Critical Potential Research Articles

Significant improvement in the removal performance of decimeter-sized zero-valent iron plates for mixed heavy metal ions in wastewater by enhancing surface sharpness

This study aims to lower the work function (Wa) of a decimeter-sized zero-valent iron plate (DZVIP) by introducing surface sharpness (TDZVIP) during stirring. Sharpness was achieved by cutting isosceles triangles with heights of 1 cm and varying apex angles (α) of 10˚, 20˚, 30˚, 40˚, and 50˚. A mixed simulated wastewater containing Cu(II), Te(IV), Se(IV), As(III), Bi(III), and Pb(II) at concentrations exceeding emission standards was prepared. Results indicate that the removal process exhibits mixed kinetic behavior, and sharpness significantly enhances the removal capacity (Re), mean removal rate (Vm), recycling performance, and final discharge quality. The Vm values for Cu(II), Te(IV), Se(IV), As(III), Bi(III), and Pb(II) over TDZVIP with optimized α are 2.34, 1.97, 1.51, 1.59, 4.09, and 1.53 times higher, respectively, than those over PDZVIP (without sharpness). UPS measurements provide direct evidence of Wa reduction, while XRD offers indirect confirmation. This is the first time the Wa of the amorphous shell has been identified and verified as a critical potential barrier for core electrons transferring from the DZVIP surface to wastewater. Additionally, it has been successfully reduced by incorporating surface sharpness and stirring, leading to enhanced removal efficiency, improved recycling performance, and higher final discharge quality.

The critical potential of heritage for Indigenous rights in the Anthropocene

ABSTRACT This article calls attention to the critical potential of heritage and Critical Heritage Studies to contribute to what I argue are urgent entwined critical justice issues of Indigenous rights in the Anthropocene. Recent shifts in recognition and affirmation of Indigenous rights, during a period of rapid acceleration of climate and environmental change, demand (k)new approaches in Critical Heritage Studies. The article questions what heritage does and can do, highlighting the potential for positive transformation through recognition of Indigenous rights, laws, relational kinship obligations, and ecocultural heritage stewardship.

Harnessing in-situ oxidation of nanostructured mxene to modulate the electronic structure for improved selectivity for electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction

The electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) is a promising approach to valorizing CO2. Ti3C2TX as a support material has received significant interest in enhancing CO2RR performance for tuning the electronic structure. However, there has been relatively less focus on changes to the Ti3C2TX electronic structure induced by loading catalysts onto the Ti3C2TX. Because Ti3C2TX has an intrinsic activity for both CO2RR and the competitive hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), electronic structure changes can affect the balance between CO2RR and HER selectivity. Therefore, tuning the electronic structure of Ti3C2TX can control the competition between CO2RR and HER and tune the selectivity and activity. Herein, we report that Ti3C2TX’s electronic structure can be tuned by the Ag+ loading method via redox interactions, tuning the reaction selectivity and activity for CO2RR. To illustrate this effect, we compare the CO2RR performance of in-situ formed Ag nanoparticles (NPs) on Ti3C2TX (0.9Ag-IS-Ti3C2TX) with physically mixed Ag NPs and Ti3C2TX (0.9Ag/P/Ti3C2TX). Here, ‘0.9’ refers to the molar ratio between Ag precursor and Ti3C2Tx, and ‘IS’ vs. ‘P’ refers to in-situ formed vs. physically mixed Ag NPs. 0.9Ag-IS-Ti3C2TX demonstrates a higher oxidation state for Ti and a higher proportion of Ti-O bonds than 0.9Ag/P/Ti3C2TX. Compared to 0.9Ag/P/Ti3C2TX, 0.9Ag-IS-Ti3C2TX exhibits higher CO Faradaic efficiency (FE), rising from 8.1 % with a partial current density of −2.0 mA cm−2 to 49.6 % with a partial current density of −20.1 mA cm−2 at −1.4 V vs. RHE (reversible hydrogen electrode). To harness this effect, we demonstrate control over the CO: H2 ratio of syngas formed from CO2RR over our Ti3C2TX-supported catalysts. Further electrochemical anodic oxidation experiments reveal the critical oxidation potential of Ti3C2TX (0.8 V vs. RHE) and show that HER can be partially suppressed by partial oxidation of Ti3C2TX. This work highlights the importance of considering the changes in Ti3C2TX (and other) supports when supporting catalysts for CO2RR and other electrochemical reactions.

