Search Results (1,954)

A lightweight and high-strength structural system is increasingly demanded in prefabricated and sustainable construction; however, accurately evaluating the mechanical behavior of novel composite members remains challenging. This study proposes an aluminum alloy foam concrete composite column consisting of an embedded aluminum alloy frame and foam concrete infill. Material tests, a full-scale axial compression test, and finite element-based parametric analyses were conducted to verify the hypothesis that composite action between the embedded aluminum alloy frame and foam concrete governs the axial load-transfer mechanism and bearing capacity of the proposed column. The results show that initial cracking mainly occurred in the middle region of the column along the diagonal brace direction, while the composite column maintained favorable elastic performance under relatively high load levels. The aluminum alloy frame provided a semi-passive confinement effect on the foam concrete, although this effect gradually weakened with increasing load due to lateral deformation of the diagonal braces. Moreover, an appropriate arrangement of interlocking keys significantly improved the composite action and overall stability of the column. These findings provide experimental and numerical evidence for assessing the axial compression performance of aluminum alloy foam concrete composite columns and offer guidance for the design and optimization of this novel lightweight structural system. Full article

Introduction: Sexual consent is a multidimensional construct involving both internal willingness and external communication, yet validated French-language instruments assessing these dimensions remain scarce. Objective: This study aimed to validate French versions of the Internal and External Consent Scales (IECS-FV) and examine their associations with sociodemographic and intimate relationship variables. Methods: A sample of 649 French-speaking emerging adults (18–25 years) completed translated versions of the Internal Consent Scale (ICS-FV) and External Consent Scale (ECS-FV), alongside measures of sociodemographic characteristics and intimate relationship factors. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA), gender invariance testing, reliability analyses, ANOVAs, and correlational analyses were conducted. Results: The revised ICS-FV demonstrated excellent psychometric properties with a 19-item four-factor structure: physical response/arousal, agreement/wantedness, safety/comfort, and readiness. The ECS-FV showed satisfactory psychometric properties with a refined 15-item five-factor structure: non-verbal behavior, passive behavior, communicative/initiator behavior, borderline pressure, and non-response signals. Almost all factors demonstrated good internal consistency (α ≥ 0.70). Gender invariance was supported for the ECS-FV but not for the ICS-FV. Positive internal and external consent dimensions were significantly associated with higher sexual satisfaction, romantic relationship satisfaction, sexual frequency, and relationship commitment; whereas non-response and passive behaviors were linked to less favorable outcomes. Conclusions: The French versions of the IECS-FV are reliable and valid tools for assessing multidimensional sexual consent in French-speaking emerging adults. These instruments offer valuable resources for research, prevention, and clinical interventions targeting sexual health, relational functioning, and sexual violence prevention. Full article

The corrosion mechanism and corrosion behavior of a monolithic Zr-based (Zr₄₈Cu₃₆Al₈Ag₈)Si_0.75 bulk metallic glass (BMG) and a Zr-based (Zr₄₄Cu₃₆Al₈Ag₈Ta₄)Si_0.75 BMG matrix composite (BMGMC) in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution were investigated. Potentiodynamic polarization tests were conducted to evaluate the corrosion and passive behavior of BMGs. Both monolithic BMG and BMGMC exhibited distinct pitting corrosion in sodium chloride solution. The monolithic BMG exhibited a higher value of pitting overpotential, η_pit, and a wider passive region, when compared to that of BMGMC, indicating that the monolithic BMG has a better pitting resistance than the BMGMC. The worse corrosion resistance of BMGMC can be attributed to the weak passive film of the interface area between the precipitates and the glassy matrix, where it can be more easily broken through by halide ions, Cl⁻, preferentially. Furthermore, galvanic corrosion can occur due to the potential difference between Ta precipitates and the matrix of BMGMC, leading to an even more severe corrosion of the BMGMC. Full article

The rapid electrification of transportation has accelerated the demand for high-power electric vehicle (EV)-charging systems with high efficiency, compact size, galvanic isolation, and flexible scalability. Conventional isolated EV chargers typically adopt cascaded AC–DC and DC–DC conversion stages, which require additional semiconductor devices, passive components, and bulky dc-link capacitors, thereby increasing system complexity and limiting power density. This paper proposes a scalable three-phase modular parallel quasi-single-stage isolated single-ended primary-inductor converter (SEPIC) for high-power EV fast-charging applications. The proposed converter integrates power factor correction, voltage regulation, and high-frequency isolation within a unified SEPIC-based conversion cell, eliminating the intermediate dc-link capacitor while reducing the number of magnetic components and power conversion stages. By employing a Δ-connected three-phase input and input/output-parallel modular configuration, the proposed architecture provides a flexible power expansion approach based on a 9 kW basic module, with the potential to extend to higher power levels, such as 54 kW, through paralleling multiple identical modules. The operating principle, steady-state characteristics, continuous conduction mode (CCM)/discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) transition mechanism, current-sharing behavior, and control strategy are systematically investigated. An 18 kW prototype consisting of two parallel modules is experimentally validated under 380 V three-phase AC input and 400 V DC output conditions. The experimental results demonstrate a peak efficiency of 97.5%, a rated efficiency of 97.3%, a power factor (PF) of 0.999, and an input current total harmonic distortion (THD) of 2.55%, confirming the effectiveness and scalability of the proposed converter for high-power EV fast-charging applications. Full article

Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine are shifting from passive tissue replacement toward instructive platforms that regulate cellular behavior, immune responses, vascularization, and extracellular matrix remodeling. This review examines recent advances in natural, synthetic, composite, and stimuli-responsive biomaterials, biofabrication and 3D bioprinting, stem and progenitor cell therapies, extracellular vesicles and other cell-free products, immunomodulatory scaffolds, skin organoids and organ-on-a-chip systems, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence-assisted design. Particular emphasis is placed on plastic, reconstructive, and aesthetic applications, including skin and wound repair, craniofacial bone and cartilage regeneration, peripheral nerve reconstruction, vascularization, and dental and periodontal repair. The review also considers biomodulators and skinboosters as emerging regenerative-aesthetic interventions that aim to improve dermal hydration, fibroblast activity, collagen remodeling, and skin quality rather than provide volume replacement alone. Importantly, these technologies differ substantially in translational maturity, ranging from in vitro and preclinical platforms to early clinical interventions, established clinical products, and commercially available treatments for which durable regenerative efficacy remains incompletely validated. Throughout this review, biological plausibility and preclinical efficacy are therefore distinguished from human clinical evidence, regulatory or established clinical use, and commercial availability. Progress will require standardized characterization, mechanism-linked potency assays, clinically relevant models, and outcome measures that capture functional integration, durability, safety, and aesthetic performance. Full article

Most active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) reach their target by passive systemic distribution, so the dose required for efficacy at the lesion is set by what healthy tissue can tolerate; conventional dosage forms consequently produce pharmacokinetic profiles that oscillate between toxic peaks and sub-therapeutic troughs. Nanoparticulate carriers (liposomes, lipid nanoparticles, polymeric and inorganic systems, and biomimetic carriers) and hydrogels (natural, synthetic, supramolecular, and microgel-assembled) have emerged as the dominant strategies to address this, increasingly combined as hybrid nanoparticle–hydrogel constructs in which the gel provides locoregional retention and the nanoparticles provide cargo protection, intracellular delivery and stimuli responsiveness. Stimuli-responsive chemistries (pH, redox, enzyme, ROS, hypoxia, temperature, light, magnetic, ultrasound, glucose, and multi-stimuli logic) translate the molecular signatures of a disease into spatiotemporally controlled cargo release. This narrative review consolidates the state of the art (prioritizing 2022–2026) and departs from the conventional carrier-type survey in one respect: the literature is read along an explicit chain—disease cue, sensing chemistry, carrier architecture, release mechanism and kinetics, administration route, and clinical readiness—which exposes a variable that classification by carrier type conceals. Across all three material classes, what governs release behavior is not primarily the carrier chemistry but the identity of the released species (dissolved drug, drug from an embedded nanoparticle, an intact nanoparticle, and a matrix fragment) and the transport step that limits it. This is why power-law exponent analysis developed for dissolved drug fits particulate release poorly, why statistical goodness-of-fit cannot by itself establish a release mechanism, and why carrier class predicts clinical readiness less well than administration route and regulatory product type. Translational hurdles—CMC complexity, regulatory fragmentation, anti-PEG immunogenicity, and the structural mismatch between preclinical promise and clinical efficacy—are critically appraised in light of previously reported <1% delivery efficiency analysis. This review identifies converging strategies that could move stimuli-responsive controlled release from an aspirational outcome to a routine clinical reality. Full article

