Perception of fundamental science to boost lithium metal anodes toward practical application

As a key material for lithium metal batteries(LMBs),lithium metal is one of the most promising anode materials to break the bottleneck of battery energy density and a commonly used active material for reference electrodes.Although lithium anodes are regarded as the holy grail of lithium batteries,decades of exploration have not led to the successful commercialization of LMBs,due mainly to the challenges related to the inherent properties of lithium metal.To pave the way for further investigation,herein,a comprehensive review focusing on the fundamental science of lithium are provided.Firstly,the natures of lithium atoms and their isotopes,lithium clusters and lithium crystals are revisited,especially their structural and energetic properties.Subsequently,the electrochemical properties of lithium metal are reviewed.Numerous important concepts and scientific questions,including the electronic structure of lithium,influence of high pressure and low temperature on the properties of lithium,factors influencing lithium deposition,generation of lithium dendrites,and electrode potential of lithium in different electrolytes,are explained and analyzed in detail.Approaches to improve the performance of lithium anodes and thoughtfulness about the electrode potential in lithium battery research are proposed.

Performance in the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery: Does it reflect global rating scales in the Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills in porcine laparoscopic surgery?

Objective:To correlate the utility of the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery(FLS)manual skills program with the Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills(OSATS)global rating scale in evaluating operative performance.Methods:The Asian Urological Surgery Training and Educational Group(AUSTEG)Laparoscopic Upper Tract Surgery Course implemented and validated the FLS program for its usage in laparoscopic surgical training.Delegates’basic laparoscopic skills were assessed using three different training models(peg transfer,precision cutting,and intra-corporeal suturing).They also performed live porcine laparoscopic surgery at the same workshop.Live surgery skills were assessed by blinded faculty using the OSATS rating scale.Results:From March 2016 to March 2019,a total of 81 certified urologists participated in the course,with a median of 5 years of post-residency experience.Although differences in task time did not reach statistical significance,those with more surgical experience were visibly faster at completing the peg transfer and intra-corporeal suturing FLS tasks.However,they took longer to complete the precision cutting task than participants with less experience.Overall OSATS scores correlated weakly with all three FLS tasks(peg transfer time:r=0.331,r^(2)=0.110;precision cutting time:r=0.240,r^(2)=0.058;suturing with intracorporeal knot time:r=0.451,r^(2)=0.203).Conclusion:FLS task parameters did not correlate strongly with OSATS globing rating scale performance.Although FLS task models demonstrated strong validity,it is important to assimilate the inconsistencies when benchmarking technical proficiency against real-life operative competence,as evaluated by FLS and OSATS,respectively.

Fundamental Principles behind Climate Change

The attribution of climate change is complex,and the current mainstream view is more inclined towards human activities and carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels.Any complex problem is composed of basic principles.This article elaborates on the basic logic behind climate change(a global hot topic)through basic principles such as reaction types,carbon thermal properties of biomass energy,greenhouse gas attribution,ecological basic theory,and energy cycle.

The Intervention Path of Fundamental Rights under the Scope of International Private Law

In recent years, international private law scholars have argued for the radiating effect of fundamental rights on international private law by introducing constitutional theory. However,there remains a lack of systematic research on how fundamental rights should be integrated into judicial practices concerning foreign-related civil and commercial cases. Throughout the development of international private law, public policy has served as a historical carrier of substantive values for judicial entities and has consistently played a crucial role in value review. In cases of international private law where conflicts arise with the values of fundamental rights, public policy indirectly excludes the legal choice outcomes to safeguard the human rights values inherent in fundamental rights from infringement.However, due to limitations imposed by the degree of connection and relative conditions, traditional paths of public policy have certain constraints and cannot provide comprehensive protection for fundamental rights. Therefore, there is a need for judges to shift their logical paradigms, transcend bilateral choice-of-law models, and introduce a direct intervention path for fundamental rights. This direct intervention path utilizes the logical analysis framework of the protection scope,intervention, and justification of fundamental rights. It can effectively balance conflicting legal interests and maximize the protection of the fundamental rights of the parties involved.