Multiple normalized solutions to Schrödinger equations in $$\mathbb {R}^N$$ with critical growth and potential

Multiple normalized solutions to Schrödinger equations in $$\mathbb {R}^N$$ with critical growth and potential

Impact of Multidirectional Pacing on Activation and Repolarization Parameters to Localize Ischemic Ventricular Tachycardia Circuits.

In ventricular tachycardia (VT), optimal substrate mapping strategies identifying arrhythmogenic sites are not established. This study sought to evaluate multidirectional pacing on the distribution of specific conduction and repolarization metrics to localize re-entrant VT sites in a porcine infarct model. Substrate maps were created in 13 pigs with chronic myocardial infarction using the Advisor HD Grid (Abbott) during right ventricular (RV), left ventricular, biventricular pacing (BIV), and sinus rhythm (SR). Critical VT sites of early-, mid-, and late-diastolic signals were delineated. Vulnerable sites to re-entry were defined as sites of latest activation timing within and post-QRS complex, largest activation and activation-recovery interval gradients. Distances between the 20 most vulnerable sites and diastolic VT points were measured, and identification of VT points was assessed using the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve. A total of 34 VTs were mapped, and 48 sinus and pacing maps were obtained (10 BIV, 13 left ventricular, 13 RV, 12 SR). Late potential mapping in SR was taken as the established clinical standard for comparison. Latest activation time with BIV pacing provided the closest localization for VT isthmus (median 5.5mm; IQR: 7.15mm; P< 0.005). The gradient of activation-recovery interval using RV pacing had closest localization for VT exit and entrance (median 10.6mm; IQR: 5.0mm; P< 0.005 and 9.4mm; IQR: 8.0mm; P< 0.05). Global sensitivity and specificity analysis showed that gradient of activation-recovery interval in SR achieved the highest area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve, with similar results from the gradient of activation timing. Multidirectional pacing in combination with conduction and repolarization parameters enables better localization of VT diastolic critical sites vs SR late potentials.

‘Nostalgia for the sacred’: Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Theorem

As a pervasive term in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s work, ‘nostalgia’ remains theoretically enigmatic and often politically contradictory. This article argues for the critical potential of nostalgia in Pasolini’s political aesthetics through a seemingly unlikely subject: his 1968 film and novel Teorema (Theorem). Set in post-war Milan, Theorem depicts the transformative encounter between a godlike visitor and five archetypes of the bourgeois household. After he leaves, they must reckon with his departure. I suggest that Pasolini’s formal and theoretical interest in nostalgia is crucial to understanding Theorem’s aesthetic invocation of the sacred, which the film stages through an interplay of presence and absence in bodies, spaces and temporalities. Unpacking the etymological roots algos (‘pain’) and nostos (‘return’), my reading forges intertextual connections within Pasolini’s oeuvre while also suggesting that Pasolini’s oblique, materially rooted nostalgia encourages a re-evaluation of the critical productivity of this term more broadly.