High-entropy alloys (HEAs) are a unique metallic alloy that was initially recognized for the possibility of stabilizing simple solid-solution phases through high configurational entropy. Research over the past two decades, however, has shown that their behavior is far more complex. Phase formation, microstructural evolution, and surface performance arise from the combined influence of composition, atomic interactions, processing history, and the surrounding environment. This paper reviews the connections between these aspects moving from the bulk alloy to the surface. The thermodynamic and empirical criteria utilized for prediction of phase formation and reasons behind ignoring the factors such as ordering, segregation, metastability, and processing defects are described. Further, the influence of casting, rapid solidification, coating deposition, and thin-film processing on the microstructure that will interact with catalytic or corrosive environment is reviewed. Electrocatalysis and corrosion resistance are considered as two strongly coupled surface phenomena rather than separate fields of application. Quantitative comparison of exemplary high-entropy alloy systems shows the influence of the alloying approach and surface development on the catalytic properties, surface reconstruction, selective dissolution, passive film formation, and localized corrosion. The potential of CALPHAD modeling, density functional theory, machine learning, and multi-objective optimization for a better alloy selection in the field of high-entropy alloys is reviewed as well. We identified that the success of HEA design is not only in choosing the right composition but rather in controlling the phases, defects, interfaces, and surface of the HEA. Full article

To understand the epidemiological characteristics and patterns of mushroom poisoning in Zhejiang Province from 2012 to 2023, and to overcome the limitations of previous descriptive studies in precise early warning and spatial identification, this study explored the feasibility of identifying spatial distribution characteristics and high-risk spatiotemporal clusters. First, descriptive epidemiological analysis was conducted on 2276 cases from the Foodborne Disease Case Surveillance System and 408 outbreaks from the Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System reported over the 12-year period to clarify the basic characteristics and trends of poisoning. Subsequently, spatial autocorrelation analysis (Moran’s I) was employed to reveal spatial dependence and clustering patterns. Finally, spatiotemporal scan statistics (SatScan) were used to precisely identify high-risk spatiotemporal clusters, systematically analyzing the spatiotemporal distribution and clustering patterns of mushroom poisoning cases. The results showed a distinct summer–autumn seasonal peak (June–October), attributed to the subtropical monsoon climate with high temperatures and abundant rainfall, which is conducive to mushroom growth. Farmers were the most affected population (47.93%), and homes were the primary poisoning locations (71.7%), reflecting widespread foraging habits and insufficient risk awareness in rural areas. Chlorophyllum molybdites (36.27%) and Russula japonica (10.05%) were the dominant poisoning mushroom species, with gastrointestinal symptoms being the predominant clinical manifestation (84.07%). Spatial analysis revealed significant spatiotemporal clustering of mushroom poisoning in Zhejiang Province. The global Moran’s I index showed significant positive autocorrelation in some years (p < 0.05), with local hotspots mainly distributed in western Zhejiang counties. This pattern is driven by a dual model of environmental suitability and behavioral risk, resulting from the high forest coverage and humid climate of the western Zhejiang mountainous areas providing suitable habitats, combined with long-standing foraging habits among local residents. Retrospective spatiotemporal scanning identified high-risk clusters for each year from 2018 to 2023, with the Lishui area in 2023 being the most significant cluster (Relative Risk (RR) = 15.44, Log-Likelihood Ratio (LLR) = 114.49). The results confirm that mushroom poisoning in Zhejiang Province exhibits a stable and identifiable spatiotemporal clustering pattern, providing a quantitative basis for precise health education and targeted prevention and control in high-risk counties of western Zhejiang during June–October, thereby shifting the approach from passive reporting to targeted intervention. Full article

Effective thermal management is a cornerstone of safe, long-life lithium-ion battery operation, especially under high-rate charge–discharge and dynamic driving conditions. Conventional active cooling technologies face inherent trade-offs between heat dissipation efficiency, system complexity, and temperature uniformity, while phase change materials (PCMs) provide a promising passive alternative by absorbing latent heat during phase transition to buffer temperature spikes, improve temperature uniformity, and delay thermal runaway propagation. This paper presents a comprehensive review of recent advances in PCM-based lithium-ion battery thermal management, systematically covering the full scope from fundamental battery heat generation mechanisms to material synthesis optimization and hybrid system integration. At the material level, we analyze state-of-the-art strategies to address the intrinsic drawbacks of organic PCMs—low thermal conductivity, mismatched phase transition temperatures, and high flammability—including the construction of carbon/metal conductive skeletons, compositional tuning of phase change behavior, and flame-retardant modifications. These approaches have yielded composite PCMs with significantly improved heat transport capability and fire safety, while preserving high latent heat storage capacity. At the system level, we evaluate the thermal performance of pure passive PCM configurations, which excel at peak temperature suppression and inter-cell temperature uniformity, as well as hybrid designs that combine PCMs with air or liquid cooling to resolve heat accumulation issues and maintain stable performance under prolonged, demanding operating cycles. Despite these advances, key challenges remain: balancing high thermal conductivity with high latent heat capacity, developing climate-adaptable phase transition temperatures, and integrating multiple functionalities without compromising core thermal storage properties. Looking forward, future research directions include multifunctional integrated composites, smart adaptive PCMs, cost-effective scalable manufacturing, and precision structural engineering. This review also summarizes quantified performance trade-offs and provides actionable design guidelines for both material development and system-level integration. Full article

