Impact of sustainability on financial distress in the air transport industry:the moderating effect of Asia–Pacific

The tremendous impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the global aviation industry has led to many cases of airline financial distress and bankruptcy.The Asia–Pacific region(APAC)contains more than half of the world’s population,and its airlines had the highest profit margin of any region.In this study,we investigate whether corporate sustainability practice can reduce the financial distress risk of air carriers,and,if so,what would the effect be in APAC?We first examine the relationship between environmental,social,and governance disclosure and the likelihood of financial distress of airlines as measured by the Altman Z″-score.Second,we analyze the moderating role of being an APAC airline in this relationship.The findings support the claim that implementing environmental actions may increase financial distress risk,and by improving social and governance activities,airlines can mitigate the risk of financial distress.The negative influence of the environmental pillar and the positive influence of the social pillar can be smaller for APAC airlines.Our study provides empirical evidence of the influence of environmental,social,and governance(ESG)on the likelihood of financial distress in the airline industry.Moreover,we analyze the moderating role of being an APAC airline in the relationship between sustainability and financial distress.This study has significant implications for executives,managers,and policymakers in the aviation industry on ESG strategy decisions and the general issue of sustainability.

Triterpenoid saponin biosynthesis genes and their expression patterns during the development of sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus

Sea cucumbers are echinoderm species with a leathery skin and an elongated body.Natural compounds,including saponins,have been previously isolated from sea cucumber.The majority of saponins derived from this organism typically belong to the triterpene glycosides,which exhibit various biological effects(e.g.,antifungal,cytotoxic,hemolytic,and cytostatic immunomodulatory activities).In the present study,30 saponin biosynthesis enzymes,namely 2 AACTs,2 FPSs,2 HMGSs,2 OSCs,1 SS,2 SEs,and 19 UGTs,were found in the genome of sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus.Compared with upstream saponin biosynthesis enzymes(i.e.,AACTs,FPSs,HMGSs,OSCs,and SSs),the downstream saponin biosynthesis enzymes(SEs and UGTs)shared lower amino acid sequence similarity with the corresponding genes in other echinoderms.It was proposed that the enzyme structures comprised bothα-helices andβ-sheets.Notably,only a low percentage ofβ-sheets were present in FPSs,OSCs,and SS.The saponin biosynthesis enzymes showed dynamic expression patterns during five critical developmental stages of A.japonicus(fertilized oocytes,blastula,gastrula,doliolaria,and penractula).The present study involved elucidation of putative saponin biosynthesis pathways in sea cucumber and provides a valuable platform for further investigation of saponin biosynthesis in echinoderms.

Study on the longitudinal capture efficiency of a CW heavy-ion Linac

Purpose The continuous-wave(CW)linear accelerator,SSC-Linac,has been put into operation successfully as the new injector of Separate Sector Cyclotron(SSC)for Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou(HIRFL).The SSC-Linac is operated at the frequency of 53.667 MHz,which is the four times of the SSC operating frequency.In order to improve the longitudinal capture efficiency and increase the beam current extracted from the SSC,an independent multi-harmonics buncher(MHB)operating at a fundamental frequency of 13.417 MHz had been designed and manufactured.Method This buncher adopts the dual-gap structure and sawtooth waveform is generated by multi-harmonics synthetized technology.Beam dynamics simulation with MHB was carried out and discussed in this paper.Furthermore,the beam commissioning using 84Kr14+had been performed on SSC-Linac.Results and conclusion The measured maximum capture efficiency 86.5%was obtained,which was well agreed with the simulation results.Due to the successful commissioning of MHB and the outstanding-performance of SSC-Linac,the extracted beam current from SSC has been improved one order of magnitude higher than before.

TRANSFER MATRIX METHOD FOR ANALYZING VIBRATION AND DAMPING CHARACTERISTICS OF ROTATIONAL SHELL WITH PASSIVE CONSTRAINED LAYER DAMPING TREATMENT

The first order differential matrix equations of the host shell and constrained layer for a sandwich rotational shell are derived based on the thin shell theory.Employing the layer wise principle and first order shear deformation theory, only considering the shearing deformation of the viscoelastic layer, the integrated first order differential matrix equation of a passive constrained layer damping rotational shell is established by combining with the normal equilibrium equation of the viscoelastic layer.A highly precise transfer matrix method is developed by extended homogeneous capacity precision integration technology.The numerical results show that present method is accurate and effective.