Neurosurrealism in the Service of Revolution: Aesthetic Features and Critical Potential of Neural Network Art

The rapid development of neural network technologies in recent years has given rise to the formation of many interdisciplinary research areas, including neural network aesthetics. The aesthetics of generative creativity today is studied not only in the context of the history of digital art, but also in comparison with the practices of other artistic trends and schools. Thus, the expression “neural surrealism”, which has become entrenched in popular discourse, undoubtedly refers to the aesthetics of classical surrealism, framed and fixed in Andre Breton’s program texts: neural network algorithms allow you to create images that seem both realistic and absurd due to unexpected combinations of objects, distorted proportions and presence of uncanny images. Although “neural surrealism” can be seen as a depoliticized and unbiased game of generated images in contrast to the surrealism of the 1920s and 30s, which was not merely an artistic movement but a radical social project, it appears that the very ability of neural networks to generate extraordinary and unpredictable images holds a certain critical potential. Using the methods of formal-stylistic and ideological-content analysis, the author of the article concludes that “neurosurrealism” in a sense continues the line of classical surrealism to undermine the automatism of perception and patterns of thinking. Generative algorithms become a kind of “exclusion production machines” that allow you to see reality from an unexpected angle. In addition, the very fact of using neural networks in art raises important questions about the nature of creativity, the limits of artificial intelligence and the future of man in the world of smart machines. Neurosurrealism problematizes well-established ideas about the originality and intentionality of artistic expression, which indicates the close connection of generative artistic practices with the aesthetics of classical surrealist creativity. The conducted research will be useful to specialists of a wide profile: media theorists, art historians, philosophers, cultural scientists, as well as developers and representatives of the creative industries.

The socio-legal and critical potential of EU economic law

ABSTRACT This article discusses why EU economic (competition and internal market) law is hospitable to and can be enriched by socio-legal and critical insights about the instability of the economic/non-economic distinction, the unavoidable plurality of market arrangements as shaped by legal regulation, as well as the distributive effects of the said arrangements. The proneness of EU economic law to critical insights can be ascribed to: its subject matter, as law in this area maps upon everyday market experiences; the casuistic development of EU law; the wide scope of EU economic law, which interferes with arrangements understood as non-economic; the non-outcome-determinative character of EU law. Through discussion of two CJEU decisions - a competition decision dealing with selective distribution (Coty) and an internal market decision on the regulation of AirBnb (Cali Apartments) - I illustrate how more explicit deployments of socio-legal and critical approaches can enrich EU economic law and specifically its teaching.

Alkali Metal Cations Induce Structural Evolution on Au(111) During Cathodic Polarization.

The activity of the electrocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) is substantially affected by alkali metal cations (AM+) in electrolytes, yet the underlying mechanism is still controversial. Here, we employed electrochemical scanning tunneling microscopy and in situ observed Au(111) surface roughening in AM+ electrolytes during cathodic polarization. The roughened surface is highly active for catalyzing the CO2RR due to the formation of surface low-coordinated Au atoms. The critical potential for surface roughening follows the order Cs+ > Rb+ > K+ > Na+ > Li+, and the surface proportion of roughened area decreases in the order of Cs+ > Rb+ > K+ > Na+ > Li+. Electrochemical CO2RR measurements demonstrate that the catalytic activity strongly correlates with the surface roughness. Furthermore, we found that AM+ is critical for surface roughening to occur. The results unveil the unrecognized effect of AM+ on the surface structural evolution and elucidate that the AM+-induced formation of surface high-activity sites contributes to the enhanced CO2RR in large AM+ electrolytes.

Impact of Texting-Induced Distraction on Driving Behavior Based on Field Operation Tests

Driver distraction has proven to be among the top contributory factors in road crashes worldwide. The involvement of drivers in secondary activities, such as phone usage, conversation with co-passengers, reaching for objects, eating, and so forth, have been shown to be significant causes of in-vehicle driver distraction. Text messaging using mobile phones while driving can be detrimental to the primary driving task as it invokes manual, visual, and cognitive distractions. Numerous studies in the past have analyzed the effect of texting on driver distraction using driving simulators. This study followed a field operation test–based approach to simulate real road conditions and evaluate the impact of texting on driving behavior. The study was conducted at the connected autonomous vehicle testbed at the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, using an instrumented test vehicle. Data on gaze parameters and vehicle kinematics were recorded using eye-tracker glasses and a high-end global positioning system (GPS) data logger. Thirty-one participants drove on the pre-defined path at the testbed under baseline and texting conditions. The findings demonstrated that the texting task significantly affected fixation count, mean speed, and lateral acceleration. The texting task led to a reduction in mean fixation counts, mean speed, and mean lateral acceleration by 44.37%, 34%, and 46.72%, respectively. The age and driving experience of the participants had a significant effect on their behavior. The results indicate the critical potential of texting-based driver distraction and suggest the enforcement of stringent rules for texting while driving to create a safer road environment.

