The relationship between work-family conflict and job satisfaction for preschool teachers in rural China: a moderated mediation model.

Background: Job satisfaction for preschool teachers in rural areas has an important impact on their professional development, physical and mental health, and the development of preschool education. However, few studies have explored the factors that influence rural preschool teachers' job satisfaction. Purpose: This study aims to examine the influence of rural preschool teachers' work-family conflict on their job satisfaction, and the mediating effect of occupational identity, the moderating effect of social support. Method: Participants included 3,065 rural preschool teachers from Zhejiang Province in mainland China. Teachers completed questionnaires on work-family conflict, occupational identity, job satisfaction, and social support. The correlation and moderated mediation analyses were conducted using SPSS PROCESS. Results: (1) work-family conflict is associated with poorer job satisfaction in preschool teachers; (2) occupational identity mediates the relationship between work-family conflict and job satisfaction; and (3) a high level of social support alleviates the negative influence of work-family conflict on job satisfaction and promotes the positive effect of occupational identity on job satisfaction. Conclusion: The study revealed the negative impact of work-family conflict on preschool teachers' job satisfaction, and the protecting effect of social support, which has important implications for improving teachers' future job satisfaction.

Screw extrude steam explosion: a promising pretreatment of corn stover to enhance enzymatic hydrolysis.

A screw extrude steam explosion (SESE) apparatus was designed and introduced to pretreat corn stover continuously for its following enzymatic hydrolysis. SESE parameters temperature (100, 120, 150°C) and residence time (1, 2, 3min) were investigated. The enzymatic hydrolysis of corn stover pretreated by SESE and steam explosion (SE) process was carried out and analyzed systematically. A serial of analysis methods were established, and the corn stover before/after the pretreatment were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Thermal Gravity/Derivative Thermal Gravity Analysis (TG/DTG). After treated by SESE pretreatment at the optimum condition (150°C, 2min), the pretreated corn stover exhibited highest enzymatic hydrolysis yield (89%), and rare fermentation inhibitors formed. Characterization results indicated that the highest yield could be attributed to the effective removal of lignin/hemicellulose and destruction of cellulose structure by SESE pretreatment.

Uniform zinc oxide nanowire arrays grown on nonepitaxial surface with general orientation control.

Bottom-up synthesis of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires requires a highly engineered substrate to achieve alignment and orientation control. Here, we report textured ZnO film as an inexpensive substrate to fulfill the requirement. The textured film is coated conformally on various surface topographies and allows the epitaxial growth of ZnO nanowires with vertical, tilted, or lateral orientations. The textured film can also be formed into three-dimensional structure for growing novel nanostructures. The growth flexibility can potentially simplify device fabrication and optimize device performance.