Understanding how crystallographic strain orientation governs coupled structural, electronic, and thermoelectric responses of low-symmetry two-dimensional materials remains an open challenge. In particular, the strain-structure-property relationships in pentagonal transition-metal dichalcogenides have not been systematically clarified. In this work, we employ first-principles density functional theory combined with semiclassical Boltzmann transport analysis to investigate the effects of uniaxial strain applied along the in-plane x-and y-directions on PdS2 and PtS2 monolayers. Owing to their non-equivalent X-S bonding topology, strain applied along different directions activates distinct microscopic deformation pathways, with epsilon xxaccommodated predominantly through bond-length variation, whereas epsilon yy involves a greater contribution from bond-angle rearrangement and out-of-plane structural relaxation. At equilibrium, PdS2 and PtS2 exhibit band gaps of 2.13 eV and 3.00 eV, respectively, which decrease significantly under tensile strain, with reductions of up to 66.63% and 52.0%. Strain-dependent projected density-of-states analysis further reveals orientation-dependent changes in the energetic distribution and overlap of Pd/Pt-d and S-p states near the band edges, providing an orbital-level link between directional lattice deformation and electronic reconstruction. These electronic changes are reflected in the thermoelectric response, with the Seebeck coefficient and power exhibiting pronounced dependence on both strain magnitude and loading orientation for both p-type and n-type carriers. Comparative analysis reveals that PtS2 displays a more favorable thermoelectric response, while PdS2 shows enhanced sensitivity to strain orientation demonstrating complementary thermoelectric performance and strain tunability. The dynamical and thermal stability of representative highly strained configurations were further examined by phonon and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. Overall, the results establish crystallographic strain orientation as an additional degree of freedom, beyond strain magnitude alone, for controlling coupled structural, electronic, and thermoelectric properties in low-symmetry two-dimensional materials.
We determine all CR maps from the sphere in & Copf;3 into the tube over the future light cone in & Copf;4. This result leads to a complete characterization of proper holomorphic maps from the three-dimensional unit ball into the classical domain of type IV of dimension four, confirms a conjecture of Reiter-Son from 2022, and settles the case left open in Xiao-Yuan [36] and Reiter-Son [29]. Additionally, we prove a boundary characterization of isometric holomorphic embeddings from a ball into a classical domain of type IV in arbitrary dimensions that is similar to the main result in Huang-Lu-Tang-Xiao [18]. The result is then used to treat a special case in the general characterization. (c) 2026 Elsevier Inc. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.
Biomimicry—the practice of emulating nature’s time-tested patterns and strategies—has generated transformative innovations across multiple sectors, while the biodiversity crisis is accelerating. This paradox reveals an innovation debt to nature: humanity increasingly benefits from ecosystems’ intellectual capital, while ongoing ecological degradation erodes the very knowledge base upon which future innovations depend. Grounded in the semiconducting principle—which permits environmental value to generate monetary gains while rejecting the use of monetary gains to offset or compensate for environmental degradation—this perspective proposes a profit-sharing mechanism designed to redirect socio-economic systems toward activities aligned with ecological thresholds and long-term sustainability. Specifically, the proposed mechanism channels a portion of revenues or profits derived from biomimicry-based innovations toward conservation and restoration activities, thereby helping address the biodiversity finance gap and fostering an eco-surplus culture in which business success and ecological regeneration mutually reinforce one another. In doing so, it creates a positive feedback loop: the more humanity innovates through nature, the more it contributes to sustaining and regenerating it.
Pristine graphene is chemically inert, which hinders the chemisorption of precursor molecules in atomic layer deposition (ALD). Surface pretreatment, which generates active sites to facilitate the nucleation and enable the subsequent uniform growth, is crucial for integrating graphene with oxides, metals, and other materials in functional devices. Motivated from a common pretreatment method using oxygen in ALD, this work considers a fundamental problem of an oxygen adatom adsorbed on pristine graphene lattice and provides a comprehensive study of the structure and energetics of this single oxygen adatom on graphene using density functional theory. Based on the calculated electronic structures and phonon spectra, this study shows that, for a pristine structure, there is a low probability that an oxygen adatom can react with other substances, such as ALD precursors, as it is mainly located at the stable bridge site position even at high temperatures and becomes rather inert, while other positions can be more reactive but at higher energy levels. The result is directly related to the effect of the pretreatment process, implying that if the pristine lattice is mostly intact after the oxygen pretreatment, the deposition quality is not optimal. It provides a theoretical understanding of the necessity for introducing damages on graphene after pretreatment to enhance the number of nucleation sites in ALD experiments.
Financial support from urban residents represents a potentially important resource for sustaining and expanding public parks, particularly tree-planting initiatives that contribute to biodiversity and human well-being. This study applies the Granular Interaction Thinking Theory (GITT) and Bayesian inference to examine how residents' perceptions of the consequences of biodiversity loss and their park-visit frequency relate to willingness to donate to tree-planting projects in public parks. Based on survey data from 535 Vietnamese residents, the results indicate that perceived loss of ecological knowledge and more frequent park visitation are associated with higher willingness to donate, whereas perceived health-related losses receive moderate posterior support for a positive association. Perceived reductions in economic growth are positively related to park visitation frequency, which, in turn, is associated with greater willingness to donate. In contrast, perceived losses from nature-based recreation are linked to lower visitation frequency and subsequently weaker willingness to make indirect donations. These findings suggest that communication and engagement strategies that emphasize personally and community-relevant benefits may be associated with stronger financial support intentions for urban tree-planting initiatives. As the study focuses on stated willingness rather than observed financial behavior, the implications pertain to intention-based support rather than realized contributions.
