Passive Structures Research Articles

GENERATIVE APPROACHES TO BEHDINI-KURDISH STUDENTS' ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH PASSIVIZATION

This research examines how Behdini-Kurdish students acquire passive voice in English, focusing on the interaction between their innate linguistic abilities and external language input. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study investigates the strategies used by Kurdish learners on acquiring passive voice constructions, which pose a notable challenge for many individuals learning English as a foreign language. By analyzing the cognitive processes and tactics used by these students, this research aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the mechanisms involved in second language acquisition (SLA) from the perspective of generative grammar. Preliminary observations suggest that Kurdish students' acquisition of the passive voice in English is influenced by factors such as the linguistic structure of their native language, exposure to language input, and their inherent language acquisition ability. This study emphasizes the importance of tailored pedagogical strategies that align with the theories of generative grammar to enhance Kurdish students' competence in mastering passive voice structures in English. Practical results show that explicit instruction and increased exposure to passive constructions in English significantly improve learners' proficiency. In addition, error analysis reveals common problems with verb forms and agent placement, necessitating focused educational interventions. This study provides important insights into the challenges faced by Behdini-Kurdish students in acquiring passive voice structures in English. Several key conclusions are drawn from this study including challenges in learning passive voice in English among the majority of Behdini-Kurdish learners due to the effect of language transfer in most cases.

Super-impermeable polyurethane coating constructing inspired by passive film structure

Super-impermeable polyurethane coating constructing inspired by passive film structure

Torque-angle relationships of human toe flexor muscles highlight their capacity for propulsion in gait.

Human proficiency for bipedal locomotion relies on the structure and function of our feet, including the interplay between active muscles and passive structures acting on the toes during the propulsive phase of gait. However, our understanding of the relative contributions of these different structures remains incomplete. We aimed to determine the distinct toe-flexion torque-angle relationships of the plantar intrinsic muscles (PIMs), extrinsic muscles, and passive structures, therefore offering insight into their force-generating capabilities and importance for walking and running. Torque-angle data were twice collected from nine healthy individuals (6 males, 3 females; 28±5 years) using supramaximal transcutaneous electrical stimuli applied at two tibial nerve sites to distinguish between muscle-driven and passive toe-flexion torque about the metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint. Innervating extrinsic muscles and PIMs concurrently produced peak torques (Hallux=3.05±0.70 Nm, MTP angle=48.0°±13.6°; Lesser Digits=3.19±0.98 Nm, MTP angle=42.6°±13.4°) exceeding by 208% (Hallux) and 150% (Lesser Digits), respectively, those from PIM stimulation alone. Notably, MTP joint angles pertinent to gait corresponded to the ascending limb of the active torque-angle relationship, with active muscle joint torques the dominant contributor over passive torques. The latter finding suggests that human toe flexors are well-adapted to generate the MTP joint torques that are necessary for walking and running. This further supports the notion that muscles acting within the foot play an important role in the foot's mechanical function and our ability to walk and run in an upright posture.

Meaningful physical education: Towards an embodied pedagogy

International research on students’ meaningful experiences in physical education (PE) has led to the proposal of the Meaningful PE approach, aiming to guide pedagogical principles to support students’ meaningful experiences in PE. The approach currently includes democratic and reflective pedagogical principles. With this paper, we aim to contribute to the Meaningful PE approach by emphasizing the need to address a third pedagogical principle that attends to pre-reflective bodily dimensions of students’ meaningful experiences in PE. The democratic and reflective pedagogical principles are based on a reflective interpretation of the significance an experience holds. While this approach is highly valuable, the retrospective nature of these principles may unintentionally overlook significant pre-reflective bodily dimensions of experience. Drawing on a phenomenological concept of embodiment, we use key structures of our pre-reflective bodily engagement with the world to analyse features that young people describe as significantly contributing to their meaningful experiences in PE and youth sport: social interaction, challenge, motor competence, fun, and personally relevant learning. Our analysis reveals that pre-reflective bodily meaningful experiences emerge as something in-between the subject and the world. These experiences can be affected by others in body-to-body encounters and contain a dimension of negativity related to the pre-reflective, relational, and active–passive structure of our lived experience. Based on our analysis, we propose that teaching to support meaningful experiences in PE must address the dialectical interplay between reflective and pre-reflective dimensions. Therefore, we advocate for adding an embodied pedagogical principle to the Meaningful PE approach alongside the reflective and democratic principles.