Bringing the Future to Geomedia Studies: Geomedia as Sociotechnical Regime and Imaginary

Geomedia, representing an epochal shift in spatial mediations and spatialized media, changes daily life. This future-directed thematic issue advocates for contextualized understandings of geomedia that transcend contemporary hegemonic representations of technology. It recognizes the transformative powers of geomediatization processes and asks what “geomedia futures” such processes might bring about. Bridging critical geomedia studies and critical future studies, it challenges dominant narratives about tomorrow’s technological society and promotes the exploration of diverse, equitable, and sustainable futures with and under geomedia. Through numerous methodological approaches, the collected articles examine the role of geomedia in contexts such as urban planning, tourism, surveillance, governance, and policy. The thematic issue emphasizes the importance of envisioning alternative futures that resist technological rationalization and unethical exploitation of geospatial data, supporting more inclusive and human-centered mediatized places. This work contributes to ongoing debates in geomedia studies, highlighting the need for critical and interdisciplinary approaches to understand and shape our technological future.

Uniform resolvent estimates and absence of eigenvalues of biharmonic operators with complex potentials

We quantify the subcriticality of the bilaplacian in dimensions greater than four by providing explicit repulsivity/smallness conditions on complex additive perturbations under which the spectrum remains stable. Our assumptions cover critical Rellich-type potentials too. As a byproduct we obtain uniform resolvent estimates in weighted spaces. Some of the results are new also in the self-adjoint setting.

Performance parameters as a function of graphene’s chemical potential for SPR biosensor based on 2D materials

The present research analyze the performance parameters of a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor such as sensitivity, detection accuracy, quality factor, and combined sensitivity factor as a function of graphene chemical potential in a metal/2D material/graphene multilayer system. The attenuated total reflection of SPR was studied as a function of the number of graphene sheets for different 2D materials (ZnO, MoS2, MoSe2, WSe2, WS2) and calculated using the transfer matrix method. It was found that there is a critical value of the chemical potential for which the performance parameters change their behavior abruptly for all type of 2D materials used in the biosensor configuration; this chemical potential value is called critical chemical potential. Furthermore, the number of graphene sheets have a strong effect on the performance parameters. Finally, an analytical expression for the sensitivity was deduced, which allows to explain their behavior for the different 2D materials used in the SPR biosensor.

Unlocking the full potential of electric vehicle fast-charging over lifetime through model-based aging adaptation

Fast-charging within 15min is increasingly demanded in electric vehicles to reduce downtime and increase customer acceptance. To ensure this, battery models depicting internal states can be used to safely operate along the batteries’ physical boundaries. This, however, poses an increasing risk of model error as the battery degrades over its lifetime, requiring aging-based derating and model updating. Conventional model-updating strategies based on capacity measurements are inaccurate, as they neglect the individual degradation paths of the electrodes and lithium inventory. In this study, we utilize half-cell open circuit potential measurements to update an electrochemical battery model using electrode and lithium inventory aging information over lifetime, showing that conventional methods may underestimate fast-charging potential. The average model error can be reduced by 66% for a publically available aging dataset compared to no model updating and by 33% compared to full cell capacity derating. Furthermore, we predict that charging speeds can be increased by up to 34% for strongly aged cells compared to full cell derating, as the latter neglects the loss of lithium inventory, which reduces the risk of critical anode potentials causing lithium plating.