Expansive soils are rich in hydrophilic clay minerals, and repeated wetting–drying cycles can induce deformation that threatens infrastructure safety. Therefore, accurate monitoring of soil moisture (SM) dynamics is essential for understanding hydro-mechanical processes and assessing related geohazards. In this study, spaceborne Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R) is applied to expansive SM monitoring, and an Attention-Enhanced Spatio-Temporal Graph Convolution Network (ASTGCNet) is proposed for SM retrieval. The Texas coastal region, where Beaumont clay is widely distributed, was selected as the study area. The ASTGCNet-derived SM showed consistency with the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) reference product, with an overall correlation coefficient of 0.92, an RMSE of 0.035 m³/m³, and a bias of 0.006 m³/m³. Validation against in situ observations showed that ASTGCNet provided more accurate SM estimates than the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) L3 SM product. Extended triple collocation analysis further indicated that ASTGCNet achieved the lowest standard deviation of 0.020 m³/m³ and the highest signal-to-noise ratio of 7.33. Compared with non-expansive soils, expansive soils exhibited stronger water absorption and moisture retention behavior. By integrating GNSS vertical displacement observations, the retrieved SM revealed a nonlinear SM–deformation response that was mainly observed in shallow expansive soils. Drying-induced SM decreases corresponded to pronounced subsidence, while subsequent wetting led to ground rebound; this behavior was not clearly observed in non-expansive soils. This study demonstrates the potential of GNSS-R for expansive SM monitoring and provides new insights into the coupling between SM dynamics and deformation. Full article

Transparent conducting oxides and electron transport layers are central to optoelectronic devices, yet their interfacial electronic behavior remains strongly dependent on substrate chemistry, defect states, and surface potential alignment. Here, we compare ITO and FTO transparent electrodes coated with ZnO and TiO₂, combining ab initio simulations, surface potential mapping, Hall effect measurements, sheet resistance, microscopy, and optical spectroscopy. Density functional calculations show that both ITO and FTO behave as degenerately doped n-type transparent conducting oxides, but with distinct work functions, surface dipoles, and donor-state distributions, leading to different interfacial charge-transfer tendencies. ZnO- and TiO₂-coated substrates display markedly different temperature-dependent transport, including resistance hysteresis and carrier-type switching, with FTO-based heterojunctions showing more clearly defined transitions due to the greater thermal stability of FTO. Scanning Kelvin probe (SKP) measurements reveal that ZnO more effectively accepts electrons from ITO or FTO, whereas TiO₂ shows weaker electron accumulation and more resistive interfacial behavior. Optical measurements and HSE06-based simulations confirm that TiO₂ behaves as a wider-gap ultraviolet absorber, while ZnO exhibits a lower-energy absorption onset, with real spectra additionally shaped by substrate, thickness, scattering, and defect contributions. The results show that transparent conducting oxide substrates are active electronic participants, not passive supports, in ZnO- and TiO₂-based optoelectronic interfaces. Full article

The corrosion behavior of AISI 316Ti stainless steel was examined in NaCl solutions (0.9%, 3.5%, and 5%), whereas tribocorrosion tests were performed in both chloride-containing solutions and distilled water as a reference environment. Potentiodynamic polarization tests were performed to evaluate passive film stability, while tribocorrosion experiments were conducted under a 10 N normal load using a ball-on-flat configuration with continuous monitoring of open circuit potential (OCP) and coefficient of friction (COF). Surface degradation was quantified using optical 3D profilometry and scanning electron microscopy. Electrochemical results confirmed passive behavior in all environments; however, increasing chloride concentration shifted corrosion and pitting potentials toward more negative values and reduced passive stability. During sliding, a pronounced cathodic OCP shift indicated mechanical depassivation, with the magnitude of the shift increasing in chloride-rich solutions. Repassivation after sliding was progressively hindered as NaCl concentration increased. Wear analysis revealed a clear dependence on chloride content, with the wear area in 5% NaCl (0.0020 mm²) exceeding that in distilled water (0.0009 mm²) by approximately 122%. Abrasive wear was identified as the dominant mechanism, accompanied by delamination wear in highly aggressive environments. The results demonstrate a strong synergistic interaction between wear and corrosion, with chloride concentration significantly intensifying tribocorrosion-induced material degradation. Full article

