National and international components in contemporary architecture and design

The article examines one of the unique aspects of design – the national component. The history of design demonstrates to us the importance of the national component in the formation of object-based shaping, its development in the industrial and post-industrial eras. In the conditions of post-industrial design, the role of the national component is growing and is increasingly revealed in its various directions, from object design to design of the urban environment. Through the prism of the interaction between national and international components in design, we can scrutinise design’s entire history. Using specific examples, applying phenomenal-geographical and synergetic approaches, the authors formulate the main models of the evolution of the national component in the design of different countries. As a result, 6 models of interaction of the national and international components in the subject design of the twentieth century were identified. They are «the constant of the national component», «transformation (expansion) of the national component into the international», «synchronization of the national and international components», «replacement of the national component with the international», «conglomeration of international and national components», «autonomy of national and international components». Graphic visualizations of models of countries – design nations are presented on the example of Japan, USA, Germany, Italy and Scandinavia

Novel D-A-π-A1 Type Organic Sensitizers from 4,7-Dibromobenzo[d][1,2,3]thiadiazole and Indoline Donors for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Two novel D-A-π-A1 metal-free organic dyes of the KEA series containing benzo[d][1,2,3]thiadiazole (isoBT) internal acceptor, indoline donors fused with cyclopentane or cyclohexane rings (D), a thiophene as a π-spacer, and a cyanoacrylate as an anchor part were synthesized. Monoarylation of 4,7-dibromobenzo[d][1,2,3]thiadiazole by Suzuki-Miyamura cross-coupling reaction showed that in the case of indoline and carbazole donors, the reaction was non-selective, i.e., two monosubstituted derivatives were isolated in each case, whereas only one mono-isomer was formed with phenyl- and 2-thienylboronic acids. This was explained by the fact that heterocyclic indoline and carbazole fragments are much stronger donor groups compared to thiophene and benzene, as confirmed by cyclic voltammetry measurements and calculation of HOMO energies of indoline, carbazole, thiophene and benzene molecules. The structure of monoaryl(hetaryl) derivatives was strictly proven by NMR spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. The optical and photovoltaic properties observed for the KEA dyes showed that these compounds are promising for the creation of solar cells. A comparison with symmetrical benzo[c][1,2,3]thiadiazole dyes WS-2 and MAX114 showed that the asymmetric nature of benzo[d][1,2,3]thiadiazole KEA dyes leads to a hypsochromic shift of the ICT band in comparison with the corresponding benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole isomers. KEA dyes have a narrow HOMO-LUMO gap of 1.5–1.6 eV. Amongst these dyes, KEA321 recorded the best power efficiency (PCE), i.e., 5.17%, which is superior to the corresponding symmetrical benzo[c][1,2,3]thiadiazole dyes WS-2 and MAX114 (5.07 and 4.90%)

Climate shapes the spatiotemporal variation in color morph diversity and composition across the distribution range of Chrysomela lapponica leaf beetle

Color polymorphism offers rich opportunities for studying the eco-evolutionary mechanisms that drive the adaptations of local populations to heterogeneous and changing environments. We explored the color morph diversity and composition in a Chrysomela lapponica leaf beetle across its entire distribution range to test the hypothesis that environmental and climatic variables shape spatiotemporal variation in the phenotypic structure of a polymorphic species. We obtained information on 13 617 specimens of this beetle from museums, private collections, and websites. These specimens (collected from 1830-2020) originated from 959 localities spanning 33 degrees latitude, 178 degrees longitude, and 4200 m altitude. We classified the beetles into five color morphs and searched for environmental factors that could explain the variation in the level of polymorphism (quantified by the Shannon diversity index) and in the relative frequencies of individual color morphs. The highest level of polymorphism was found at high latitudes and altitudes. The color morphs differed in their climatic requirements; composition of colour morphs was independent of the geographic distance that separated populations but changed with collection year, longitude, mean July temperature and between-year temperature fluctuations. The proportion of melanic beetles, in line with the thermal melanism hypothesis, increased with increasing latitude and altitude and decreased with increasing climate seasonality. Melanic morph frequencies also declined during the past century, but only at high latitudes and altitudes where recent climate warming was especially strong. The observed patterns suggest that color polymorphism is especially advantageous for populations inhabiting unpredictable environments, presumably due to the different climatic requirements of coexisting color morphs