New Approach to Synchronize General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics with Constant “K”-Resulting Dark Matter as a New Fundamental Force Particle

Planck scale plays a vital role in describing fundamental forces. Space time describes strength of fundamental force. In this paper, Einstein’s general relativity equation has been described in terms of contraction and expansion forces of space time. According to this, the space time with Planck diameter is a flat space time. This is the only diameter of space time that can be used as signal transformation in special relativity. This space time diameter defines the fundamental force which belongs to that space time. In quantum mechanics, this space time diameter is only the quantum of space which belongs to that particular fundamental force. Einstein’s general relativity equation and Planck parameters of quantum mechanics have been written in terms of equations containing a constant “K”, thus found a new equation for transformation of general relativity space time in to quantum space time. In this process of synchronization, there is a possibility of a new fundamental force between electromagnetic and gravitational forces with Planck length as its space time diameter. It is proposed that dark matter is that fundamental force carrying particle. By grand unification equation with space-time diameter, we found a coupling constant as per standard model “αs” for that fundamental force is 1.08 × 10-23. Its energy calculated as 113 MeV. A group of experimental scientists reported the energy of dark matter particle as 17 MeV. Thorough review may advance science further.

Fundamental Interaction Bridging Elements, in Supplement to the Standard Model

An interdisciplinary-field research brings new elements in bridging the gravitational interaction with the Standard Model, by focusing on 3 factors. The involvement of inductive and capacitive-like phase shifts in the gravitational interaction, the exploration of swapping between parameters of time and space, and the provision of a way to handle imaginary terms. The existence of phase shifts in the gravitational interaction is documented via re-interpretation of older quantitative predictions, and is specifically linked to the Higgs field mechanism. Same as in electronics, a phase shift splits energy into real and imaginary coordinates. This allows to quantitatively treat inertia as an inductive-like potential, alongside the swapping of parameters of time and space. That also allows to treat the Bernoulli pressure in quantitative analogy to a magnetic potential, as well as barrier penetration in quantitative symmetry to the crossing of displacement-current through a capacitor. The findings shed light on how fields & forces, including reaction forces function, while the role of imaginary numbers is analyzed. Interaction of fields with quantum particles is discussed to involve a Fourier-series effect that results in energy quantization. The role of phase shifts becomes essential in bridging between wave nature and effects of relativity, and the Weinberg angle is explained to have the role of an inductive-like shift. The precise value of this angle is proposed to link to elementary particles’ properties like spin, or the value of quarks’ charge. Symmetries introduced allow to address the abundance of matter over antimatter in certain analogy to theory from electronics, to address galaxy rotation curves through an interaction involving negative energy, and more. The new concepts open up room for advancements in energy exploitation over interdisciplinary areas.

Frame Length Dependency for Fundamental Frequency Extraction in Noisy Speech

The fundamental frequency plays a significant part in understanding and perceiving the pitch of a sound. The pitch is a fundamental attribute employed in numerous speech-related works. For fundamental frequency extraction, several algorithms have been developed which one to use relies on the signal’s characteristics and the surrounding noise. Thus, the algorithm’s noise resistance becomes more critical than ever for precise fundamental frequency estimation. Nonetheless, numerous state-of-the-art algorithms face struggles in achieving satisfying outcomes when confronted with speech recordings that are noisy with low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) values. Also, most of the recent techniques utilize different frame lengths for pitch extraction. From this point of view, This research considers different frame lengths on male and female speech signals for fundamental frequency extraction. Also, analyze the frame length dependency on the speech signal analytically to understand which frame length is more suitable and effective for male and female speech signals specifically. For the validation of our idea, we have utilized the conventional autocorrelation function (ACF), and state-of-the-art method BaNa. This study puts out a potent idea that will work better for speech processing applications in noisy speech. From experimental results, the proposed idea represents which frame length is more appropriate for male and female speech signals in noisy environments.

