bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Multifunctional Buried Interface Modification Enables Efficient Tin Perovskite Solar Cells
Authors: Chen Yali , Qi Heng , Wang Kun , Kang Ziyong , Pan Guangjiu , Everett Christopher R. , Müller‐Buschbaum Peter , Tong Yu , Wang Hongqiang 
Published: May 2023

AbstractTin perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are considered promising candidates to promote lead‐free perovskite photovoltaics. However, their power conversion efficiency (PCE) is limited by the easy oxidation of Sn2+ and low quality of tin perovskite film. Herein, an ultra‐thin 1‐carboxymethyl‐3‐methylimidazolium chloride (ImAcCl) layer is used to modify the buried interface in tin PSCs, which can induce multifunctional improvements and remarkably enhance the PCE. The carboxylate group (CO) and the hydrogen bond donor (NH) in ImAcCl can interact with tin perovskites, thus significantly suppressing the oxidation of Sn2+ and reducing the trap density in perovskite films. The interfacial roughness is reduced, which contributes to a high‐quality tin perovskite film with increased crystallinity and compactness. In addition, the buried interface modification can modulate the crystal dimensionality, favoring the formation of large bulk‐like crystals instead of low‐dimensional ones in tin perovskite films. Therefore, the charge carrier transport is effectively promoted and the charge carrier recombination is suppressed. Eventually, tin PSCs show a remarkably enhanced PCE from 10.12% to 12.08%. This work highlights the importance of buried interface engineering and provides an effective way to realize efficient tin PSCs.
Effect of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on cancer risk causally mediated via vitamin D levels
Authors: Chen Silu , Li Shuwei , Li Huiqin , Du Mulong , Ben Shuai , Zheng Rui , Zhang Zhengdong , Wang Meilin 
Published: May 2023

AbstractPolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) widely exist in environmental substrates and are closely related to individual circulating vitamin D levels and tumorigenesis. Therefore, we proposed to evaluate the relationship between PAH exposure, vitamin D, and the risks for 14 cancer types via a causal inference framework underlying the mediation analysis. We evaluated seven urine monohydroxylated PAH (OH‐PAH) and serum vitamin D concentrations of 3306 participants from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between the 2013 and 2016 survey cycles and measured PAH concentrations in 150 subjects from the Nanjing cohort. We observed a significant negative dose–response relationship between increased OH‐PAH levels and vitamin D deficiency. Each unit increase in ∑OH‐PAHs could lead to a decrease in vitamin D levels (βadj = −0.98, Padj = 2.05 × 10−4). Body mass index could have interaction effects with ∑OH‐PAHs and affect vitamin D levels. Coexposure to naphthalene and fluorene metabolites mutually affected vitamin D levels. Notably, vitamin D could causally mediate the relationship between OH‐PAHs and nine types of cancer (e.g., colorectal cancer, liver cancers, etc.). This study first emphasizes the causal cascade of individual OH‐PAHs, vitamin D, and cancer risk, providing insights into prevention via the environment.
Daphnetin attenuates intestinal inflammation, oxidative stress, and apoptosis in ulcerative colitis via inhibiting REG3A‐dependent JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway
Authors: He Zhi , Liu Jingjing , Liu Yang 
Published: May 2023