Ultrathin Self-Assembled Monolayer for Effective Silicon Solar Cell Passivation.

Passivation technology is crucial for reducing interface defects and impacting the performance of crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells. Concurrently, maintaining a thin passivation layer is essential for ensuring efficient carrier transport. With an ultrathin passivated contact structure, both Silicon Heterojunction (SHJ) cells and Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact (TOPCon) solar cells achieve an efficiency surpassing 26%. To reduce production costs and simplify solar cell manufacturing processes, the rapid development of organic material passivation technology has emerged. However, its widespread industrial production is hindered by environmental safety concerns, such as strong acid corrosion and biological and ecological safety issues. Here, we discovered a low-cost self-assembled monolayer (SAM) hole-selective transport material known as 2PACz ([2-(9H-carbazol-9-yl) ethyl] phosphonic acid) with phosphate groups to form c-Si solar cells for the first time. The ultrathin film of 2PACz with phosphate groups can establish strong and stable P-O-Si bonds on the silicon surface. Meanwhile, like 2PACz, a uniform ultrathin film with a carbazole function group can offer electron-localizing and thus hole-selective properties, which provides ideas for studying dopant-free silicon solar cells. As a result of such interfacial passivation engineering, it plays an important role in repairing porous structures, such as pyramid-textured silicon surfaces, and cutting losses during the commercialization of c-Si solar cells. Crucially, this advancement offers insights for the development of new high-efficiency ultrathin film passivation methods in the postsilicon era.

Novel Soft Gripper With Adjustable Performance Based on Blade Flexures

Abstract The design of soft grippers is challenging as the target objects to be handled involve a wide variety of sizes, shapes, and softness. Most grippers reported present drawbacks, e.g., complex control strategies for stiffness and force variation, inadequate adaptability to target shape variability, and complicated adaptation to manipulators, which in turn limit their implementation in applications such as harvesting. This paper presents a novel overlay soft gripper based on an assembling mechanism and passive soft structures, enabling the modification of grip size, orientation, and gripping force. This gripper can be assembled over a commercial robot-gripper taking the closing motion of this as the input to perform its closing motion. Input and output parameters are related by means of the displacement transmission mechanism which converts the closing motion of the robot-gripper into the closing motion of the overlay soft gripper. The gripping force can be modified through the change of stiffness, via adjustment of effective length using contact elements, of internal blade flexures. The displacement transmission mechanism works in two modes: as rigid-body mechanism without the contact elements and as rigid-body/flexible mechanism with the contact elements. The relationships between input and output parameters are obtained analytically for the case of rigid-body mechanism, and through finite element analysis simulations for the case of rigid-body/flexible mechanism. Relationships between input and output parameters are approximated with polynomial surfaces. Finally, physical prototypes are manufactured and assembled on their respective robot-grippers to qualitatively demonstrate their performance.

Syntactic priming as implicit learning in German child language.

We investigated syntactic priming in German children to explore crosslinguistic evidence for implicit learning accounts of language production and acquisition. Adult descriptions confirmed that German speakers (N=27) preferred to spontaneously produce active versus passive transitive and DO versus PO dative forms. We tested whether German-speaking children (N=29, M age =5.3, 15 girls/14 boys) could be primed to produce these dispreferred forms and whether such priming effects would persist across a target phase. Children first heard a block of priming sentences and then described a block of target pictures. They demonstrated significant priming effects for passive and PO dative structures, and these priming effects did not differ between the first and second halves of the block of target trials. These patterns of German child language production are consistent with implicit learning accounts of syntactic priming.