A review from fundamental research to device applications for graphene-based thermal rectifier

Thermal rectification(TR)is a phenomenon akin to electrical rectification.It has a high thermal conductivity(k)in one direction,enabling efficient heat dissipation,as well as a low k in the opposite direction,impeding heat influx.With the rapid development of nanotechnology in recent years,the active control and regulation of heat conduction on the nanoscale has become a critical mission.Graphene,a prominent two-dimensional(2D)material,is highly regarded for its exceptional thermal transport characteristics.There have been studies and achievements both theoretically and experimentally since its discovery.In this review,we establish a bridge between fundamental research and application studies for graphene-based thermal rectifier as follows.Firstly,we summarize the established 2D heat conduction theories and low-dimensional simulation methods.Secondly,we review the progress of experimental techniques and device structures based on 2D theories for graphene-based thermal rectifier.Then,we discuss several applications of thermal rectifier,including thermal logic circuits and thermoelectric power generation system.Finally,we present the potential applications of graphene-based thermal rectifiers previously unexplored,such as microelectronic thermal management and thermal decoupling for flexible equipment.We hope that advancements in morphology and fabrication techniques will lead to widespread use of graphene-based thermal rectifiers in various thermal systems to solve diverse thermal management problems in the near future.

Seismology in the Light of Fundamental Sciences

According to the definition, seismology is a science that studies the processes and causes of seismic phenomena and the structure of the Earth, i.e. a scientific discipline that studies the movement of blocks of rocks of the Earth’s crust and mantle and related phenomena. Seismology conducts research in the following areas and is designed to scientifically explain two main issues: 1) Study of the nature of seismic phenomena and the internal structure of the Earth. Why, how and where do seismic impacts occur? 2) Protecting humanity from the catastrophic consequences of seismic events. Is it possible to predict seismic impacts? Like any other scientific discipline, seismology is obliged to follow the laws of science and its fundamental principles. This article is devoted to the description of violations of the fundamental laws of science committed by seismologists in the study of seismic processes and raises the question of compliance of the stated research directions with the current level of development of sciences. Answering point No. 1, regarding the structure of the Earth, it is possible to recognize some successes of seismology, which nevertheless cause great doubts in the scientific community of geophysicists, because if the stratigraphic data of ultra-deep wells often refute [1] the conclusions made by seismologists on the structure of the Earth’s crust at shallow depth, then to assert something unambiguously about the structure of the mantle and at the present stage, seismology cannot. Answering the main questions of seismology, why seismic phenomena occur, and how earthquake energy is formed, seismologists have not had, and have not. Answering point No. 2, we can confidently say that in the matter of forecasting seismic phenomena, seismology has not advanced one iota over the past century, and as seismologists have been confused in the search for earthquake prediction algorithms, they are also confused without any hope of success. All that modern seismology can “boast” is the theory of Elastic recoil [2], the absurdity of which does not cause any doubt among the progressive part of geophysicists. But, the fact that most of the leading scientists-seismologists continue to piously believe the conclusions of the Elastic Recoil theory puts seismology in a humiliating position, because Mr. Reid’s theory is the clearest example of a false theory based on scientific incompetence of scientists, a model of brazen violation of the fundamental laws of science and the foundation of false and ignorant conclusions. Based on the results achieved, or rather on their absence, we regret to draw a sad conclusion: modern seismology is in the deepest decline, the cause of which is the incompetence of researchers as a result of their catastrophically low level of academic training, who stuff the scientific community with scientific geophysical rubbish, breeding similar ignoramuses in seismology. We understand that by asserting this, we offend most seismologists, but it is impossible to continue to tolerate this state of affairs in geophysics, because: “Amicus plato, sed magis amica est veritas.” Obviously, the time has come for a new meteorologist, Alfred Wagener [3], who will come and teach seismologists not to guess on coffee grounds, but to investigate seismic processes using the fundamental laws of science. In this article, we not only investigate the reasons for the unsatisfactory state of affairs in seismology, but also give our answers to the questions, of why earthquakes occur and how seismic energy is formed.

