Based on experiments and simulations, various plasma parameters are found to undergo a hysteresis as a function of the driving voltage amplitude in capacitively coupled CF4 discharges. Phase Resolved Optical Emission Spectroscopy reveals that the discharge operates in a hybrid combination of the drift-ambipolar and α-mode at low voltage. In this mode, the electric field and mean electron energy are high in the electronegative plasma bulk region. As the cross section for electron attachment is appreciable only at high electron energies, this mode results in strong negative ion production and keeps the electron density low as well as the mode of plasma operation stable, when the voltage is increased moderately. Increasing the driving voltage amplitude further ultimately induces a mode transition into a pure α-mode, once the electron density increases strongly. Decreasing the voltage again results in a reverse mode transition at a lower voltage compared to the previous mode transition, because the electron density is now initially high in the bulk and, thus, the bulk electric field and mean electron energy are low resulting in inefficient generation of negative ions via electron attachment. This keeps the electron density high even at lower driving voltages. This effect leads to the emergence of two steady states of plasma operation within a certain voltage range. The different electron energy distribution functions in these two states result in markedly different generation and density profiles of F atoms, with higher values occurring in the increasing voltage branch of the hysteresis. The ion flux and mean energy at the electrodes also differ. The voltage range, where the hysteresis occurs, is affected by the ion induced secondary electron coefficient (γ). A larger value of γ results in a shift of the hysteresis voltage range towards lower values. © 2024 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Central Asia is among the most heavily affected regions worldwide by climate change and water shortages. Impacts include changes in precipitation patterns, more frequent temperature extremes and increased aridity causing a negative impact on agricultural production, food availability, and environmental security. To combat this threat, it is important to enhance information literacy among all water users. This can be done through awareness campaigns, blended learning by providing the proper Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programs and utilizing all available facilities. This will address relevant issues, such as miscommunication, complexities of transboundary water sharing issues, overexploitation of water resources, and poor flood-drought mitigation techniques. Proper and user-friendly lifelong blended learning for scientific information dissemination focusing water issues can provide stronger support to increase awareness among water users and decision policy makers. Worldwide, especially in North America and Australia, information literacy campaigns have proven successful. This strategy can be replicated in the Mountainous Kyrgyz-Kazakh Chu-Talas transboundary river basin. The issues concerning the Mountainous Kyrgyz-Kazakh Chu-Talas transboundary river basin is elaborated and compared with Australian, Canadian, and US river basin management programs. The foresight analysis is presented, as to what would be a rationale to improve water resources more sustainably in Central Asia. Methodologies, programs, technologies, communities-based river basin committees, snow-water collection with agroforestry, and basin-based water market opportunities were analyzed to assess potential applications in Central Asia region. © 2024 by author(s).

The research aimed to investigate the impact of Augmented Reality (AR) supported teaching activities on pupils’ academic success and motivation to learn physics, and their attitudes towards AR applications. The study focused on the “Nuclear Physics” unit in high school physics courses and employed the “Solomon Four Group Model” to control both internal and external validity. The study involved 120 pupils from two different schools, with two experimental and two control groups randomly assigned. First experimental group and first control groups completed pre-test and post-test assessments, while the second experimental group and second control groups only completed the post-test. Over a nine-week period, the experimental groups were taught using mobile AR applications, while the control groups followed the curriculum’s planned activities. The data collection tools included the “Nuclear Physics Success Test” and the “Pupils’ Motivation to Physics Learning” scale. Novelty of the research is about comparing and contrasting virtual laboratory learning environments with augmented reality learning environments. The research findings indicated that teaching with AR applications had a significant impact on pupils’ academic success to learning physics. This suggests that teaching with AR applications is an effective educational approach to enhancing physics education among 11th-grade pupils. Despite the fact that virtual laboratories and augmented reality are both innovative technologies with the potential to enhance learning experiences, experimental research suggests augmented reality is more effective in developing pupils’ critical thinking skills in high school physics lessons than virtual laboratories

This paper presents an integrated approach to improve the efficiency of a closed-type wind turbine. The influence of the confuser’s angle of attack on the wind speed in the turbine blades located area has been studied. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of the installation was created using COMSOL Multiphysics software. The contours of speeds and pressures were studied at different wind speeds, as well as under different confuser parameters. Based on the results of the study, a recommendation for the optimal angle of attack of the confuser was made for constructing a closed-type wind turbine, and MXene-based nanomaterials were considered for use in icing prevention systems. © The Author(s) 2025

Agricultural areas are extremely challenging as an object of administrative influence. The problems existing in agricultural areas cannot be overcome without research, the results of which can help managers to make effective decisions. The study aims to analyze the development of ecosystem stability as an instrument for managing agricultural territories in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Through the methods of focus groups and expert survey, the study identifies the key directions of activity to improve ecosystem stability as a tool for managing agricultural territories in Kazakhstan. The authors conclude that the problems of agricultural territory management require direct intervention of the state through the application of various instruments promoting the stability of the ecosystem of agricultural lands. Several directions of work are recommended to be developed to overcome the identified problems. First, the application of the ecosystem approach to the development of stability of agricultural land in Kazakhstan must focus on strengthening the system of innovative development and the management of effective integration of rural areas. The second recommendation suggests the improvement of land and water use based on the ecological-landscape approach. The third direction is the improvement of the quality of life in agricultural territories through better provision of public goods and basic services to the rural population. Furthermore, the regulatory influence of the state should extend not only to the economic sphere, but also to the adjacent spheres of human activity and the use of natural resources.