Translation Strategies of English Passive Constructions into Arabic: An Analysis of Google Translation Engine Produced Translations Using House’s TQA Model

This study explores the translation of English passive constructions into Arabic, focusing on the prevalent translation shifts and the preservation of the source functions within this process. Utilizing a qualitative methodology, it analyzes passive constructions from an English economic-political article based on House’s (2015) Translation Quality Assessment model. It reviews all passive participles classifying them into verbal and adjectival ones. The research aims to understand how these translation shifts cater to the syntactic and semantic needs of the Arabic language, particularly how machine translation tools like Google Translation engine handle these transformations. Data collected include various English passive constructions and their Arabic translations, providing a foundation for assessing either their adherence to the target language’s norms and preferences or to the literal approach that may lead to affect such preferences and norms. Key findings reveal how Google Translation engine tends to translate according to Arabic norms and produce a natural translation while preserving the source functions. The five translation strategies used by Google Translate when translating passive constructions from English to Arabic in economic-political texts are: 1) adjectival phrases, 2) active structures, 3) passive structures with internal vowel changes, 4) verbless structures with verbal nouns, and 5) verbal phrases with 'tamma'. However, the influence of such an approach may lead to manipulating the source function, which may lead to misunderstandings or to unbalanced power relations.

Robust day-ahead scheduling of cooperative energy communities considering multiple aggregators

Future cities must play a vital role in reducing energy consumption and decarbonizing the electricity sector, thus evolving from passive structures towards more efficient smart cities. This transition can be facilitated by energy communities. This emerging paradigm consists of collectivizing a set of residential installations equipped with onsite renewable generators and storage assets (i.e., prosumers), which can eventually share resources to pursue collective welfare. This paper focuses on cooperative communities, where prosumers share resources without seeking selfish monetary counterparts. Despite their apparent advantages, energy management and scheduling of energy communities suppose a challenge for conventional tools due to the high level of uncertainty (especially due to intermittent renewable generation and random demand), and privacy concerns among prosumers. This paper addresses these issues. Specifically, a novel management structure based on multiple aggregators is proposed. This paradigm preserves users' confidential features while allowing them to extract the full potential of their assets. To efficiently manage the variety of assets available under uncertainty, an adaptive robust day-ahead scheduling model is developed, which casts as a solvable and portable Mixed Integer Linear Programming framework, which eases its implementation in real-world cases. The new proposal concerns uncertain generation and demand using a polyhedral representation of the uncertainty set. A case study is conducted to validate the developed model, showing promising results. Moreover, different results are obtained and analysed. Finally, it is worth remarking on how the level of robustness impacts the collective bill, incrementing it by 75 % when risk-averse conditions are assumed. In addition, the role of storage assets under pessimistic conditions is remarked, pointing out that these assets rule the scheduling plan of the community instead of renewable generators.

Fabrication and optical characterization of porous silicon heterostructure as matrix for sensing organic solvent via resonance peak and Q factor shift

Porous silicon heterostructures with an extensive photonic band gap, featuring a microcavity defect layer, have been successfully fabricated and applied as sensor devices for detecting organic solvent species. These sensors utilize both the resonance peak shift and the inverse Q-factor as sensing parameters. Similar to conventional porous silicon microcavities immersed in various organic solvents, the resonance peak exhibits a linear dependence on the solvent refractive index. However, in the proposed structure, the inverse Q-factor also displays a comparable linear trend with the refractive index, but with greater sensitivity to solvent mixtures. This increased sensitivity arises because the inverse Q-factor deviates from linearity when the prior solvent is not adequately removed from the porous structure before reflectance measurements — a condition not commonly detected by the resonance peak shift. To improve the performance of these sensors, the porous structures were passivated by thermal oxidation. For sensor applications, it is crucial that the contrast in the effective refractive index between the high and low porosity layers of the passivated structures be sufficiently large. Otherwise, when the porous matrix is immersed in solvents, it loses its resonance peak, rendering the structure ineffective for sensor applications.