Effect of simulating training of the fundamentals of laparoscopic surgery on the attitude of operating room nurses students:an intervention study

Objective:Clinical education plays a key role in preparing students for patient care.Laparoscopy is one of the most important minimally invasive surgeries(MISs)wherein surgical technologists are responsible for camera navigation and assistant surgeons are responsible for peg transfer.Therefore,it is necessary to improve the attitude of the operating room students toward these skills during their study period.The present study was conducted to determine the effect of simulating training in the fundamentals of laparoscopic surgery(FLS)on the attitude of the operating room students.Methods:This interventional study was conducted on 28 operating room students of Iran University of Medical Sciences in 2019.The census sampling method was used.The data-collection tool included the“Intrinsic motivation inventory(IMI)questionnaire.”The educational intervention was carried out in theoretical(booklet design)and practical(simulation)sections.Data analysis was carried out using descriptive and inferential analyses including the paired t-test,Mann–Whitney U test,and independent t-test.The collected data were analyzed using R and SPSS software.P-value<0.05 was considered as the significant level.Results:The mean±SD of the participants'age was 22.93±2.14 years,and the majority of them were women(67.9%).There was a significant difference in the mean scores of students'attitudes toward the FLS before and after the educational intervention(P<0.001)in all dimensions(interest,perceived competence,perceived choice,and tension).There was also a significant correlation between gender and interest dimension(P=0.005).Conclusions:The results of the present study showed that simulating the training FLS curriculum positively affects students'attitudes.Therefore,the researchers suggest that for creating a positive attitude,increasing students'interest in laparoscopic surgery,and ensuring a more effective presence in the operating room,this training should be considered in the operating room curriculum.

On Some Fundamental Theorems in Stability Theory

This paper gives several fundamental theorems for the stability, uniform stability, asymptotic stability and uniform asymptotic stability. Those theorems allow the derivative of Lyapunov functions to be positive on certain sets,relax the restriction about the rate of change of state variable in a system to be bounded in Marachkov's theorem and extend the related results in [4—7].

Study of macroscopic fundamental diagram on Shanghai urban expressway network in China

The macroscopic fundamental diagram（ MFD） is studied to obtain the aggregate behavior of traffic in cities. This paper investigates the existence and the characteristics of different types of daily MFD for the Shanghai urban expressway network. The existence of MFD in the Shanghai urban expressway network is proved based on two weeks＇ data.Moreover, the hysteresis phenomena is present in most days and the network exhibits different hysteresis loops under different traffic situations. The relationship between the hysteresis phenomena and the inhomogeneity of traffic distribution is verified. The MFDs in the years of 2009 and 2012 are compared. The hysteresis loop still exists in 2012, which further verifies the existence of the hysteresis phenomenon. The direct relationship between the length of the hysteresis loop（ ΔO） and the congestion is proved based on sufficient data. The width of the hysteresis loop, i. e., the drop in network flow（ ΔQ） has no relationship with the congestion, and it varies from day to day under different traffic situations.

Fast estimation of fundamental matrix based on stripe constraints

In order to improve the performance of estimating the fundamental matrix, a key problem arising in stereo vision, a novel method based on stripe constraints is presented. In contrast to traditional methods based on algebraic least-square algorithms, the proposed approach aims to minimize a cost function that is derived from the minimum radius of the Hough transform. In a structured-light system with a particular stripe code pattern, there are linear constraints that the points with the same code are on the same surface. Using the Hough transform, the pixels with the same code map to the Hough space, and the radius of the intersections can be defined as the evaluation function in the optimization progress. The global optimum solution of the fundamental matrix can be estimated using a Levenberg- Marquardt optimization iterative process based on the Hough transform radius. Results illustrate the validity of this algorithm, and prove that this method can obtain good performance with high efficiency.

