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The typical metal chloride‐graphite intercalation compounds (MC‐GICs) inherit intercalation capacity, high charge conductivity, and high tap density from graphite, and these are considered as one of the promising alternatives of graphite anode in rechargeable metal‐ion batteries (MIBs). Notably, the special interlayer decoupling effects and the introduction of extra conversion capacity by metal chloride could greatly break the capacity limitation of graphite anodes and achieve higher energy density in MIBs. The optimization of both graphite host and metal chloride species with specific structures endows MC‐GICs with design feasibility for different application requirements of different MIBs, such as several times the actual capacity compared to graphite anodes, rapid migration of large carriers, and other properties. Herein, a brief review has been provided with the latest understanding of conductivity characteristics and energy storage mechanisms of MC‐GICs and their interesting performance features of full potential application in rechargeable MIBs. Based on the existing research of MC‐GICs, necessary improvements and prospects in the near future have been put forward. Metal chloride‐graphite intercalation compounds are recognized as promising alternative electrode materials of graphite. It presents unique electronic characteristics and allows more metal‐ion storage with several energy storage mechanisms. Based on the designing of the graphite host, intercalator, and electrode structure, metal chloride‐graphite intercalation compounds delivered high capacity, fast electrochemical kinetics, and superior cycling stability for rechargeable metal‐ion batteries.

This work aimed at synthesizing MoO3 and MoO2 by a facile and cost-effective method using extract of orange peel as a biological chelating and reducing agent for ammonium molybdate. Calcination of the precursor in air at 450 °C yielded the stochiometric MoO3 phase, while calcination in vacuum produced the reduced form MoO2 as evidenced by X-ray powder diffraction, Raman scattering spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy images showed different morphologies and sizes of MoOx particles. MoO3 formed platelet particles that were larger than those observed for MoO2. MoO3 showed stable thermal behavior until approximately 800 °C, whereas MoO2 showed weight gain at approximately 400 °C due to the fact of re-oxidation and oxygen uptake and, hence, conversion to stoichiometric MoO3. Electrochemically, traditional performance was observed for MoO3, which exhibited a high initial capacity with steady and continuous capacity fading upon cycling. On the contrary, MoO2 showed completely different electrochemical behavior with less initial capacity but an outstanding increase in capacity upon cycling, which reached 1600 mAh g−1 after 800 cycles. This outstanding electrochemical performance of MoO2 may be attributed to its higher surface area and better electrical conductivity as observed in surface area and impedance investigations.

Residents of mainland China always come to the first-class hospitals. Facing limitations to medical resources, hospital managers consider adding some potential capacity beyond the regular daily capacity to meet demands and improve the profit. This paper systematically studies the capacity-addition policy, and compares two kinds of them: fixed capacity-addition policy (F-CAP) and variable capacity-addition policy (V-CAP). The former sets the additional capacity by simple calculations according to experiences or history statistics. Under the V-CAP policy, the additional capacity is determined by solving an optimization model rather than a constant. The V-CAP definitely achieves the optimal expected profit, which can be regarded as the benchmark that leads to the best improvement. Since the F-CAP is widely used in many first-class hospitals in practice, this paper attempts to explore in which situations the F-CAP can achieve a similar improvement of the V-CAP, and in what environments the additional capacity should be a variable. In addition to focusing on additional capacity, both policies allocate the regular capacity to two types of patient: routine patients and same-day patients, who have different no-show probabilities. We formulate linear integer programming models of F-CAP and V-CAP to maximize the expected profit. Several propositions and corollaries are proved to cut off the solution space and accelerate the search process. The optimal additional capacity can be directly determined by these properties, and the optimal value is non-decreasing with the regular capacity allocated to routine patients. Numerical experiments indicate that the optimal total supply of regular capacity and additional capacity is always less than the expected total demand. The F-CAP is recommended to the environments with low no-show probabilities of routine patients and same-day patients, moderate expected total demand, correlation coefficient of demands and regular capacity, where the reduction of the expected profit is less than 5% of the F-CAP compared to the V-CAP.

