Southeast Asia faces a critical energy trilemma of rapidly rising electricity demand, persistent fossil fuel dependence, and increasingly ambitious decarbonization targets. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Power Grid (APG) has emerged as a central regional initiative to address these challenges by enabling cross-border electricity trade and facilitating large-scale integration of renewable energy. This review offers a critical synthesis of the infrastructure-renewable-policy nexus shaping the evolution of the APG, moving beyond descriptive accounts toward an analytical assessment of its role in regional energy transition. First, the paper investigates the shift from bilateral interconnections toward multilateral electricity trading, highlighting the importance of geographic complementarity between hydropower-rich mainland systems and solar-and wind-dominated insular regions. Second, it evaluates the benefits and limitations of regional integration, emphasizing the reliability-sovereignty trade-off, regulatory fragmentation, and financing constraints that hinder largescale deployment. Third, the review explores the emerging role of digitalization, including smart grids, artificial intelligence-based forecasting, and advanced transmission technologies such as high-voltage direct current (HVDC), in enabling a flexible and interconnected regional power system. The findings indicate that a phased and context-specific integration pathway, combining infrastructure expansion, digital market coupling, and institutional coordination, is essential for transforming the APG into a digitally integrated regional electricity market. Beyond infrastructure, this review reveals that regional grid integration can enhance climate resilience through geographic balancing. It can also strengthen strategic energy autonomy through intra-ASEAN renewable electricity trade. The reviewed evidence further indicates that such trade can contribute to reducing system costs and accelerating decarbonization across ASEAN.
1-3 and 2-2 connectivity lead-free 0.94Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3-0.06BaTiO3 (BNBT) ceramic/Portland cement composites were designed and fabricated for use as sensors in structural health monitoring applications. This study investigates the effects of BNBT content and composite connectivity on compressive strength, acoustic, and aging piezoelectric properties, with the aim of optimizing composite performance. Composites containing 40-70 vol% BNBT were prepared using cut-and-fill technique. The highest measured values of d33 and g33 were 115 pC/N and 26.07 x 10-3 Vm/N, respectively. The results demonstrate that increasing BNBT content and employing 2-2 connectivity enhance the compressive strength of the composites, with 2-2 composites showing superior performance compared to 1-3 composites. All composites exhibited higher compressive strength than concrete. The composite with-40 vol% BNBT showed good compatibility with concrete. Between 1 to 60 days of aging, the g33 values of composites remained higher than those of standalone BNBT ceramic, highlighting a notable advantage of composite design.
Synthetic dyes, which are extensively used in textile and other industries, produce wastewater that is toxic, recalcitrant, and non-biodegradable. As such, environmental concerns are drawing attention to sustainable adsorbents of the dyes. In this study, hydrochar was green-synthesized using table sugar (sucrose) via hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) at 200 °C for 12 h without toxic additives. The hydrochar was analyzed in terms of elemental, thermal stability, and point of zero charge (pHPZC ≈ 6). Adsorption studies were performed using cationic dyes, methylene blue (MB), rhodamine B (RhB), and rhodamine 6G (R6G), as well as anionic dyes, methyl orange and eosin blue, for comparative purposes. The hydrochar showed high adsorption for MB (2.0747 mg/g), RhB (3.5063 mg/g), and R6G (1.8268 mg/g), while nearly no anionic dyes were adsorbed. The kinetics data were well described by a pseudo-second-order model, and the equilibrium data were well described by a Langmuir isotherm, indicating that monolayer adsorption was occurring on homogeneous surface sites. The reusability evaluations revealed stable MB adsorption and moderate desorption (in the case of RhB and R6G) through several cycles, indicating practical utility. Moreover, the high adsorption capacity and good recyclability of the sucrose-derived hydrochar demonstrated its potential as an effective, low-cost, and environmentally friendly adsorbent for cationic dye removal, contributing to the application of sustainable water treatment in the context of a circular economy.
An anionic rectangular tetranuclear Cu(II) complex, namely (NH2(CH3)2)4[Cu4(pzdc)4(dpe)2]center dot 3H2O (1), was successfully synthesized via a solvothermal method using pyrazole-3,5-dicarboxylic acid (H3pzdc) and 1,2-di(4pyridyl)ethylene (dpe) as organic linkers. The structure of complex 1 was structurally characterized through single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction, FT-IR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric technique, and elemental analysis. Owing to the presence of the pi-conjugated system in the structure, complex 1 displays promising iodine adsorption behavior. Complex 1 can adsorb iodine vapor with adsorption capacities of 0.12 g center dot g- 1 and 1.20 g center dot g-1 at room temperature and 80 degrees C, respectively, which correspond to 0.30 and 4.08 molecules of iodine per formula unit of sample. The adsorption mechanism was investigated using the density functional theory (DFT) calculations in conjunction with PXRD, XPS, FT-IR, and Raman spectroscopy. Raman and XPS spectra confirmed the presence of both molecular iodine (I2) and triiodide ions (I3- ), suggesting that the adsorption involves chargetransfer interactions between iodine and electron-rich organic components in the structure.
Microwave ablation (MWA) uses electromagnetic waves to produce localized heat for tumor therapy. This research examined the influence of tissue porosity on heat transmission and thermal damage patterns during microwave ablation via numerical simulations grounded in Maxwell's equations and porous media theory. Tissue necrosis was forecasted via an Arrhenius model, dependent on temperature and exposure time. The study findings show that higher tissue porosity leads to a more diffused and elongated necrotic zone due to enhanced convective heat transfer. The heightened porosity elevates fluid velocity and enhances natural convection currents, leading to a more comprehensive heat dispersion throughout the tissue, hence complicating the regulation of the tissue ablation zone and heightening the danger of harming healthy tissues. Moreover, higher microwave power levels intensify tissue heating and convection; when combined with intrinsic tissue porosity, this broadens heat dispersion and can distort the ablation-zone geometry. These observations underscore the necessity of accounting for tissue porosity in the optimization of MWA regimens. By customizing the microwave power level and exposure time to the porous nature of tissues, clinicians can predict thermal outcomes more accurately and improve tumor targeting while minimizing harm to the surrounding tissues. This approach is promising in realizing more precise and safer MWA treatments for cancer.