Observation of Fundamental and High Order Raman Modes of β-Carotenes in Pd OECC Thin Film by SERS

Raman spectra of purified oxygen evolution core complexes (Pd OECC) thin films on silver mirror substrates have been taken over the frequency range of 250-3100 cm -1 by surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Besides the fundamental frequency modes of β_carotene in Pd OECC, many weak peaks are observed. According to the selection rules of overtone and combination bands, most of them are attributed to the second_order Raman spectra of β_carotene. Compared with the SERS of normal Pd OECC, the SERS of Pd OECC after strong illumination shows a decrease in scattering intensity and an increase in line widths, indicating changes of conformation and micro_environment of β_carotene. The results of SERS are consistent with the changes of absorption spectrum of Pd OECC induced by strong illumination. There are no changes that can be ascribed to new vibration bands, so it is deduced that Pd OECC on the silver mirror is identical to that in the solution. In summary, SERS proved a good method to study the photodamage mechanism of photosynthesis.

Fundamental motor skills,screen-time,and physical activity in preschoolers

Purpose: To examine the associations among preschoolers fundamental motor skills, screen-time, physical activity(PA), and sedentary behavior(SB).Methods: Children ages 3à4 years were enrolled in a prospective observational trial of PA. Trained assessors conducted the Test of Gross Motor Development-3 rd edition(TGMD-3), and the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 nd edition, and parent-reported child screen-time and sociodemographic information. Children wore an accelerometer for 7 days to examine SB and total PA(TPA). TPA was further characterized as moderateto-vigorous PA(MVPA) or vigorous PA(VPA). Mixed linear models were calculated, controlling for age(for TGMD-3), sex, household income, and accelerometer wear time(for accelerometry models), with childcare center as a random effect. The primary analysis reported on the cross-sectional baseline data of 126 children with complete fundamental motor skill and screen-time data; a subanalysis included 88 children with complete accelerometry data.Results: Children were 3.4 § 0.5 years of age(54% girls; 46% white, 42% African American, 12% other). A total of 48% lived in households at or below the federal poverty level. Children engaged in 5.1 § 3.6 h/day of screen-time. Children's screen-time was inversely related to the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 nd edition, manual dexterity skills percentile(b(SE) = ?1.7(0.8), p = 0.049). In the accelerometry subsample,children engaged in 5.9 § 0.9 h/day of TPA of which 1.7 § 0.6 h/day was MVPA. Boys engaged in more MVPA and VPA and less SB compared with girls(all p < 0.05). A higher TGMD-3, total score(b(SE) = 0.4(0.2), p = 0.017) and locomotor score(b(SE) = 0.7(0.3), p = 0.018) were associated with more VPA but not with TPA or MVPA. Screen-time and television in the bedroom were not related to SB, TPA, MVPA, or VPA.Conclusion: Children's motor skills were positively related to VPA but inversely related to screen-time. Further inquiry into the implications of high exposure to screen-time in young children is needed.

Effects of fundamental factors on coupled vibration of wind-rail vehicle-bridge system for long-span cable-stayed bridge

In a wind-vehicle-bridge(WVB) system,there are various interactions among wind,vehicle and bridge.The mechanism for coupling vibration of wind-vehicle-bridge systems is explored to demonstrate the effects of fundamental factors,such as mean wind,fluctuating wind,buffeting,rail irregularities,light rail vehicle vibration and bridge stiffness.A long cable-stayed bridge which carries light rail traffic is regarded as a numerical example.Firstly,a finite element model is built for the long cable-stayed bridge.The deck can generally be idealized as three-dimensional spine beam while cables are modeled as truss elements.Vehicles are modeled as mass-spring-damper systems.Rail irregularities and wind fluctuation are simulated in time domain by spectrum representation method.Then,aerodynamic loads on vehicle and bridge deck are measured by section model wind tunnel tests.Eight vertical and torsional flutter derivatives of bridge deck are identified by weighting ensemble least-square method.Finally,dynamic responses of the WVB system are analyzed in a series of cases.The results show that the accelerations of the vehicle are excited by the fluctuating wind and the track irregularity to a great extent.The transverse forces of wheel axles mainly depend on the track irregularity.The displacements of the bridge are predominantly determined by the mean wind and restricted by its stiffness.And the accelerations of the bridge are enlarged after adding the fluctuating wind.