The carnivalesque celebration of a slack laborer icon on a talent show: Civic engagement, commercialization, and political control

In Produce Camp 2021, an online Chinese talent show, an underdog named Lelush rose to fame as a slack laborer icon. This study investigated this case through a critical discourse analysis incorporating media events theory, the concept of carnival, aesthetic public sphere theory, and the concept of structures of feeling. It was revealed that the audience related to Lelush's slackness on carnivalesque social media, indirectly addressing work oppression and social stratification in an aesthetic public sphere. However, the audience's ambiguities, where they also objectified Lelush, somewhat diminished the aesthetic discussions’ critical potential. This contradiction suggested a new structure of feeling associated with rapid social changes in China. Besides, this study demonstrated that although the audience discourse appeared challenging, it was harnessed by the producer for commercial benefit. Meanwhile, as the audience's critical discourse did not directly threaten the political legitimacy, the Party-State allowed it for political and economic purposes.

Modern determinants of legal awareness

The article substantiates the presence of correlation dependence of such processes as the growth of digital literacy and legal awareness, and also reveals other factors of legal capacity in the era of digital transformation. It has been proven that understanding this essential interdependence provides answers to a number of questions regarding the priority ways of developing the legal system of Ukraine. Increasing digital and legal awareness is depicted as a logical step towards active participation in the management of public affairs. Online deliberation is depicted as a means of positive influence on the perception of the relevant tools of democracy. In this context, political crowdsourcing is defined as a way of finding effective solutions and a positive impact on civic cohesion. It has been demonstrated that the era of digital technologies provides wider opportunities for the realization of human and citizen rights and freedoms, but at the same time creates new challenges and threats to ensure these rights and freedoms. Legislation regulating relations in the field of digitization is also becoming less transparent. It is noted that virtual space opens up new opportunities for manipulating public opinion, and deliberate functioning in the conditions of new threats of instrumentalization of virtual communication depends on the appropriate configuration of communication platforms. With this in mind, priority issues of scientific discourse and regulatory improvement are highlighted, namely: political crowdsourcing and participatory democracy, online deliberation and principles of cooperation with stakeholders, dissemination and support of fact-checking initiatives to verify the reliability of information, legal status of bloggers, fixers and other media participants as opinion leaders. It is concluded that a certain level of legal literacy, together with digital competence, is a prerequisite for effective participation in modern democratic practices, but this participation can also increase the level of legal awareness of citizens, in particular due to the fact that the Internet plays an important role in shaping the agenda and developing the critical potential of the public.

The Formative, Critical and Emancipatory Potential of the Arts in General and Theatre in Particular

Objective: The aim of this study is to make a reflective and critical contribution to theatre as a learning space, considering paths towards education through art, education for art and education in art. Theoretical Framework: The text is based on the pedagogical, aesthetic, ethical and technical experiences of artists such as Bertolt Brecht, Peter Brook, Eugenio Barba, Augusto Boal, Antonin Artaud, Jerzy Grotowski, Pina Bausch and Ariane Mnouchkine, with the aim of establishing a network of currents of thought that intertwine with Socrates, Theodor Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Paulo Freire, among others, in the combination of art, pedagogy and social transformation. Method: The methodology adopted for this research comprises a bibliographical review, which is decisive for the essayistic and dialogical form that the article seeks to establish with the reader. Results and Discussion: The results obtained indicate that the concept of teaching artist must take on theatre itself and understand that artistic and pedagogical action focused on modes of stage production, scenic thinking and language research already constitute education. Within the concept of the teaching artist, the very structuring of theatre, in its multiple possibilities of experiences, involves artistic-pedagogical decisions and choices. Based on their artistic training and interest in education through art, the teaching artist must link their work to the creative, mobilising and knowledge-building potential that theatre possesses, in direct relation to society from an inter-arts perspective. Research implications: The practical and theoretical implications of this research are based on a conceptual universe that substantiates and emphasises the social and pedagogical role of theatre, the artist and the teacher interested in scenic perspectives that reaffirm the formative, critical and emancipatory potential of the arts. Originality/Value: This study contributes to the specific literature in the area, as well as resulting in a proposition of the Teaching Artist as a mobiliser and builder of theatrical knowledge in direct dialogue with society and other arts.