Passive behavior of TNB intermetallic and Inconel 625 in electrochemical machining

The TNB alloy, a novel lightweight material, shows great potential for application in crucial aero-engine parts. This paper reveals the passive behavior of TNB alloy in electrochemical machining (ECM), Inconel 625 alloy was used for comparison. The polarization curve shows that TNB and Inconel 625 alloys have obvious passivation phenomenon at the passivation potential. Research reveals that the passive film structure of TNB alloy comprises a compact layer (about 7 nm) and a loose layer (about 13 nm), with significantly higher corrosion resistance in the compact layer compared to the loose layer. In contrast, the passive film structure of Inconel 625 alloy is a single layer with a thickness of approximately 11 nm. It was also found that the passive film composition for TNB alloy is TiO2, Al2O3, and Nb2O5. The composition of passive film for Inconel 625 alloy is NiO, Ni(OH)2, Cr2O3, MoO3, Nb2O5, FeO, and Fe2O3, and the content of Ni and Cr is high. TNB alloys exhibit uneven and loose lamellar morphology at low current densities, but can reach Ra 0.15 μm at greater than 15 A/cm2. There are always some disordered carbides rich in Nb and Mo on the surface of Inconel 625 alloy. Quantitative models were developed for both alloys to describe their electrochemical dissolution behavior.

Detection of Vocabulary Delay through Syntactic Complexity in Sentence Comprehension

Objectives: This study investigated the best condition for capturing signs of vocabulary delay in children using the sentence comprehension task (SCT), which consists of active and passive sentence structures with canonical and non-canonical word order conditions; and to determine whether working memory has significant explanatory power for SCT in children with vocabulary delay. Methods: Thirty-two children participated in this study, 16 vocabulary delayed (VD) children and 16 typically developing (TD) children aged 4 to 6 years. Participants completed the SCT, which is designed to focus only on syntactic features by minimizing top-down semantic processing in sentence processing. Four working memory (WM) tasks (Non-word repetition, NWR; Sentence repetition, SR; Digit-forward span, DF; and Digit-backward span, DB) were also administered. Results: The VD group showed greater difficulties in sentence comprehension, especially in the passive-canonical (P-C) condition. However, discriminant analysis results showed that the sum of all conditions in the SCT robustly discriminated these groups. In the VD group, sentence-level WM tasks predicted the passive-canonical (P-C) complex condition in the SCT. Conclusion: The current findings suggest that the VD group had greater difficulty processing more complex sentences, and WM has significant explanatory power for understanding complex syntactic structures in the VD group.

Highly passivated TOPCon bottom cells for perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells

Tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) silicon solar cells are rising as a competitive photovoltaic technology, seamlessly blending high efficiency with cost-effectiveness and mass production capabilities. However, the numerous defects from the fragile silicon oxide/c-Si interface and the low field-effect passivation due to the inadequate boron in-diffusion in p-type polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) passivated contact reduce their open-circuit voltages (VOCs), impeding their widespread application in the promising perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells (TSCs) that hold a potential to break 30% module efficiency. To address this, we have developed a highly passivated p-type TOPCon structure by optimizing the oxidation conditions, boron in-diffusion, and aluminium oxide hydrogenation, thus pronouncedly improving the implied VOC (iVOC) of symmetric samples with p-type TOPCon structures on both sides to 715 mV and the VOC of completed double-sided TOPCon bottom cells to 710 mV. Consequently, integrating with perovskite top cells, our proof of concept of 1 cm2 n-i-p perovskite/silicon TSCs exhibit VOCs exceeding 1.9 V and a high efficiency of 28.20% (certified 27.3%), which paves a way for TOPCon cells in the commercialization of future tandems.

Fibre Refractometry for Minimally Invasive Sugar Content Measurements within Produce

A minimally invasive needle refractometer is presented for sugar content measurements within produce. A passive sampling cap structure was developed that improves the reliability of the device by avoiding interfering back reflections from the flesh of the produce. It is explained that factory calibration may not be needed for this type of refractometer, potentially reducing production costs. Also demonstrated is an iterative method to correct for temperature variations without the need for an integrated model for how the refractive index changes with temperature for different levels of sugar concentration. The sensor showed a typical standard deviation of 0.4 °Bx for a 10-s-long measurement and was validated against a prism refractometer, showing an average offset of (0.0±0.1) °Bx. In addition, the potential for using the device to investigate sugar distributions within a single fruit sample is demonstrated.