Climate shapes the spatiotemporal variation in color morph diversity and composition across the distribution range of Chrysomela lapponica leaf beetle

Color polymorphism offers rich opportunities for studying the eco-evolutionary mechanisms that drive the adaptations of local populations to heterogeneous and changing environments. We explored the color morph diversity and composition in a Chrysomela lapponica leaf beetle across its entire distribution range to test the hypothesis that environmental and climatic variables shape spatiotemporal variation in the phenotypic structure of a polymorphic species. We obtained information on 13 617 specimens of this beetle from museums, private collections, and websites. These specimens (collected from 1830-2020) originated from 959 localities spanning 33 degrees latitude, 178 degrees longitude, and 4200 m altitude. We classified the beetles into five color morphs and searched for environmental factors that could explain the variation in the level of polymorphism (quantified by the Shannon diversity index) and in the relative frequencies of individual color morphs. The highest level of polymorphism was found at high latitudes and altitudes. The color morphs differed in their climatic requirements; composition of colour morphs was independent of the geographic distance that separated populations but changed with collection year, longitude, mean July temperature and between-year temperature fluctuations. The proportion of melanic beetles, in line with the thermal melanism hypothesis, increased with increasing latitude and altitude and decreased with increasing climate seasonality. Melanic morph frequencies also declined during the past century, but only at high latitudes and altitudes where recent climate warming was especially strong. The observed patterns suggest that color polymorphism is especially advantageous for populations inhabiting unpredictable environments, presumably due to the different climatic requirements of coexisting color morphs

National and international components in contemporary architecture and design

The article examines one of the unique aspects of design – the national component. The history of design demonstrates to us the importance of the national component in the formation of object-based shaping, its development in the industrial and post-industrial eras. In the conditions of post-industrial design, the role of the national component is growing and is increasingly revealed in its various directions, from object design to design of the urban environment. Through the prism of the interaction between national and international components in design, we can scrutinise design’s entire history. Using specific examples, applying phenomenal-geographical and synergetic approaches, the authors formulate the main models of the evolution of the national component in the design of different countries. As a result, 6 models of interaction of the national and international components in the subject design of the twentieth century were identified. They are «the constant of the national component», «transformation (expansion) of the national component into the international», «synchronization of the national and international components», «replacement of the national component with the international», «conglomeration of international and national components», «autonomy of national and international components». Graphic visualizations of models of countries – design nations are presented on the example of Japan, USA, Germany, Italy and Scandinavia

Study of rail vehicles movement characteristics improvement in curves using fuzzy logic mechatronic systems

The article deals with the effectiveness of reducing the level of force interaction of the rail vehicle wheels with rails in curved sections of the track through the use of mechatronic position control systems for wheel pairs in the rail gauge in the horizontal plane. The approaches to the creation of such a mechatronic system operating on the principles of fuzzy logic are described. To determine the angles of attack of wheels on the rails, it was proposed to use the acoustic emission indicators of the contact of the wheel with the rail. To determine the direction of curvature of the rail track, it is advisable to use data from navigation systems. The study of the dynamics of the rail vehicle during the passage of a curved section of the track in real time was carried out using the Matlab/Simulink software package. The proposed mechatronic control system for the position of the wheel sets in the horizontal plane allows to ensure their optimal installation under various driving conditions in the rail gauge. This makes it possible to minimize the angles of attack of the wheels and reduce the forces of the horizontal interaction of the wheels with the rails

Cyclotron resonance in HgCdTe-based heterostructures in strong magnetic fields.

Cyclotron resonance (CR) study of HgCdTe-based quantum wells with both inverted and normal band structures in quantizing magnetic fields was performed. In normal-band sample in addition to electron CR transitions a strong absorption line presumably related to impurity transitions was discovered. Anticrossing of electron and hole Landau levels was observed in inverted-band sample. In semimetallic HgTe quantum wells with inverted band structure, a hole CR line was observed for the first The obtained results were interpreted within the Kane 8 × 8 model, the valence band offset of CdTe and HgTe, and the Kane parameter EP being adjusted

Magnetospectroscopy of 2D HgTe Based Topological Insulators

We report on a magnetospectroscopy study of a set of four HgTe quantum wells of different thickness. In quantizing magnetic fields, intraband and interband transitions have been observed. The obtained results are compared with the allowed transition energies calculated using the 8 × 8 Kane model