Holographic entanglement entropy of disk in insulator/superconductor transition with logarithmic nonlinear electrodynamics

We explore the holographic phase transition with logarithmic nonlinear electrodynamics in the backgrounds of the AdS soliton away from the probe limit. We disclose the properties of phases by the holographic entanglement entropy of disk for the scalar operators. We find that the holographic entanglement entropy is a useful tool to probe the critical chemical potential and the order of the phase transition in the system. In the superconductor phase, the holographic entanglement entropy for scalar operator <O+> has a non-monotonic behavior as the chemical potential increases, while the entanglement entropy for operator <O−> decreases monotonously. With the increase of the logarithmic nonlinear factor b, the holographic entanglement entropy becomes bigger for both scalar operators <O±>. Furthermore, the insulator/superconductor phase transition probed by the entanglement entropy in the holographic system is characterized only by the chemical potential and is independent of the logarithmic nonlinear electrodynamics.

Exploring the potential of tocopherols: mechanisms of action and perspectives in the prevention and treatment of breast cancer.

Currently, breast cancer is the most common cause of mortalitycaused by neoplasia in women worldwide. The unmet challenges of conventional cancer therapy are chemoresistance and lack of selectivity, which can lead to serious side effects in patients; therefore,new treatments based on natural compounds that serve as adjuvants in breast cancer therapyare urgently needed. Tocopherols are naturally occurring antioxidant compounds that have shown antitumor activity against several types of cancer, including breast cancer. This review summarizes the antitumoral activity of tocopherols, such as theantiproliferative, apoptotic, anti-invasive, and antioxidant effects of tocopherols, through different molecular mechanisms. According to the studies described, α-T, δ-T and γ-T are the most studied in breast tumor cells; however, α-T and γ-T show a more critical antitumor activity and significant potential as a complements to chemotherapeutic drugs against breast cancer, enhancing toxicity against tumor cells and preventing cytotoxicity in nontumor cells. However, the possible relationship between tocopherol intake, related to concentration,and the promotion of cancer in particular cases should not be ruled out, so additional studies are required to determine the correct dose to obtain the desired antitumor effect. Moreover, nanomicelles of D-α-tocopherol have promising potential as pharmaceutical excipients for drug delivery to improve the cytotoxicity and selectivity of first-line chemotherapeutics against breast cancer.

Enhancing mechanical strength in thermosensitive Poly(tetrabutylphosphonium styrene sulfonate) (PTPSS) hydrogels through acrylamide (AAm) copolymerization

Thermosensitive hydrogels are lauded for their smart and tunable responsive behavior, presenting critical application potential in biomedicine and sensing technologies. Traditional thermo-responsive polymers, such as poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM), typically manifest subpar electrical conductivity, which hinders their integration into biosensing applications. PTPSS hydrogel distinctively responses to temperature and repeatably endures large volume water flux under temperature changes, while catering a significant conductivity (7.438 mS cm−1). However, it possesses suboptimal mechanical strength. In this research, we enhanced the mechanical strength of PTPSS hydrogel by copolymerization of AAm, obtaining a 22-fold increase in compression yield stress and a yield strain reaching up to 75 % The copolymerized hydrogel showcases an elevated transmittance ranging from 86.3–97.1 % within the visible light wavelength spectrum, with the copolymerized hydrogel's conductivity being about 188 times that of PNIPAM copolymerized hydrogel at identical monomer proportions. Simultaneously, the hydrogel maintains explicit thermosensitivity even at a TPSS ratio as low as 60 wt% (grounded on the overall monomer sum). The introduction of AAm copolymerization awards PTPSS with robust mechanical properties, profound transparency, and striking thermosensitivity alongside high conductivity, endorsing enormous potential in the realm of intelligent sensing.