Surface Modification of Metallic Inserts for Enhancing Adhesion at the Metal–Polymer Interface

A combination of mechanical and chemical treatments was utilized to modify the surface textures of copper and duralumin inserts in order to enhance the adhesion at the metal–polymer interface and provide an adhesive joint with a high loadbearing capacity. Pretreatment of the surfaces with sandblasting was followed by etching with various chemical mixtures. The resulting surface textures were evaluated with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and an optical confocal microscope. Surface geometry parameters (Sa, Sz, and Sdr) were measured and their relationships to the adhesion joint strength were studied. It was found that the virgin and purely mechanically treated inserts resulted in joints with poor loadbearing capacity, while a hundredfold (duralumin) and ninetyfold (copper) increase in the force to break was observed for some combinations of mechanical and chemical treatments. It was determined that the critical factor is overcoming a certain surface roughness threshold with the mechanical pretreatment to maximize the potential of the mechanical/chemical approach for the particular combination of material and etchant.

Parametric design of an additively manufactured building facade for bespoke response to solar radiation

The building construction industry is adapting Additive Manufacturing (AM) and robotic fabrication techniques to, among other efficiency and cost benefits, reduce the lifecycle Green House Gas (GHG) emissions of new buildings. This research aims to fabricate a low- GHG emission façade by encoding environmental performance using a combination of material selection, AM techniques, and bespoke geometry. This paper presents the design methodology, specifically the response to solar radiation (i.e. shading and daylight transmission). The key contribution of this publication is establishing the digital fabrication process of AM facades: beginning with performative parametric design, using empirical Bi-directional Scattering Distribution Function (BSDF) data of AM thermoplastic elements for daylight simulation to assess performance, and finally optimising the topology for a specific context (location and orientation).

Olympic Games as a Way to Evaluate the Mobilization (Strategic) Resources of the Country

Team success at the Olympic Games is a combination of material, demographic and cultural factors with non-material factors — will, fighting spirit, passion, patriotism. Exactly the same combination of factors determines the ability of a state to wage a war. Therefore, military capabilities of the state (as well as economic and technological ones), according to the author, can be assessed by results at the Olympic Games.

The Preferences of Active Final Purchasers Regarding the Environment of Cooperation with Offerors and Benefits Achieved Thanks to Such Cooperation

The aim of this study was to identify the preferences of final purchasers regarding the environment of cooperation with offerors and the benefits of cooperation, as well as to identify dependencies between two groups of preferences, taking into account the age of purchasers. The results of an analysis of the global literature on the subject indicate that so far these issues have not been studied, either in relation to the energy market or other areas of the consumer market. Therefore, we can talk about a cognitive and research gap in this area. In order to reduce the gap, seven research hypotheses were formulated and primary research was carried out on 1196 adult representatives of final purchasers in Poland to verify the hypotheses. The collected data were subjected to quantitative analysis, the results of which made it possible to state that most respondents preferred the parallel use of the online and offline environments as a place of interaction with offerors. More than half of the respondents stated that a combination of material and non-material benefits achieved through cooperation with offerors effectively encourages purchasers to undertake this cooperation. Non-material benefits such as the possibility of gaining new knowledge, the possibility of gaining new skills, and the possibility of establishing relationships with new people turned out to be particularly important. Statistically significant dependencies were identified between the preferences regarding the environment of cooperation and preferences regarding the benefits of cooperation. Moreover, dependencies were identified between age and the general specificity of benefits of cooperation with offerors, and between age and twelve specific benefits of cooperation. Conclusions drawn from the results obtained have great cognitive and application value, enriching knowledge of the behavior of final purchasers and making it easier for offerors, including companies operating on the consumer energy market, to make effective decisions about encouraging recipients to cooperate in the process of creating a marketing offer.

ANALYSIS AND DIRECTIONS FOR IMPROVING THE SYSTEM OF INCENTIVES FOR EMPLOYEES IN THE CIVIL SERVICE

The article examines the actual problem of stimulating the work of civil servants. The authors analyzed the theoretical aspects of motivation and stimulation and concluded that the interpretations of the concepts of motivation and stimulation have significant differences, and the emphasis should be on the combination of material and non-material tools. The analysis of the motivation system for civil servants was carried out on the basis of materials from one of the departments of the regional administration. It was revealed that for certain structural divisions of the civil service, an outflow of personnel is characteristic, and the main reasons are: dissatisfaction with the level of material support; discrepancy between the level of wages and the costs of individual resources for the implementation of labor activities; lack of recognition of their merits. The authors analyzed the content of tangible and intangible instruments in the public administration system and concluded that the main principles of intangible incentives for civil servants should be: justice, equal opportunities, objectivity, consistency, transparency, awareness. Recommendations on the effective use of the system of non-material incentives are offered: ways of non-material incentives for an employee should be tangible; carry out only an objective assessment of the results of activities; the criteria should be made clear, transparent and easily verifiable; the indicators, in accordance with the achievement of which the incentive is carried out, must be achievable; control at all stages of measures for non-material incentives for employees.