HYBRID FEM WITH FUNDAMENTAL SOLUTIONS AS TRIAL FUNCTIONS FOR HEAT CONDUCTION SIMULATION

A new type of hybrid finite element formulation with fundamental solutions as internal interpolation functions, named as HFS-FEM, is presented in this paper and used for solving two dimensional heat conduction problems in single and multi-layer materials. In the proposed approach, a new variational functional is firstly constructed for the proposed HFS-FE model and the related existence of extremum is presented. Then, the assumed internal potential field constructed by the linear combination of fundamental solutions at points outside the elemental domain under consideration is used as the internal interpolation function, which analytically satisfies the governing equation within each element. As a result, the domain integrals in the variational functional formulation can be converted into the boundary integrals which can significantly simplify the calculation of the element stiffness matrix. The independent frame field is also introduced to guarantee the inter-element continuity and the stationary condition of the new variational functional is used to obtain the final stiffness equations. The proposed method inherits the advantages of the hybrid Trefftz finite element method （HT-FEM） over the conventional finite element method （FEM） and boundary element method （BEM）, and avoids the difficulty in selecting appropriate terms of T-complete functions used in HT-FEM, as the fundamental solutions contain usually one term only, rather than a series containing infinitely many terms. Further, the fundamental solutions of a problem are, in general, easier to derive than the T-complete functions of that problem. Finally, several examples are presented to assess the performance of the proposed method, and the obtained numerical results show good numerical accuracy and remarkable insensitivity to mesh distortion.

SOME PROBLEMS WITH THE METHOD OF FUNDAMENTAL SOLUTION USING RADIAL BASIS FUNCTIONS

The present work describes the application of the method of fundamental solutions （MFS） along with the analog equation method （AEM） and radial basis function （RBF） approximation for solving the 2D isotropic and anisotropic Helmholtz problems with different wave numbers. The AEM is used to convert the original governing equation into the classical Poisson＇s equation, and the MFS and RBF approximations are used to derive the homogeneous and particular solutions, respectively. Finally, the satisfaction of the solution consisting of the homogeneous and particular parts to the related governing equation and boundary conditions can produce a system of linear equations, which can be solved with the singular value decomposition （SVD） technique. In the computation, such crucial factors related to the MFS-RBF as the location of the virtual boundary, the differential and integrating strategies, and the variation of shape parameters in multi-quadric （MQ） are fully analyzed to provide useful reference.

Social-ecological correlates of fundamental movement skills in young children

Purpose: To identify the social-ecological correlates associated with fundamental movement skills at the child, family, and environment levels in young children.Methods: Preschool children from 4 Colorado Head Start/preschool centers were recruited from 2010 to 2012. Two hundred twenty-eight children(128 girls; age = 56.08 § 4.09 months; body mass index(BMI) z-score = 0.53 § 1.12(mean § SD); 42.1% Hispanic/Latino) and 159 families were included in the final analysis. Children's perceived competence and fundamental movement skills were assessed via the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance and the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, 2 nd edition. Data on the number of children in the family, parent age, BMI, education, employment status, family income, perception of child coordination, and home physical activity environment were collected via a questionnaire. Linear regressions adjusted for child BMI, age, sex, and school site were performed at each level.Results: Child perceived cognitive competence was positively associated with locomotor skills(p = 0.04; adjusted R2= 0.035) and object-control skills(p = 0.003; adjusted R2= 0.083) at the child level. Parent education, BMI, and perception of child coordination were positively associated with locomotor skills and explained 8.8% of variance, but only parent education was significant(p = 0.04) at the family level. In addition, physical environment was positively associated with locomotor skills(p = 0.02) and explained 5.5% of variance at the environment level.Conclusion: Social-ecological correlates associated with young children's fundamental movement skills are multidimensional and differ according to skill category at the child, family, and environment levels.