In my opinion, the speakers have disclosed practically all the problems related to utilization of nuclear submarines (NSs) and I agree that recycling is a complex of very sophisticated activities from the engineering viewpoint. Therefore, I shall dwell on the accepted recycling schemes and the problems that have arisen at the State Center for Atomic Ship Building or more precisely in the city of Severodvinsk.

The normal matrix model with algebraic potential has gained a lot of attention recently, partially in virtue of its connection to several other topics as quadrature domains, inverse potential problems and the Laplacian growth. In this present paper we consider the normal matrix model with cubic plus linear potential. In order to regularize the model, we follow Elbau & Felder and introduce a cut-off. In the large size limit, the eigenvalues of the model accumulate uniformly within a certain domain We also study in detail the mother body problem associated to To construct the mother body measure, we define a quadratic differential Following previous works of Bleher & Kuijlaars and Kuijlaars & López, we consider multiple orthogonal polynomials associated with the normal matrix model. Applying the Deift-Zhou nonlinear steepest descent method to the associated Riemann-Hilbert problem, we obtain strong asymptotic formulas for these polynomials. Due to the presence of the linear term in the potential, there are no rotational symmetries in the model. This makes the construction of the associated

The education system has been radically transformed by technological impetuses owed to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4.0). Most recently, developing nations expedited smart education implementation to combat the negative effects COVID-19 has on education; thus, presenting managerial issues. A review of the literature on smart education shows that past studies focused primarily on the smart learning environment, substantially ignoring the importance of leadership and human resources capacity in the management of smart education. This study addresses the deficiency observed in the literature as it relates to the key factors that enable success in the management of smart education. The study applied a quantitative approach that derived data from a structured survey of probability simple random sampled Grenadian employees belonging to tertiary education. The Hayes multiple moderated mediation, Model 23, supported by SPSS-PROCESS Macro software was used to examine the study’s model. Results showed that human resources capacity has a conditional indirect effect on smart education through the mediating variable of leadership capacity. Additionally, the moderating variables of additional investment in the ‘ɑ’ path and student demographics in the ‘ɓ’ path both displayed significant moderating effects. The findings of the study have provided several valuable insights into the theoretical and practical implications of the influence of leadership and human resources capacity in the implementation of smart education. Therefore, it is recommended, that the soft variables assessed in this paper need to be harnessed accordingly to achieve smart education.

This paper examined various stages and advantages of wooden additional floors from the perspective of Finnish housing and real estate companies through interviews with professionals involved in these projects. Main findings highlighted: (1) commercial conditions should be carefully analyzed for return on investment; (2) city plan change and the presence of a potential contractor and an expert were generally considered important issues; (3) considerations regarding city planning, parking spaces, load-carrying capacity, and new building codes were highlighted as critical factors for feasibility study; (4) existing building regulations and building rights regarding the subscription fee and tax issues should be considered during project planning; (5) city plan change and building rights with different tendering conditions were reported as important parameters in implementation planning; (6) an efficient flow of information between the parties involved was vital to the successful progress of the construction phase. Wooden additional floor construction, which requires commitment, investment, and cooperation between interested parties, has great potential regarding construction technology and contracting mechanisms. Additionally, this sustainable approach has many advantages concerning the environment, economy, energy efficiency, and aesthetics. In this sense, it is believed that this study will contribute to the diffusion of wooden additional floor construction in other countries besides Finland.

With the rapid development of mobile technologies in contemporary society, China has seen increased usage of the Internet and mobile devices. Thus, mobile payment is constantly being innovated and is highly valued in China. Although there have been many reports on the consumer adoption of mobile payments, there are few studies providing guidelines on examining mobile payment adoption in China. This study intends to explore the impact of the facilitating factors (perceived transaction convenience, compatibility, relative advantage, social influence), environmental factors (government support, additional value), inhibiting factors (perceived risk), and personal factors (absorptive capacity, affinity, personal innovation in IT (PIIT)) on adoption intention in China. A research model that reflects the characteristics of mobile payment services was developed and empirically tested by using structural equation modeling (SEM) on datasets consisting of 257 users through an online survey questionnaire in China. Our findings show that perceived transaction convenience, compatibility, relative advantage, government support, additional value, absorptive capacity, affinity, and PIIT all have a positive impact on adoption intention, while social influence has no significant impact on adoption intention, and perceived risk has a negative impact on adoption intention. In addition, the top three factors that influence adoption intentions are absorptive capacity, perceived transaction convenience, and additional value.