AbstractDaphnetin is a natural coumarin compound with anti‐inflammatory, anti‐oxidant, and anti‐apoptotic effects, which has been previously demonstrated to ameliorate DSS‐induced ulcerative colitis (UC). However, the molecular mechanism involved in the daphnetin‐mediated pathological process of UC remains unclarified. The current study used DSS‐induced mice and LPS‐challenged Caco‐2 cells as UC models. Bodyweight, disease activity index (DAI) score, and colon length were used to evaluate the severity of colitis. The histological changes in colon tissues were observed using H&E and PAS staining. Protein levels were detected by western blot. The malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities were used to assess oxidative stress. Inflammatory responses were evaluated by detecting the levels of inflammatory cytokines (IFN‐r, IL‐1β, IL‐6, and TNF‐α) using flow cytometry. CCK‐8 and TUNEL assay were employed to determine cell growth and cell death, respectively. The results showed that daphnetin could ameliorate the severity of colitis and attenuate the damage to intestinal structure in DSS‐induced mice. Compared with the DSS group, the expression of ZO‐1, occludin, and anti‐apoptotic protein (BCL‐2) was increased while the level of pro‐apoptotic proteins (Bax and cleaved caspase 3) was decreased in DSS + daphnetin group. The activity of MDA and SOD, as well as the levels of inflammatory cytokines were substantially suppressed by daphnetin. In consistency, in vitro assays indicated that daphnetin protected Caco‐2 cells from LPS‐stimulated viability impairment, apoptosis, oxidative stress, and inflammation. Furthermore, daphnetin suppressed the activity of JAK2/STAT signaling in LPS‐induced Caco‐2 cells in a REG3A‐dependent manner. REG3A overexpression abated the ameliorative effects of daphnetin while JAK2/STAT signaling inhibition functioned synergically with daphnetin in LPS‐stimulated Caco‐2 cells. Collectively, this study deepened the understanding of the therapeutic effects of daphnetin on UC and uncovered for the first time that daphnetin functioned through REG3A‐activated JAK2/STAT3 signaling in UC, which may provide novel insights for the treatment of UC.
Designing with and for Emerging Materials: Framework, Tools, and Context of a Unique Design Method
Authors: Ferraro Venere 
Published: May 2023

AbstractThe present chapter describes the unique design (teaching) method developed within the European Project DATEMATS by providing a framework to design with and for new materials, educate future designers, and give them the right knowledge to take advantage of the whole spectrum of opportunities (i.e., meaning and performance) offered by EM&Ts. It firstly depicts the core knowledge at the base of new Emerging Materials and Technologies (EM&Ts), namely: Interactive Connected Smart Materials, wearable based (ICS), Nanomaterials, Advanced Growing Materials, and Experimental Wood-Based Materials. It then provides the theoretical findings of a literature review carried out to perimeter the peculiarities of the four areas, the used approaches, and methodologies; the results of a collaborative workshop aimed at re-elaborating the findings of the literature review and setting the ground for the contents of the original framework for designing and teaching EM&Ts. It finally displays the result of both the literature review and the collaborative workshop in the form of the unique method divided into three phases (understanding, shaping, and applying). It will also include a section dedicated to the tools elaborated to support the method, such as a material toolkit and integration cards. A discussion closes the text by showing the pro and cons of the new method and its further development.
How Do We Approach and Involve Companies in Design Fields? Lessons Learned from Surveys and Participative Workshops
Authors: Obiols Alba 
Published: May 2023

AbstractIn the last few years, both materials and technologies are becoming one of the leading elements of product design practice as a lever to foster innovation and add value to final products. Despite the relevance of materials and technologies for advances in many fields, and particularly its importance to the success of the creative industries, there is a gap between the innovative design of products that meet the needs of the market and the research and development of new materials and technologies to be used in these products. The lack of collaboration between researchers and creative industries is at the heart of this issue (Innovamatnet, February 2013). Building on this ground the chapter shows the results of a survey submitted to more than one hundred companies in five different countries (Italy, Spain, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark). It was generated with the aim of collecting information regarding their specific interests and needs related to the four exemplified EM&T (ICS Materials, Nanomaterials, Advanced Growing Materials, Experimental Wood-based Materials) and the internal methods to manage knowledge related to them and the way they use to collaborate with academia and the channels they would prefer to use. The chapter also depicts the findings derived from a qualitative analysis done with academia and performed to identify their preferred channels to transfer knowledge. It finally describes the Company Manifesto, considered an engaging way to enhance and support the collaboration between Academia and the industrial sector.
A Supporting Tool to Design with and for EM&Ts: The Materials Toolkit
Authors: Esteban Gemma , Kann Geraldine , Sarbach Veronica , Amandolese Daniela 
Published: May 2023

