The Spread of and Death from Infectious Diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for FDI Attraction.

Are "economic bads" of infectious diseases and "economic goods" of foreign direct investment antagonistic to each other? This is the salient question that this research inquiry unravels for 34 African economies from 2000 to 2017. The empirical evidence revealed the following through a generalized method of moments (SGMM) inter alia: First, the mitigating roles of infectious diseases, such as malaria, HIV prevalence rate and AIDS, on global FDI inflows are unconditionally certified from a statistical and economic sense. Second, the diminishing influences of other confounders, such as low per capita GDP, shallow financial development, excruciating inflationary trend, and natural resource rents curse, are empirically endorsed, on the one hand, while the persistent nature of FDI and trade openness as boosting mechanisms for FDI are unambiguously applauded, on the other hand. Finally, a reduction in the numerical strength of the estimates after accounting for the outliers' effect from the models and the inclusion of additional controls do not diminish the robustness of already established findings, except for the HIV prevalence rate. On the policy front, if the foreign direct investment is truly pro-development outcomes, any policy interventions that eliminate infectious diseases will be Pareto-improving.

Immunomodulatory activity of polysaccharides from Brassica rapa by activating Akt/NF-κB signaling.

Objective: To investigate the immunomodulatory activity of polysaccharides from the roots of Brassica rapa. Methods: The crude polysaccharide from roots of B. rapa (BRP) was extracted and purified to further investigate the active fraction of BRT for inducing macrophage phagocytosis. Results: Effects on RAW264.7 cells demonstrated that BRP behaved better phagocytic capacity and had potent immunomodulatory activity, including increasing production of nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) and upregulating mRNA levels of inducible NO synthase (iNOS) and TNFα. Furthermore, modulation of macrophage by BRP was indicated to be mediated via the activation of Akt and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB). Conclusion: The beneficial effects of BRP could be used as an immunotherapeutic adjuvant in treatment of inflammatory diseases.

Impact of Managerial Trustworthy Behavior on Employee Engagement: Mediating Role of Perceived Insider Status.

This study examines the impact of managerial trustworthy behavior on employees' engagement and the mediating role of perceived insider status. This study has adopted an exploratory research design and positivist philosophy. The data are collected from 205 healthcare staff working in public sector hospitals in Pakistan through survey questionnaires, using a convenience sampling technique. Partial Least Square Structural equation modeling is used to analyze the data and test hypotheses. Results indicate that managerial trustworthy behavior relates positively to employee engagement. Perceived insider status mediates the relationship between managerial trustworthy behavior and employee engagement. The major limitation of this study is its cross-sectional design which limits the casualty. However, this study offers important insights regarding trust-building, engagement, and inclusion in the health sector. This study highlights the importance of trust-building among managers and employees. Managers who instill more trust in employees will garner more positive behavior. This study offers fresh insights into managers' trustworthy behavior toward employees' engagement and the employees' perceived insider status within their organizations.

Photocatalytic reduction of CO2 into CH4 over Ru-doped TiO2: Synergy of Ru and oxygen vacancies.

Photocatalytic conversion of CO2 and H2O into CH4 is an intriguing approach to achieve solar energy utilization and CO2 conversion, yet remains challenging in conversion efficiency. In this study, we present a synthesis of defected TiO2 nanocrystal with oxygen vacancies (Vo) by a facile Ru doping-induced strategy under hydrothermal condition. The synergistic effect of Ru and oxygen vacancies contributed to the enhanced photocatalytic reduction of CO2 toward CH4. Oxygen vacancies and doped Ru not only can synergistically promote the separation of photogenerated carriers, but also promote the CO2 adsorption, thus enhancing the photocatalytic activities. The optimal Ru-doped TiO2 (denoted as 1% Ru-TiO2-x) exhibited a remarkable enhanced photocatalytic performance with a CH4 yield of 31.63 µmol·g-1·h-1, which is significantly higher than Ru-TiO2 and TiO2-x counterparts. This study systematically investigates the multiple roles of Ru in CO2 reduction and provides new insights for the construction of metal oxide photocatalysts with oxygen vacancies by simple doping of metal ions.

Synergistic Integration of AuCu Co-Catalyst with Oxygen Vacancies on TiO2 for Efficient Photocatalytic Conversion of CO2 to CH4.

Photocatalytic reduction of CO2 toward eight-electron CH4 product with simultaneously high conversion efficiency and selectivity remains great challenging owing to the sluggish charge separation and transfer kinetics and lack of active sites for the adsorption and activation of reactants. Herein, a defective TiO2 nanosheet photocatalyst simultaneously equipped with AuCu alloy co-catalyst and oxygen vacancies (AuCu-TiO2-x NSs) was rationally designed and fabricated for the selective conversion of CO2 into CH4. The experimental results demonstrated that the AuCu alloy co-catalyst not only effectively promotes the separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs but also acts as synergistic active sites for the reduction of CO2. The oxygen vacancies in TiO2 contribute to the separation of charge carriers and, more importantly, promote the oxidation of H2O, thus providing rich protons to promote the deep reduction of CO2 to CH4. Consequently, the optimal AuCu-TiO2-x nanosheets (NSs) photocatalyst achieves a CO2 reduction selectivity toward CH4 up to 90.55%, significantly higher than those of TiO2-x NSs (31.82%), Au-TiO2-x NSs (38.74%), and Cu-TiO2-x NSs (66.11%). Furthermore, the CH4 evolution rate over the AuCu-TiO2-x NSs reaches 22.47 µmol·g-1·h-1, which is nearly twice that of AuCu-TiO2 NSs (12.10 µmol·g-1·h-1). This research presents a unique insight into the design and synthesis of photocatalyst with oxygen vacancies and alloy metals as the co-catalyst for the highly selective deep reduction of CO2.

Charge-transfer dynamics at a Ag/Ni-MOF/Cu2O heterostructure in photoelectrochemical NH3 production.

Ag-decorated ultrathin Ni-MOF on Cu2O was fabricated for the first time. The charge-transfer dynamics at the heterostructure was studied by ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy in depth. An NH3 yield rate of 4.63 µg h-1 cm-2 with a faradaic efficiency of 24.3% has been achieved. DFT calculations further supported to further comprehend the nitrogen reduction reaction mechanism.

Amorphous MnCO3/C Double Layers Decorated on BiVO4 Photoelectrodes to Boost Nitrogen Reduction.

NH3 is mainly obtained by the Haber-Bosch method in the process of industrial production, which is not only accompanied by huge energy consumption but also environmental pollution. The reduction of N2 to NH3 under mild conditions is an important breakthrough to solve the current energy and environmental problems, so the preparation of catalysts that can effectively promote the reduction of N2 is a crucial step. In this work, BiVO4 decorated with amorphous MnCO3/C double layers has been successfully synthesized by a one-step method for the first time. The C and MnCO3 have been formed as ultrathin film, which enables the establishment of a uniform and tight interface with BiVO4. The temperature-programmed desorption of N2 (N2-TPD) spectra confirmed that the MnCO3/C could endow BiVO4 with a drastic enhancement of the chemical absorption ability of a N2 molecule compared with the pristine BiVO4. Meanwhile, the method of isotope labeling proved that the catalyst exhibited excellent selectivity for the photocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR). The production rate of NH3 up to 2.426 mmol m-2 h-1 has been achieved over the BiVO4/MnCO3/C, which is almost 8 times that of pristine BiVO4. The promoted production rate of NH3 over BiVO4/MnCO3/C could be mainly attributed to the cooperative process between MnCO3 and C amorphous layers. Therefore, this work could provide an alternative insight to understand the NRR process based on the model of a hierarchical amorphous structure.