Safety hazards in coal mines are characterized by significant spatiotemporal heterogeneity, dynamic evolution, and multi-actor coupling. Traditional safety management models, which center on periodic inspections and accident rectification, struggle to achieve proactive risk identification and full-process control. To address this issue, this paper proposes a multi-scale, collaborative “four-in-one” safety management framework oriented toward the hazard lifecycle, based on the spatiotemporal evolution patterns of safety hazards. This framework integrates systems safety theory with the safety philosophy of socio-technical systems, viewing safety hazards as an evolutionary process shaped by the combined effects of spatial exposure, human behavior, organizational management, and dynamic states. It establishes a comprehensive safety governance system comprising precise risk identification, active personnel participation, closed-loop accountability governance, and intelligent dynamic feedback. By integrating the “Area–Point–Number” risk classification method; the “Two-way Risk Purchasing” incentive mechanism; the “Six-level, Six-step, and Three-chain” closed-loop management model; and the Hazard Alert System, the framework achieves the coordinated optimization of risk identification, hazard management, and information feedback. Application validation based on safety hazard data from a coal mine between 2017 and 2020 demonstrates that this method enhances the ability to identify potential risks and effectively reduces major hazard types, such as management deficiencies, unsafe behaviors, and unsafe conditions. The research findings indicate that this framework overcomes the limitations of traditional safety management—such as a single-entity approach, static inspections, and passive responses—and facilitates a shift in coal mine safety governance from hazard control to risk prevention and from manual, experience-based management to intelligent, collaborative decision-making, thereby providing a new theoretical approach for enhancing the safety resilience of complex coal mine production systems. Full article

The global energy transition and rapid electrification are driving increased demand for copper. However, conventional pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical extraction routes are increasingly challenged by declining ore grades and stricter environmental regulations. Bioleaching involves the microbial catalysis of sulfide mineral dissolution and provides a sustainable method for copper recovery from low-grade ores, tailings and secondary resources. This review provides a critical and integrated analysis of copper sulfide bioleaching, covering microbial diversity, molecular mechanisms, mineralogical controls, operational parameters, and industrial applications. This review also examines the functional roles of prominent acidophiles, including the functional roles of prominent acidophiles, including Acidithiobacillus spp., Leptospirillum spp. and thermophilic archaea, in the oxidation of iron and sulfur, mitigation of passivation, and metal solubilization. The molecular underpinnings of these processes are explored by investigating iron and sulfur oxidation gene networks (the rus operon and sox cluster), copper resistance systems (CopA, CusCBA) and biofilm formation pathways. The mineralogical controls on the behavior of chalcopyrite (refractory/passivating), chalcocite (highly reactive) and bornite (intermediate) are critically assessed. The synergistic effects of key operational parameters (temperature, pH, redox potential, aeration and particle size) on leaching kinetics and microbial community dynamics are investigated. The scalability, efficiency and environmental footprint of industrial applications such as heap, dump, stirred-tank and in situ bioleaching are discussed. Despite more than four decades of commercial development, several challenges remain, such as slow chalcopyrite dissolution, passivation, metal toxicity, and scale-up limitations. Emerging solutions such as synthetic microbial consortia, multi-omics technologies, artificial intelligence-assisted optimization, and digital twins are identified as transformative approaches for next-generation biomining. In this review, microbiology, mineralogy, electrochemistry, and process engineering are integrated to demonstrate that biotechnological leaching is among the most promising technologies for the sustainable production of copper and to identify future directions for its industrial application. Full article

With the rapid growth of collaborative production demands, social manufacturing (SM) has emerged as a decentralized paradigm that enables the dynamic allocation of socialized manufacturing resources (MRs). Organizing manufacturing cluster into collaborative networks under this paradigm is vital for the aggregation of discrete resources. However, due to the self-interested nature of manufacturing entities, traditional network formulation methods fail to mitigate the risks of structural paralysis caused by passive behaviors. This paper proposes a dynamic collaborative network generation and evolution mechanism based on multi-agent evolutionary games. By quantifying the collaborative willingness of participants, this mechanism resolves the difficulties of precise resource clustering and stable network evolution. Specifically, a collaborative potential (ColP) model is established by integrating the attraction of capability complementarity, the repulsion of spatial distance, and dynamic load constraints to drive the self-organized generation of network topology. Next, a multi-agent game model is designed, where the connectivity and trust states of agents are mapped as penalty costs. Finally, a trust-driven dynamic rewiring mechanism is proposed for network evolution, employing the Fermi rule to update the strategies of agents. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed models significantly improve the modularity and resource alignment of the collaborative network compared with benchmark paradigms. Full article