AbstractThe chapter gives an exhaustive description of the so-called EM&Ts toolkit, a collection of tangible samples displaying emerging materials and technologies and containing five samples for each EM&Ts. Aim of the EM&Ts transfer toolkit is to provide a tool to facilitate the understanding and application potentials of emerging materials and technologies. Every material example has its box, containing: (1) Physical sample, (2) An “Understanding” card: it provides basic knowledge about the material and the manufacturer, Technology Readiness Level, crucial characteristics, and features. The sensorial qualities and performance, sustainability, and smart properties are listed for a clearer understanding of the materials potential; (3) A “Shaping” card: it contains information about the manufacturing process, the form in which the material is available and possible transformations. This information is useful to understand how the material can be processed for production, finishing, and transformation, to get to the final product. The card highlights, which processes that, have been associated with the material so far; (4) An “Applying” card: it gives information and pictures about the field the material is currently used. The material characteristics are compared with other better-known alternatives. In addition, other potential applications are listed, associated with meaningful case studies. The toolkit was created to be used as an aid in educational contexts with students and during workshops with companies and professionals. It is a powerful tool to provide students with information about the materials and their opportunities and limits, and to inspire them during the concept development. On the other side, it has potentialities to provide decision makers of the company with information about the emerging materials and technologies, their opportunities and limits, and to inspire them for innovation in product development. The chapter describes the continuous iterative process through which the toolkit was created and evaluated. Indeed, the toolkits have been used and tested in the academic context, with more than 100 students of diverse design backgrounds during EM&Ts workshops in Spain, Italy, Denmark, and Finland but also in professional context, during participative workshops with 94 companies, design studios, and professionals.
The Concept of Non-Territorial Autonomy: Origins, Developments, and Subtypes
Authors: Salat Levente 
Published: May 2023

AbstractThe aim of the chapter is to propose a possible framing of the NTA concept, considering the historical legacies by which the usage of the term is loaded, on the one hand, and the complex empirical realities the notion is expected to map, on the other hand. First, the idea of non-territoriality will be explored briefly, with highlight on the circumstances that bring about arrangements generally referred to when the NTA concept as an umbrella term is used. Then the origin and the semantic content of several subjacent terms—national autonomy, national cultural autonomyNCA (national cultural autonomy), cultural autonomy, personal autonomy, functional autonomy, administrative autonomy, consociationalism—will be discussed, together with the problems triggered by the concurrent attempts to provide precise definitions to the various institutional embodiments of the general NTA idea. The chapter will conclude with a brief assessment of the consequences for the NTA scholarship which follow from the two main limitations of the NTA notion: the underdetermination of the widely used concepts and the gap between theory and empirical realities.
Origins and Early Implementations of Non-Territorial Autonomy
Authors: Germane Marina , Kuzmany Börries 
Published: May 2023

AbstractThis chapter explores the origins of the idea of non-territorial autonomy and traces its theoretical development, as well as actual implementations, across time and space from the late Habsburg and Russian Empires to the Paris Peace Conference and to the interwar nation-states. Upon completing this chapter, you will learn how the concept of NTA came into being; what were its main features; who were the concept’s main proponents; which political currents supported the idea and which opposed it; and, finally, how historical events and changes at both the state and the international levels shaped the NTA concept’s ideological metamorphoses and determined its practical applications.
NTA as a Democratization Tool
Authors: Smith David J. 
Published: May 2023

AbstractHaving been implemented in several contexts and extensively discussed internationally during 1900–1940, NTA largely disappeared from the international legal and political agenda immediately after World War Two, only to again attract interest from scholars and policymakers from the 1960s onwards. This revived interest partly reflected the emergence of new multicultural models of state and citizenship—and attendant NTA-style arrangements for minorities—in some established Western democracies but was given further impetus by the start of democratisation in Central and Eastern Europe following the end of communist rule in the region. The adoption of laws and institutional arrangements bearing the NTA label in Hungary, Estonia, Russia, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia (among others) coincided with the elaboration of new international standards on minority protection by European and Euro-Atlantic International Organizations, which today serve as a benchmark against which different forms of NTA can be assessed in terms of their potential to support democratization and the sustainable accommodation of ethnic diversity. This chapter first examines the origins and drivers of the new more contemporary variants of NTA, before sketching the main lines of how a democratic NTA arrangement should look. This ideal-type model is then used to assess contemporary examples of NTA and their potential to support democratization (or otherwise) in post-Cold War Europe.
Language and Religion Within Cultural Autonomy Arrangements: An Exercise in Minority Agency?
Authors: Topidi Kyriaki 
Published: May 2023