To avoid the damage of the connection due to the overstrength of beam strength, and the alternation of the strength hierarchy in the structural system, a novel precast concrete beam-to-column connection is proposed herein. In the proposed connection, a novel replaceable energy-dissipation connector (REDC) was placed at the bottom of a hidden corbel. In addition, a narrow vertical slot was placed adjacent to the hidden corbel to reduce the beam overstrength. First, the structural features and mechanical mechanism of the proposed novel precast connection were discussed. Second, three low-cycle quasi-static loading tests were carried out on a single full-scaled specimen by using three REDCs of different sizes. The test results showed that the seismic performance of this novel precast connection was excellent and that the additional bending moment caused by beam overstrength in the novel precast connection was significantly lower than that of a conventional connection. Third, three finite element models were developed to further analyze how to reduce the additional bending moment and to always keep the top reinforcements in the elastic range. Finally, relevant design suggestions were provided. The additional bending moment of the novel precast connection designed according to the proposed formulas can be minimized. In view of this, the bending moments of the novel connection can be regarded as a controllable variable.

Background and Objectives: Frail patients after open-heart surgery often experience worse treatment outcomes in improving physical performance and muscle strength. As the functional recovery of frail patients after open-heart surgery is slower, conventional rehabilitation is frequently insufficient to achieve treatment goals. Therefore, the inclusion of additional exercise interventions in cardiac rehabilitation is becoming more relevant. The aim of this study was to assess and compare the effectiveness of additional exercise interventions—multicomponent and computer-based programs—applied along with conventional cardiac rehabilitation in improving the functional capacity and strength of frail patients after open-heart surgery. Materials and Methods: The population of this single-center, three-arm, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial comprised 153 frail patients aged more than 65 years who underwent open-heart surgery. All patients were randomized into three groups: control (CG, n = 51), intervention 1 (IG-1, n = 51), and intervention 2 (IG-2, n = 51). All groups received conventional rehabilitation program six times/week, while the IG-1 additionally received the multicomponent dynamic training program 3 times/week, and the IG-2, the combined computer-based program 3 times/week. The primary outcome measure was change in the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) score. Secondary outcome measures included the 6 min walk distance (6MWD), peak workload, grip strength, and leg press. Primary and secondary outcome measures were assessed before and after cardiac rehabilitation. Results: A total of 138 patients completed rehabilitation (46 in each group), and their data were included in the main analysis that followed a per-protocol approach. Although significant differences in the primary outcome—the SPPB score—were found in each group while performing within-group comparisons (p < 0.001), no significant pre-to-post rehabilitation differences were observed compared to all three groups (p = 0.939), and the effect sizes were small. Regarding secondary outcome measures, within-group comparison revealed significant differences in all parameters of all groups (p < 0.05), except for the grip strength of both hands in the IG-1. Between-group comparisons showed that the pre-to-post 6MWD difference between the CG and the IG-1 was significant (p = 0.014), but the effect size was small (ES = 0.240). Moreover, significant pre-and-post leg press 1RM differences (p < 0.001) were found between the CG and the IG-1 as well as between the CG and the IG-2 with the effect sizes being moderate (ES = 0.480) and large (ES = 0.613), respectively. Conclusions: Within-group comparison showed that all three rehabilitation programs are effective in improving almost all parameters of physical performance and muscle strength in frail patients after open-heart surgery. However, between-group comparisons indicated that computer-based interventions were more effective in improving leg press 1RM with a large effect size, while multicomponent training resulted in more effective gains in the 6MWD, although with a small effect size. These findings suggest that in clinical practice, computer-based exercise programs may be more suitable for patients with muscle weakness, while multicomponent exercise programs may be for those with reduced endurance.