The long-term fire safety of steel structures necessitates fire-resistant (FR) steels with superior strength retention after prolonged exposure to elevated temperatures. This study investigates two FR steels with Mo contents of 0.25 wt.% and 0.50 wt.% (correspondingly adjusted Cr contents to maintain a nearly constant total Mo + Cr alloy level) after thermal exposure at 600 °C for up to 6 h. Both steels exhibit a polygonal ferrite (PF) and granular bainite (GB) microstructure, but with different phase fractions. Increasing Mo to 0.5 wt.% promotes bainite formation, resulting in a predominantly granular bainitic microstructure (88% GB and 12% PF). A multi-scale characterization reveals that the higher-Mo/lower-Cr design not only increases the fraction of GB but also dramatically enhances its thermal stability. Importantly, Mo suppresses the premature precipitation of coarse (Nb, Ti)(C, N) in the parent austenite, thereby retaining solutes for the subsequent precipitation of a high number density of fine carbides within the bainitic ferrite laths during thermal exposure. The combination of a high-density dislocation substructure within the stable GB and the strong precipitation strengthening from these dispersed nano-carbides is primarily responsible for the superior strength retention in the higher-Mo/lower-Cr FR3 steel. This steel maintains a high yield strength of 440 MPa after 6 h at 600 °C, which is 158 MPa higher than its 0.25 wt.% Mo counterpart and satisfies the international fire-resistance criterion (YS600 °C/YSRT > 2/3). This work provides a mechanistic basis for optimizing Mo–Cr alloy design to achieve exceptional long-term high-temperature performance in FR steels.
Electric-vehicle (EV) charging and flexible building loads can increase or relieve distribution-level loading and voltage stress, depending on timing, placement, and flexibility. This paper empirically evaluates a shared service-enriched flexibility-contract representation for coordinating EV departure-energy service and building comfort service. Individual EV and building records encode service limits, deadlines or comfort bounds, and feeder locations. The evaluation compares uncontrolled, service-constrained, feeder-aware, and heuristic uncertainty-aware control, with inputs from empirical residuals or split-conformal scalar service-score quantiles. In the simplified study, 256 scenarios under four modes produce 1024 evaluations. Realized nominal EV energy shortfall and building comfort violations are zero in the tested scenarios, while a separate earlier-departure stress audit shows heuristic uncertainty-aware tightening reducing EV stress-risk cases from 106 to 64. Open Distribution System Simulator (OpenDSS) audits on IEEE 123 and IEEE 34 each include 2048 scenarios and 8192 evaluations; stress-risk cases fall from 1005 to 536, with mean peak tradeoffs of 17.66 kW and 18.26 kW. A reduced-information experiment compares raw-state, individual-contract, and noisy/coarsened information-view proxies for exposure and payload rather than formal privacy. The results provide bounded empirical evidence that service-enriched EV/building contracts can expose service-grid and information-view tradeoffs in the tested simplified and OpenDSS feeder studies and audits.
This paper investigates whether climate-related preferences and risks constitute a systematically priced factor in financial markets and whether the observed greenium provides evidence of such pricing across sovereign bonds, corporate bonds, and equity markets. The development of green finance has been an important financial breakthrough in the domain of sustainable finance. Green bonds and green equities constitute the two primary categories of environmentally oriented investment instruments that have gained significant traction in financial markets. They constitute a financial market response to the challenges and risks brought about by climate change and are an important driver in accelerating the transition of the planet toward a more sustainable economic development model and carbon neutrality. An important question, from the investors and issuers (including sovereign) standpoint, is the extent to which climate change risk is (systematically) priced in financial markets. Establishing the size of the implied green risk premium is relevant for all market participants (investors and issuers) and policymakers alike. We review the evidence of green risk premium (greenium) in asset markets across jurisdictions in developed and (some) emerging markets. All in all, the estimated greenium is more often than not statistically significant, albeit relatively small in its size. Based on evidence from (mostly) academic and institutional literature, we present key insights into how investors’ environmental concerns can drive green asset prices. We report that over time the greenium can widen from 0 up to nearly 20 basis points; its impact on asset prices is tangible, especially for long duration assets. This does indicate that the greenium exists, and it is relevant. Also, it suggests that (at least some) investors appear to be willing to “subsidise” green projects by paying a premium on holding green assets. Moreover, greenium can have a persistent, albeit time-varying, impact on asset prices. Green bonds issued by the public sector display a more consistent pattern in the estimated greenium level across different markets, possibly with a greater size for emerging market debt.
A three-dimensional, two-way coupled fluid–structure interaction (FSI) numerical model was established to investigate the hydrodynamic performance and wave-attenuation mechanism of a water-ballasted single-ring floating breakwater with internal compartmentalization. The model couples the CFD wave solver in OpenFOAM with its built-in six-degree-of-freedom rigid-body motion solver and the dynamic mooring solver MoorDyn. It was validated against two benchmark cases comprising physical wave-flume measurements and published numerical results. Four configurations—unballasted, single-compartment, dual-compartment, and four-compartment—were compared under extreme irregular waves, with different incident-wave headings considered for the compartmentalized configurations. The analysis focused on wave transmission, transient mooring tension, and the combined effects of annular wave scattering and ballast-water sloshing. The results demonstrate that the four-compartment configuration provides the strongest wave attenuation, whereas the dual-compartment configuration achieves a better balance between wave-attenuation performance and mooring-load distribution.
This mixed-methods study examined adolescent girls’ perceptions of puberty in Germany and Ghana to better understand cross-cultural differences in the personal evaluation of physical development during puberty. A total of 418 girls (198 from Germany, 220 from Ghana; mean ages 13.73 and 12.57 years, respectively) completed classroom-based questionnaires assessing overall evaluations of puberty, perceptions of specific bodily changes, and body image. Open-ended questionnaire responses and two focus groups (N = 11) provided qualitative insights. Quantitative findings showed that German girls reported significantly more negative perceptions of puberty than Ghanaian girls. The most pronounced cross-cultural difference concerned menstruation, which was evaluated more negatively by German than by Ghanaian participants. German girls also reported greater real-ideal body discrepancy, suggesting greater body dissatisfaction, although perceived body shape did not differ between groups. Qualitative findings supported these results. German participants described puberty as emotionally challenging, marked by self-doubt, social comparison, media influence, and appearance-related insecurities. In contrast, Ghanaian girls more often framed puberty as a natural transition into adulthood and womanhood, emphasizing fertility, responsibility, and guidance from trusted adults. Overall, the findings highlight both shared and culturally specific meanings attached to puberty and underscore the importance of culturally sensitive puberty education and support systems.