AbstractGiven the, often, abstract conceptual understanding of NTA, the aim of this chapter is not to provide an analysis of the ideal type(s) of cultural autonomy arrangements in minority group contexts. Instead, it purports to evaluate the design, implementation and evolution of such arrangements between states and minority groups as applied in specific areas of minority culture. Following a first brief section that describes the main features of cultural autonomy (see also Chapter8), the chapter will focus on two important identity markers of minority groups to show how these have formed the basis for a number of NTA arrangements. These are language and religion which are at the heart of the protection of minority identities. Through the lens of these two important identity-markers, the chapter will adopt a double objective: first, to outline the variety of cultural NTA arrangements and their limitations from a diversity governance perspective on the basis of language and religion and second, to highlight the link between cultural forms of NTA and minority agency.
Study on the Influence of the Arrangement of Thermal Insulation Floor on the Thermal Insulation and Mechanical Properties of Hollow Slab
Authors: Liu Yuchen 
Published: May 2023

AbstractIn order to study the influence of the arrangement of thermal insulation floor on the thermal insulation and mechanical properties of hollow slab, ABAQUS is used to establish the model of thermal analysis and mechanical behavior of hollow slab. By investigating distribution of temperature, distribution of heat flux, damage and deformation of floor, deformation of mid-span deflection and other characteristics of the floor section, it is concluded that although the transmission of heat can be effectively obstructed by the thermal insulation slab, the heat will be transferred to the interior of the floor through the gap between the thermal insulation slabs. The arrangement of thermal insulation slab is not the main factor which affect the thermal insulation properties of the floor with the same coverage area. Different arrangement of the thermal insulation slab has a certain impact on the mechanical performance of floor. It is recommended to arrange the thermal insulation slab in equal sections to fully improve the contact area between steel bar and concrete, which can effectively provide the bearing capacity of the floor.
Experimental Investigation of Effectiveness of FRP Composite Repair System on Offshore Pipelines Subjected to Pitting Corrosion Under Axial Compressive Load
Authors: Wei Chang Jia , Liang Ong Zhen , Jarghouyeh Ehsan Nikbakht 
Published: May 2023

AbstractThe application of FRP composite is quite well demonstrated in strengthening on RC structures but on strengthening of steel structures is still being investigated by many researchers. The aggressive marine environment can cause corrosion to the offshore pipelines which would affect the structural performance such as pitting corrosion which could be considered as the most destructive corrosion was simulated in this research. This study had attempted to carry out experimental investigation of effectiveness of FRP composite repair system on offshore pipelines subjected to pitting corrosion under axial compressive load. 3 groups of specimens have been categorized such as intact, corroded and repaired. Results such as compressive peak load, failure modes and load–displacement behavior were concerned in this study. The pitting corrosion has been investigated and proved that it has significant effect on the ultimate strength of pipelines. Number of CFRP layer such as 3 layers has been investigated which the results showed the FRP composite repair system capable of strengthening of corroded offshore pipelines. However, more detailed studies are required to be conducted in the future such as consideration of internal pressure in order to expand the understanding of this composite repair system.
Research on Axial Force Coherence of Steel Support Based on Active Control
Authors: Sheng Jianchao , Sun Jiuchun , Jiang Donglai , Xiao Yuanjie , Lv Rundong , Wang Zhe 
Published: May 2023

