A novel "raisin bun"-like nanocomposite, where Pd clusters are embedded in porphyrin matrix, is developed as a promising electrocatalyst. Thanks to the synergy between the Pd clusters and the porphyrin matrix, this composite exhibits a low oxidation potential, high mass activity and excellent stability toward electrochemical oxidation of formic acid, which opens new routes for the design of high-performance catalysts in fuel cells.

In this study, a facile and efficient protocol to enhance the β‐phase content of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) is developed, in which the effect of room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs), including [1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium (bmim)][PF6], [bmim][BF4], [bmim][FeCl4] and [bmim][Cl], on the crystallization behavior of PVDF is investigated. The resulting PVDF/RTIL hybrids are characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, XRD, polarized optical microscopy (POM) and DSC. The FTIR spectroscopy and XRD results show that the fraction of β‐phase, F(β), is significantly enhanced by the incorporation of RTILs, specifically from 49.2% for neat PVDF to 92.6% for hybrid filled with 15 wt% [bmim][PF6]. The analysis of the crystallization behavior based on the DSC tests reveals that the degree of crystallinity increases with incorporation of RTILs, implying that RTILs could act as directing agents to facilitate the crystallization process, which is further evidenced by the POM results. In addition, the non‐isothermal crystallization kinetics of PVDF and PVDF/RTIL composites are investigated by means of DSC and the results indicate that the addition of the RTILs significantly influences the mechanism of nucleation and growth of PVDF crystallites. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry

Papillary renal cell carcinoma(PRCC) is the second most common and aggressive renal cell carcinoma. Identification of novel microRNA biomarkers could be beneficial for the diagnosis and prognosis of PRCC patients. We aimed to screen differentially expressed miRNAs that can act as prognostic factors and to predict the survival of PRCC patients. High-throughput data of miRNAs of 274 PRCC samples were downloaded from TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) dataset and interested miRNAs were identified. Hierarchical clustering and principal component analysis (PCA) were performed on these miRNAs. Critical genes that can act as prognostic factors were screened by LASSO. What's more, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic) growth curve were used to testify the accuracy of the model. Biological processes of putative targets of miRNAs were analyzed by bioinformatics methods such as GO (Go Ontology) and KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) analysis. A total of 105 differentially expressed miRNAs were screened out in PRCC samples compared with healthy controls. Two critical miRNAs, hsa-mir-3199-2, and hsa-mir-1293, were screened out by LASSO (Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator), including 197 and 189 target genes, respectively. Furthermore, its' accuracy was testified by ROC analysis with the AUC (Area under the curve) value of 0.7774968 and 0.6743466. These miRNAs were significantly enriched in pathways as platelet activating factor biosynthetic process, epithelial cell maturation, and IkappaB kinase complex. In conclusion, hsa-mir-3199-2 and hsa-mir-1293 that can act as prognostic biomarkers of PRCC were screened out, which can provide new insights for the clinical treatment of the disease. J. Cell. Biochem. 118: 3488-3494, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Judges tend to discount the opinions of others even though advice is often helpful in improving their accuracy. The present research proposes that this phenomenon of advice discounting results from the judges’ confidence in their initial decision and little trust in advice. Furthermore, the degree of advice discounting may be predicted by the combined roles of confidence and trust. Three studies provide evidence for these hypotheses. Participants were very confident in their initial estimation and had little trust in the advice (study 1). The degree of advice discounting decreased when participants felt less confidence in performing difficult tasks compared with easy tasks (study 2) or when participants placed more trust in advice because the advice was from an expert rather than from a novice (study 3). In addition, confidence and trust predicted the degree of advice discounting across three studies. These findings shed new light on the mechanism underlying advice discounting and advice taking by indicating the combined roles of confidence and trust.

Cooperation is vital for modern society. Previous studies showed that procedural fairness promotes cooperation; however, they mainly focused on cooperation intention, which may fail to reveal actual cooperative behaviour. Moreover, little is known regarding the personality boundary of the effect of procedural fairness on cooperation. Guided by previous findings that self‐esteem increases sensitivity to procedural unfairness, we attempted to explore the moderating effect of self‐esteem on the association between procedural fairness and cooperative behaviour. In Experiment 1, 160 participants' self‐esteem was measured using the Rosenberg Self‐Esteem Scale; procedural fairness was manipulated in two conditions, depending on whether money was allocated in an economic game by rolling the dice twice or an allocator's arbitrary choice. Cooperative behaviour was assessed using the chicken game paradigm. Experiment 2 (148 participants) aimed to replicate and extend the results of Experiment 1 using a more rigorous experimental design, in which the possible effect of outcome favourability was excluded. The results of both experiments consistently showed that procedural fairness positively predicted cooperative behaviour, and this association was significant in high‐self‐esteem individuals, but not in low‐self‐esteem individuals. These findings shed light on the vital role of self‐esteem in understanding the relationship between procedural fairness and cooperative behaviour.