Effect of Axial Deformation on Elastic Properties of Irregular Honeycomb Structure

Irregular honeycomb structures occur abundantly in nature and in man-made products, and are an active area of research. In this paper, according to the optimization of regular honeycomb structures, two types of irregular honeycomb structures with both positive and negative Poisson’s ratios are presented. The elastic properties of irregular honeycombs with varying structure angles were investigated through a combination of material mechanics and structural mechanics methods, in which the axial deformation of the rods was considered. The numerical results show that axial deformation has a significant influence on the elastic properties of irregular honeycomb structures. The elastic properties of the structure can be considered by the enclosed area of the unit structure, the shape of the unit structure, and the elastic properties of the original materials. The elastic properties considering the axial deformation of rods studied in this study can provide a reference for other scholars.

Loss and Longing in the Zoharic Reading of Eichah

This essay proposes a close analysis of the introduction to the Kabbalist text known as Midrash ha-Ne’lam al Eichah, an interpretation of the biblical book of Lamentations which integrates the medieval text of the Sefer ha-Zohar. While the biblical version centers the destruction of the First Temple in 586 B.C.E., the medieval narrative of the Midrash ha-Ne’lam opens with an anachronistic argument between the two Jewish communities historically formed with the fall of the First Temple: the one in Babylon, the symbol of the Jewish Diaspora, and the other in Jerusalem, the heart of the Holy Land of the Jewish people. Collapsing the destruction of the First Temple with the subsequent destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E., the Midrash ha-Ne’lam intersperses literal and figurative meaning to craft a cosmic narrative of loss and longing, which runs parallel to the original biblical account. By focusing on the argument between the Babylonian and Jewish communities, the present article probes into a tension that structures the Jewish condition in the diaspora: the combination of material distance from, and spiritual attachment to, one’s sacred homeland, induces a state of spiritual homelessness. The Midrash ha-Ne’lam paints the “competition” for the right to mourn the loss of the Temple as a family argument between those who stayed in the destroyed homeland and those who have strayed from it many generations before, a tension that reverberates to this day on the inner division between diaspora and Israeli Jews.

Loss and Longing in the Zoharic Reading of Eichah

This essay proposes a close analysis of the introduction to the Kabbalist text known as Midrash ha-Ne’lam al Eichah, an interpretation of the biblical book of Lamentations which integrates the medieval text of the Sefer ha-Zohar. While the biblical version centers the destruction of the First Temple in 586 B.C.E., the medieval narrative of the Midrash ha-Ne’lam opens with an anachronistic argument between the two Jewish communities historically formed with the fall of the First Temple: the one in Babylon, the symbol of the Jewish Diaspora, and the other in Jerusalem, the heart of the Holy Land of the Jewish people. Collapsing the destruction of the First Temple with the subsequent destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E., the Midrash ha-Ne’lam intersperses literal and figurative meaning to craft a cosmic narrative of loss and longing, which runs parallel to the original biblical account. By focusing on the argument between the Babylonian and Jewish communities, the present article probes into a tension that structures the Jewish condition in the diaspora: the combination of material distance from, and spiritual attachment to, one’s sacred homeland, induces a state of spiritual homelessness. The Midrash ha-Ne’lam paints the “competition” for the right to mourn the loss of the Temple as a family argument between those who stayed in the destroyed homeland and those who have strayed from it many generations before, a tension that reverberates to this day on the inner division between diaspora and Israeli Jews.

Capitalism, Crisis, and Contention: Race, Racism, and Resistance

For Marx, the alienation of wage labor and inherent crisis tendencies of capital would foster collective grievances and support for communist movements promising revolution and the abolition of private property, creating a society wherein “the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.” But a combination of material factors, the rise of the welfare state, increased wages, and later consumerism as well as ideologies such as religion and/or nationalism, thwarted revolutionary fervor in industrial societies. Nevertheless, Marxist theory provides a number of important insights that help us understand contemporary social mobilizations beginning with noting how historical legacies, materials conditions, class interests, and episodic crises dispose many movements, even those that take place on cultural terrains in public spheres and spaces while political economic/historical factors may not be evident. This can clearly be shown by understanding the nature of racism and the massive protests following the murder of George Floyd. The roots of racism, qua white ‘superiority’ were rooted in the colonial era in which the settlers enslaved Africans and forcibly displaced the native populations for clear economic gains. This was ideologically ‘legitimated’ by the dehumanization of racialized Others, it also provided ‘superior’ status and identity to Christian Caucasians. Moreover, such ideologies were sustained through violence, whether armed plantation owners, slave catchers, militias, and later police. For a variety of reasons, slavery ended but racism endures to this very day. But that said, between the growing economic and educational status of Africans Americans and the more progressive cosmopolitan/inclusive values and practices of the young, racism, for many, has waned. But police violence has not. In the face of growing inequality, the pandemic crisis that led to an economic crisis, especially onerous for the young and peoples of color, the murder of George Floyd, going viral, indicated how a number of the crises of neoliberal transnational capitalism migrated to the culture and led to massive protests and resistance against racism and police brutality.