AbstractUsing servo steel support system for active control of deformation during foundation fit excavation has high superiority. To investigate the coherence of the servo support axial force, PLAXIS 3D is used to carry out numerical analysis on the coherence of the axial force applied by the construction and compare with the field test results; Field tests were conducted on the diaphragm wall joint deformation during the axial force application based on the principle of the generation of axial force coherence. The results show that the farther away from the active axial force, from which suffered get the smaller influence, and the size of the applied axial force’s effect on the support in other directions in the order of horizontal, vertical, and oblique. Moreover, the higher the application position of the active axial force of the servo support, the greater the lateral axial force loss rate generated by other supports, while the opposite in vertical axial force loss rate is true. The maximum axial force loss rate is 19%. The deformation of the diaphragm wall joint in the servo steel support zone is more significant than that in the pre-stressed steel support zone. The deformation of the joint will, in turn, affect the axial force.
Analysis of the Discriminability of High-Temperature Performance Indices of Modified Asphalt Mixtures
Authors: Gu Mengjun 
Published: May 2023

AbstractDifferent indices have various capabilities to evaluate the high-temperature performance of modified asphalt mixtures. This study aims at investigate the discriminability of high-temperature performance indices. The values of five indices were determined from wheel tracking test, Marshall test and uniaxial penetration test, including dynamic stability (DS), comprehensive stability index (CSI), maximum rutting depth (RD), Marshall stability (MS), and uniaxial penetration strength (UPS). The discriminability of five indices was further examined by entropy weight method and CRITIC method, respectively. The results show that DS, MS and UPS are not appropriate to evaluate the high-temperature performance of modified asphalt mixtures, but CSI and RD show preferable distinguishing ability to evaluate the high-temperature performance. As a consequence, RD is recommended to be employed as secondary index to supplement the CSI in wheel tracking test. The findings of this study will contribute to the optimization of evaluation on high-temperature performance of modified asphalt mixtures.
Curvature Ductility of Confined HSC Columns
Authors: Bouzid Haytham , Rabia Benferhat , Daouadji Tahar Hassaine 
Published: May 2023

AbstractTo avoid brittle collapse of reinforced concrete (RC) structures, RC elements such as beams, columns, and shear walls are invited to ensure a minimum level of ductility. In this paper, an analytical method for predicting the curvature ductility factor of confined RC columns is developed. The stress–strain model of confined concrete provided by Eurocode 2 is adopted, and the effective lateral confining pressure is calculated according to the Eurocode 8. The curvature ductility factor is defined by the ratio of ultimate to yield curvature. In this context, a new hypothesis is adopted to calculate the yield curvature while the ultimate curvature is calculated based on axial load and the mechanical ratios of tension, web, and compression reinforcement. The results showed that the developed method has an excellent performance compared to the experimental results collected from previous researches, where the mean value and the standard deviation of the ratios predicted to experimental factors are equal to 1.02 and 0.17, respectively. Moreover, the calculated coefficient of determination is very close to 1.
Buckling Behaviour of Locally Dented GFRP Cylindrical Shells Under External Pressure—A Numerical Study
Authors: Fazlalipour Neda , Ghalghachi Robab Naseri , Firouzsalari Saeed Eyvazinejad 
Published: May 2023

AbstractStructural applications of composite materials are used in various structures of the oil and gas industry, water supply and sewage systems and a wide range of industries, such as marine, aerospace, and military industries. This paper aims to numerically investigate the influence of local dent caused by an indenter on the buckling behaviour of glass fabric-reinforced polymer cylindrical shells when subjected to external pressure. For this purpose, 24 finite element numerical models with five layers and a stacking sequence [30/-30/30/-30/30] were simulated in ABAQUS. The effect of dent depth (2, 4, 6 and 8 mm) and orientation (0 and 90 degrees) that was created at the mid-height, the 1/3rd and the 2/3rd of the shell height on the buckling behaviour of the composite cylindrical shells were evaluated. The results underscored that whilst the location of the local dent and the depth affected the shells’ buckling capacity, the dent's orientation had minimal effect on the buckling capacity of the cylindrical shells.