Framing the shooting of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in English and Arabic news headlines: a critical discourse study

The study aims to investigate the ideological manipulation of language within news media headlines regarding the killing of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. This study employs Van Dijk’s socio-cognitive model of Critical Discourse Analysis to conduct a comparative qualitative analysis of 100 Arabic and 100 English news headlines, exploring linguistic features at both microstructure and macrostructure levels. The analysis delves into identity construction for the victim and perpetrator, revealing the discursive linguistic manifestations of underlying ideologies in two distinct linguistic and cultural contexts. The microstructure analysis reveals the preference of Arabic headlines for active voice structure, rhetorical devices of numeration, emphatic language, and metaphors. On the other hand, English headlines preferred the passive voice structure and the rhetorical device of litotes. The macrostructure analysis unravels the cognitive interplay between news media outlets and their target audience, demonstrating how selective headlines significantly impact public opinion. It shapes their comprehension and interpretation, particularly within the broader context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ultimately, this research highlights the dynamic interplay between language, ideology, and power in news media, offering key recommendations for understanding their comparative impacts.

Validation of prediction capability of operating space for plasma initiation in MAST-U

Abstract DYON is a plasma initiation modelling code that solves the differential equation system of the full circuit equations (plasma current, active coil currents and eddy currents in full passive structures) and 0D global energy and particle balance equations[1]. In order to test the capability of the full electromagnetic plasma initiation model to predict individual discharges in experiments and thus the operating space in the device, a dedicated experimental database was built in MAST-U by scanning the prefilled gas pressure p0 and the induced loop voltage Vloop . In the experimental operating space of p0 and Vloop the lower and the upper limits of p0 are determined by the plasma breakdown failure and the plasma burn-through failure, respectively. The lower limit of Vloop is determined by the plasma burn-through failure. By directly reading the control room data used in each discharge (i.e. currents in the solenoid, poloidal field coils, and toroidal field coils, p0 , and gas puffing rate), the full electromagnetic DYON consistently predicted the failed breakdown, failed burn-through, and successful plasma initiation discharges in the experimental database, demonstrating its capability to predict the operating space for inductive plasma initiation. The Paschen curve calculated with the effective connection length in MAST-U indicates a much higher p0 required for plasma breakdown than the experimental data, indicating that individual field line evaluation is necessary to calculate the quantitative requirements for Townsend breakdown. The demonstration in this paper shows that the full electromagnetic DYON could be a useful simulation tool to assess the feasibility of inductive plasma initiation and to optimise operating scenarios in future devices. [1] Hyun-Tae Kim 2022 Nuclear Fusion 62 126012

XPS Investigation of Co-Ni Oxidized Compounds Surface Using Peak-On-Satellite Ratio. Application to Co20Ni80 Passive Layer Structure and Composition.

XPS data processing for cobalt and nickel core-level peaks can be complicated. This is especially true when analyzing a mixture of oxide/oxyhydroxide/hydroxide compounds of these metals. The objective of this study is to develop a method for decomposing XPS spectra of 2p core levels for nickel and cobalt-oxidized compounds. This methodology was then employed to study the passivation layer of the Co20Ni80 alloy. The analysis of Ni2p and Co2p photo peaks using a homemade code based on core-level peak structure and satellites enables us to determine the chemical composition of the surface layer, knowledge of which is particularly important because it is directly linked to the anticorrosive properties it confers on the surface of the oxidized alloy. The XPS analysis, coupled with sequential ion sputtering, revealed that the passive layer of the Co20Ni80 alloy is heterogeneously covered with either oxidized cobalt compounds or oxidized nickel compounds. The method used also demonstrates that the chemical heterogeneity is associated with the thickness heterogeneity of the passive layer.

