government and supply chain members are more inclined to choose GCAA.

By analyzing the profits and total carbon emissions of capital-constrained supply chains under GCAA and BCAA, this study provides theoretical references for retailers and capital-constrained manufacturers. In addition, by comparing the difference in social welfare under GCAA and BCAA, it provides a basis for the government to choose a reasonable CAAM.

The study aims to the distribution rule of lubricating oil film of full ceramic ball bearing and improve its performance and life.

The paper established an analysis model based on the fluid–solid conjugate heat transfer theory for full ceramic ball bearings. The distribution of flow, temperature and pressure field of bearings under variable working conditions is analyzed. Meanwhile, the mathematical model of elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) of full ceramic ball bearings is established. The numerical analysis is used to study the influence of variable working conditions on the lubricant film thickness and pressure distribution of bearings. The temperature rise test of full ceramic ball bearing under oil lubrication was carried out to verify the correctness of simulation results.

As the speed increased, the oil volume fraction in full ceramic ball bearing decreased and the surface pressure of rolling element increased. The temperature rise of full ceramic ball bearings increases with increasing speed and load. The lubricant film thickness of full ceramic ball bearing is positively correlated with speed and negatively correlated with load. The pressure of lubricating film is positively correlated with speed and load. The test shows that the higher inner ring speed and radial load, the higher the steady-state temperature rise of full ceramic ball bearing. The test results are in high agreement with simulation results.

Based on the fluid–solid conjugate heat transfer theory and combined with Reynolds equation, lubricating oil film thickness formula, viscosity temperature and viscosity pressure formula. The thermal analysis model and EHL mathematical model of ceramic ball bearings are established. The flow field, temperature field and pressure field distribution of the full ceramic ball bearing are determined. And the thickness and pressure distribution of lubricating oil film in the contact area of full ceramic ball bearing were determined.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-05-2023-0126/

Considering the swift adoption of innovative sustainability practices in businesses to accomplish sustainable development goals (SDGs), research on corporate sustainability has increased significantly over the years. This research intends to analyze the published literature, emphasizing the existing, emerging and future research directions on achieving the SDGs through corporate sustainability.

This research analyzed the growing trends in corporate sustainability by incorporating 2,038 Scopus articles published between 1999 and 2022 using latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) topic modeling, bibliometrics and qualitative content analysis techniques. The bibliometric data were analyzed using performance and science mapping. Thereafter, topic modeling and content analysis uncovered the topics included under the corporate sustainability umbrella.

The findings indicate that investigation into corporate sustainability has considerably increased from 2015 to date. Additionally, the majority of studies on corporate sustainability are from the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Germany. Besides, the USA has the most collaboration in terms of co-authorship. S. Schaltegger was considered the most productive author. However, P. Bansal was ranked as the top author based on a co-citation analysis of authors. Further, bibliometric data were evaluated to analyze leading publications, journals and institutions. Besides, keyword co-occurrence analysis, topic modeling and content analysis highlighted the theoretical underpinnings and new patterns and provided directions for further research.

This study demonstrates various existing and emerging themes in corporate sustainability, which have various repercussions for academicians and organizations. This research also examines the lagging themes in the current domain.

This study aims to develop a sports bra with cosmetic microcapsules that supports the breasts and provides an aesthetically upright and lifted posture by using 28 days period.

A fitting process was carried out on provided seamless sports bras to determine the criteria that have to be improved considering the desired properties. The new sports bras were produced after the pattern design was developed; cosmetic microcapsules were applied to some of the bras and some were used as a control group to compare the real cosmetic effects. Female subjects tried the newly developed sports bras in a 28-day wear trial. Measurements were taken at certain periods during the wear trials, and the obtained data were analyzed statistically.

The findings of this study determined that the product provides a decrease in breast girth and increases skin moisture and nipple height after 28 days of regular use due to the effect of cosmetic ingredients released from microcapsules. A great majority of subjects found the breast lifting and supporting property of the sports bra successful and were satisfied with the new shape of the subjects' breasts.

Fitting studies were carried out directly on the female body, and the designed and developed encapsulating type sports bra has been transformed into a cosmetic textile product that gains also cosmetic properties. The cosmetic effects of the bra were investigated with wear trials. On the other hand, the nipple height measure term was defined for the first time and added to the literature within the scope of the study.