From the perspective of the corporate life cycle, this study investigates the transmission mechanism of ‘technological innovation-financing constraints-carbon emission reduction’ in energy companies using panel data and mediating models, focusing on listed energy companies from 2014 to 2020. It explores the stage characteristics of this mechanism during different life cycle phases and conducts heterogeneity tests across industries and regions. The results reveal that technological innovation positively influences carbon emission reduction in energy enterprises, demonstrating significant life cycle stage characteristics, specifically more pronounced in mature companies than in growing or declining companies. Financing constraints play a mediating role between technological innovation and carbon reduction, but this is only effective during the growth and maturity stages. Further research shows that the impact of technological innovation on carbon emission reduction and the mediating role of financing constraints exhibit heterogeneity across different stages of the life cycle, industries, and regions. The conclusions of this paper provide references for energy companies in planning rational emission reduction strategies and for government departments in policy-making.

This article examines the overseas corporate social responsibility (CSR) patterns of Chinese international contractors (CICs). Adopting an institutional and political economy approach, a unique dataset is constructed with country-specific contents drawn from CSR-related reports and website information of 50 top CICs. This dataset provides a foundation for systematic content analysis of CICs’ overseas CSR practices, revealing that both political legitimacy-seeking and strategic competitiveness-seeking motivations drive CICs’ CSR activities abroad, characterized by the prioritization of customer and community engagement. The findings highlight the coexistence of the exogenous pressures for the national image-building purpose and the endogenous awareness of CSR strategic importance for corporate internationalization. The hybridization of political and economic rationales is presented as the defining feature of CICs’ current overseas CSR patterns, with the balance between them being determined by stakeholder type and internal business needs influenced by corporate internationalization experience.

Cartography includes two major tasks: map making and map application, which is inextricably linked to artificial intelligence technology. The cartographic expert system experienced the intelligent expression of symbolism. After the spatial optimization decision of behaviorism intelligent expression, cartography faces the combination of deep learning under connectionism to improve the intelligent level of cartography. This paper discusses three problems about the proposition of “deep learning + cartography”. One is the consistency between the deep learning method and the map space problem solving strategy, based on gradient descent, local correlation, feature reduction and non-linear nature that answer the feasibility of the combination of “deep learning + cartography”; the second is to analyze the challenges faced by the combination of cartography from its unique disciplinary characteristics and technical environment, involving the non-standard organization of map data, professional requirements for sample establishment, the integration of geometric and geographical features, as well as the inherent spatial scale of the map; thirdly, the entry points and specific methods for integrating map making and map application into deep learning are discussed respectively.

In this study, robust and defect-free thin film composite (TFC) forward osmosis (FO) membranes have been successfully fabricated using ceramic hollow fibers as the substrate. Polydopamine (PDA) coating under controlled conditions is effective in reducing the surface pores of the substrate and making the substrate smooth enough for interfacial polymerization. The pure water permeability (A), solute permeability (B), and structural parameter (S) of the resultant FO membrane are 0.854 L·m^–2·h⁻¹·bar⁻¹ (LMH/Bar), 0.186 L·m^–2·h⁻¹ (LMH), and 1720 µm, respectively. The water flux and reverse draw solute flux are measured using NaCl and proprietary ferric sodium citrate (FeNaCA) draw solutions at low and high osmotic pressure ranges. As the osmotic pressure increases, a higher water flux is obtained, but its increase is not directly proportional to the increase in the osmotic pressure. At the membrane surface, the effect of dilutive concentration polarization is much less serious for FeNaCA-draw solutions. At an osmotic pressure of 89.6 bar, the developed TFC membrane generates water fluxes of 11.5 and 30.0 LMH using NaCl and synthesized FeNaCA draw solutions. The corresponding reverse draw solute flux is 7.0 g·m^–2·h⁻¹ (gMH) for NaCl draw solution, but it is not detectable for FeNaCA draw solution. This means that the developed TFC FO membranes are defect-free and their surface pores are at the molecular level. The performance of the developed TFC FO membranes is also demonstrated for the enrichment of BSA protein.

The enormous biological potential of herbal products is one of the main reasons for their frequent use in the production of dietary supplements and functional foods, which, in addition to their nutritional properties, have pharmacological and physiological effects. New scientific knowledge on the isolation of pharmacologically active compounds from complex matrices has led to significant advances in this field. Today, the process of extraction plays a significant scientific role, with “green” technologies occupying a special place in today’s science. Herbal medicine is one of the oldest human skills, which has worn off with its centuries-old application in the path of modern medicine. Microwave-assisted extraction, or more simply, microwave extraction, is a new extraction technique that combines traditional extraction solvents and microwaves. The mentioned method takes less time, consumes less energy, and has strong penetration power into the plant matrix to obtain more oils, but it can also reduce production costs. This can eventually increase the quality of the final product and reduce the product price at the consumer level. Microwave-assisted extraction could be useful to the herbal industry for oil extraction as well as other pharmaceutically important plant components. Based on a comparison and study of published literature, this research examines the present state of extraction procedures. This review includes a detailed discussion of the most important extraction techniques.

The study aims to investigate the impact of digital leadership on sustainable competitive advantage, digital talent, and knowledge workers. Additionally, it explores the mediating role of digital talent (DT) and knowledge workers (KW) in the relationship between digital leadership (DL) and sustainable competitive advantage (SC), using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as its theoretical foundation. The researchers employed Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to examine survey data from 784 employees working in Egyptian travel agencies and tour operators. The results demonstrate that DL significantly enhances SC, DT, and KW. Moreover, DT and KW were shown to positively contribute to SC and serve as partial mediators in the relationship between DL and SC. The findings highlight the crucial role of developing DT and creating an environment that embraces technological acceptance and innovation. This approach amplifies the strategic effectiveness of DL, ultimately contributing to long-term organizational success.