Recent advances in embedded technologies and self‐sensing concrete for structural health monitoring

AbstractFully embedded and spatially diffuse sensors are central to the advancement of civil and construction engineering. Indeed, they serve as an enabling technology necessary for addressing the current challenges associated with through‐life management and structural health monitoring of existing structures and infrastructures. The need to identify structural issues early on has driven the integration of such embedded sensing capabilities into construction materials, turning passive structures into proactive, self‐aware “entities,” commonly referred to as Smart Structures. The economic rationale behind this endeavor is underscored by the vital significance of continuous monitoring, which enables prompt anomaly assessment and thus mitigates the risks of potential structural failures. This is particularly relevant for road and rail infrastructures, as they represent a substantial and enduring investment for any nation. Given that a large majority of these large infrastructures are composed of concrete and reinforced concrete, both academics and construction companies are continuously researching micro‐ and nano‐engineered self‐sensing solutions specifically tailored for this building material. This comprehensive review paper reports the latest advances in the field of self‐sensing concrete as of 2024, with an emphasis on intrinsic self‐sensing concrete, that is, electrically conductive functional fillers. A critical analysis and a discussion of the findings are provided. Based on the perceived existing gaps and demands from the industry, the field's future perspectives are also briefly outlined.

Solid-Phase microextraction on Self-Driven microfluidic chip using capillary micropump and microvalves for saliva electrochemical analysis

The real-time detection of biomarkers in saliva is of great significance for early non-invasive diagnostic of related diseases. In this work, molecular imprinting technology was used to prepare a lactic acid monolithic column, which could realize specific adsorption and elution of lactic acid, achieving solid phase microextraction (SPME) of lactic acid in samples, and purify the analytes. Lactic acid monolithic column was then embedded into the microfluidic channel, and passive microfluidic structures such as stop valve, retention valve, trigger valve and capillary pump were utilized to construct the SPME self-driven microfluidic chip. A series of complex operations such as lactic acid adsorption, rinse and elution on the monolithic column could be realized automatically without external power. Since the purification of the analytes was achieved by the monolithic column, the low-cost nano copper oxide modified electrode was used to achieve the specific electrochemical analysis of lactic acid. The screen-printed electrode was designed and fabricated, and the integrated electrochemical detection circuit was used to realize the portable analysis of Na+, K+ and lactic acid simultaneously. The microfluidic chip, screen-printed electrode and miniaturized detection circuit are integrated into a Point-of-care testing (POCT) device, which realizes the automatically real-time detection of saliva. By adjusting the template molecule in monolithic column polymerization, the application of this physiological fluid POCT device can be extended, and may provide some implications for the development of portable non-invasive health monitoring devices.

Operational Characteristics of AlGaN/GaN High-Electron-Mobility Transistors with Various Dielectric Passivation Structures for High-Power and High-Frequency Operations: A Simulation Study.

This study investigates the operational characteristics of AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) by employing various passivation materials with different dielectric constants and passivation structures. To ensure the simulation reliability, the parameters were calibrated based on the measured data from the fabricated basic Si3N4 passivation structure of the HEMT. The Si3N4 passivation material was replaced with high-k materials, such as Al2O3 and HfO2, to improve the breakdown voltage. The Al2O3 and HfO2 passivation structures achieved breakdown voltage improvements of 6.62% and 17.45%, respectively, compared to the basic Si3N4 passivation structure. However, the increased parasitic capacitances reduced the cut-off frequency. To mitigate this reduction, the operational characteristics of hybrid and partial passivation structures were analyzed. Compared with the HfO2 passivation structure, the HfO2 partial passivation structure exhibited a 7.6% reduction in breakdown voltage but a substantial 82.76% increase in cut-off frequency. In addition, the HfO2 partial passivation structure exhibited the highest Johnson's figure of merit. Consequently, considering the trade-off relationship between breakdown voltage and frequency characteristics, the HfO2 partial passivation structure emerged as a promising candidate for high-power and high-frequency AlGaN/GaN HEMT applications.