Over the past two centuries, photocatalysis—the use of light to accelerate chemical reactions—has undergone substantial development. This multidisciplinary field, which is especially thriving with advances in nanotechnology, combines photochemistry, catalysis, and semiconductor physics. Calcium ferrite's low band gap and strong activity underneath sunlight make it a suitable for photocatalytic applications. The effectiveness of calcium ferrites and the related photocatalysts in organic pollution remediation, synthetic techniques, and their photocatalytic characteristics, including the processes governing their activity, are all covered in this paper. Numerous synthesis methods have been explained, including sol-gel, co-precipitation, and hydrothermal processes. The optical and structural characteristics have been examined using characterization methods like as UV–Vis spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The review demonstrates calcium ferrites' potential in environmental remediation technologies by highlighting how well it breaks down organic contaminants in water purification and, at the end, the challenges and future outlooks have been mentioned.

Due to the side effects of greenhouse gases, interest in alternative energy sources is growing, and research into hydrogen (Н2) production from cyanobacteria has become a promising direction for the industry. The article provides an overview of cyanobacterial hydrogen production strategies and their current economic efficiency. It also describes metabolic, genetic and technical methods for obtaining H2 from cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria are considered potential producers of hydrogen energy that will be economically viable shortly, as they only need cheap salts, water and solar energy to grow. However, producing hydrogen from cyanobacteria still requires extensive work, and the main problem is the small amount of hydrogen energy obtained. To produce large amounts of cyanobacterial hydrogen, the most active wild-type strains must be selected and technological, modular and genetic research must be carried out simultaneously. The low energy efficiency of hydrogen from cyanobacteria also shows the need for comprehensive research through international programs. © 2022 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC

The dependences of changes in the strength properties of nitride and carbide ceramics under high temperature irradiation with Kr15+ and Xe22+ heavy ions at irradiation doses of 1012–1015 ions/cm2 are presented in this work. The irradiation was chosen to simulate radiation damage processes that are closest to the real conditions of reactor tests in operating modes of increased temperatures. Polycrystalline ceramics based on AlN, Si3N4 nitrides, and SiC carbides were chosen as objects of research, as they have great prospects for use as a basis for structural materials for high-temperature nuclear reactors, as well as materials for nuclear waste disposal. During these studies the effect of radiation damage caused by irradiation with different fluences on the change in mechanical strength and hardness were determined, and the mechanisms causing these changes depending on the type of irradiated materials were proposed. The novelty of this study is in the results obtained determining the stability of the strength and thermophysical parameters of nitride and carbide ceramics exposed to high-temperature irradiation, which made it possible to determine the main stages and mechanisms for changing these parameters depending on the accumulated radiation damage. The relevance of this study consists not only in obtaining new data on the properties of structural materials exposed to ionizing radiation, but also in the possibility of determining the mechanisms of radiation damage in ceramics. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

This paper describes research work to determine the corrosion compatibility of material of the capillary-porous structure (CPS) matrix with a liquid tin-lithium (Sn-Li) alloy at high temperatures. The studies were carried out with the Sn-Li alloy containing 73 at.% of tin and 27 at.% of lithium and samples of 12Cr18Ni10Ti grade austenitic stainless-steel. This steel was proposed as one of the options as a candidate material for the Sn-Li CPS matrix manufacturing. Experiments on the interaction of a liquid Sn-Li alloy with stainless-steel at high temperatures were carried out on the TiGrA experimental facility based on the Mettler Toledo TGA/DSC 3+ thermogravimetric analyzer. The temperature gap in corrosion experiments ranged from 600 °C to 1000 °C, the interaction time for each temperature level was about 10 h. In the course of the work, experiments were carried out to study the compatibility of a Sn-Li alloy in the liquid phase with stainless-steel at temperatures of 600 °C, 800 °C and 1000 °C. Post-experimental studies of stainless-steel samples were carried out using microstructural and energy-dispersive analysis. Based on the results obtained, it was determined that when stainless-steel interacts with an Sn-Li alloy at high temperatures, complex physical-chemical processes occur, such as: selective dissolution of steel components by a liquid alloy; permeation of the liquid alloy into stainless-steel; mass transfer of dissolved metals from a solid metal to a liquid one

Miscible carbon dioxide (CO2) flooding is a well-established and promising enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technique whereby residual oil is recovered by mixing with injected CO2 gas. However, CO2, being very light and less viscous than reservoir crude oil, results in inefficient sweep efficiency. Extensive research is ongoing to improve CO2 mobility control such as the development and generation of CO2/water foams. The long-term stability of foam during the period of flooding is a known issue and must be considered during the design stage of any CO2 foam flooding project. The foam stability can be improved by adding surfactants as stabilizers, but surfactants generated foams have generally a shorter life because of an unstable interface. Furthermore, surfactants are prone to higher retention and chemical degradation in the porous media, particularly under harsh reservoir conditions. Research has shown that nanoparticles (NPs) can act as an excellent stabilizing agent for CO2/water foams owing to their surface chemistry and high adsorption energy. The foams generated using NPs are more stable and provide better mobility control compared to surfactant-stabilized foams. One limitation of using NPs as foam stabilizers is their colloidal stability which limits the use of low-cost NPs. Combining surfactants and NPs for CO2 foam stabilization is a novel approach and has gained interest among researchers in recent years. Surfactants improve the dispersion of NPs in the aqueous phase and minimize particle aggregation. NPs on the other hand create a stable barrier at the CO2/water interface with the help of surfactants, thus generating highly stable and viscous foams. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the basic principles and applications of stabilized CO2 foams. A brief overview of CO2 foam flooding is discussed first, followed by a review of standalone surfactant-stabilized and NPs-stabilized CO2/water foams. The application of hybrid surfactant-NPs stabilized CO2 foams is then presented and areas requiring further investigation are highlighted. This review provides an insight into a novel approach to stabilize CO2/water foams and the effectiveness of the method as proved by various studies. © 2021 Chinese Petroleum Society