Modern materialistic understanding of the “energy” notion and the method of its systemic evaluation in chemicals

It was shown that the traditional approaches to understanding the notion of “energy” as a work or a physical quantity are outdated. For example, R. Feynman noted that “today’s physics does not know what energy is.” Therefore, even now, some researchers believe that “by and large, the concept of energy… is artificial, because unlike matter, of which we can say that it exists, energy is the fruit of human thought.” In contrast to these ideas, the authors showed that energy, like matter, objectively exists in various forms (energy continuum), which differ in structure, and is able to perform different types of work, to determine the forms of interaction and movement of matter in various material systems (substances, material bodies and megamaterial systems). A new scientific foundation for systematization and quantitative evaluation of energy characteristics of chemical compounds was proposed. It is based on a comprehensive assessment of contribution of chemical compounds’ composition and chemical bond type in line with a chemical bond’s unified model and the “System of chemical bonds and compounds” (SCBC). As a result of using this basic scientific innovation, the symbiosis of Mendeleev’s periodic table of atoms (composition – property) and SCBC (composition - chemical bond and structure – property) was realized for the first time. The foundation was laid for creating a database on systemic digitalization and evaluation of energy stored in various chemicals (natural gas, coal, oil, peat, wood, etc.) and the most effective ways of extracting it from these.

Developing Self-Efficacy and Behavioral Intentions Among Underrepresented Students in STEM: The Role of Active Learning

Increasing academic participation among students from ethnic-racial underrepresented groups in STEM yields societal benefits including ameliorating economic ramifications of the labor shortages in STEM, improving scientific innovation, and providing opportunity, access, and participation in high-status STEM fields. Two longitudinal studies with students from underrepresented groups investigated the role of active learning interventions in the development of STEM self-efficacy and intentions to pursue STEM in the future. Study 1 longitudinally tracked high school students participating in a 4-week geoscience program that applied active learning techniques ranging from hands on experiments to peer discussion. High school student participants displayed increases in self-efficacy and STEM intentions from the start to completion of the program, an effect that was observed exclusively among those who reported strong program quality. Study 2 examined the role of mentorship effectiveness with a sample of community college STEM students interested in transferring to a 4-year college. Students’ relatively strong self-efficacy and STEM intentions at the start of the semester remained stable through the end of the semester. Altogether, the present research highlights the role of positive, inclusive educational climates in promoting STEM success among students from underrepresented group members.

Motivating Self-Efficacy in Diverse Biomedical Science Post-baccalaureate and Graduate Students Through Scientific Conference Implementation

Tactics to increase the number of underrepresented (UR) students in biomedical research PhD training programs have not yet translated to UR faculty numbers that reflect the diversity of the United States. Continued interventions are required to build skills beyond those that result in placement into a PhD program. We hypothesize that successful interventions must build skills that give UR students foundations for confident self-efficacy in leadership. We seek interventions that allow UR students to envision themselves as successful faculty. We posit that development of such skills is difficult in the classroom or laboratory alone. Therefore, novel interventions are required. As part of the NIH-funded Post-baccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP) and Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD) at the Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, we designed and implemented a unique intervention to support development of student leadership skills: a biannual student-organized and student-led national research conference titled “Scientific Innovation Through Diverse Perspectives” (SITDP). This initiative is based on the concept that students who actively live out realistic roles as scientific leaders will be encouraged to persist to scientific leadership as faculty. Here we describe the motivation for, design of, and outcomes from, the first three pilot conferences of this series. We further discuss approaches needed to rigorously evaluate the effectiveness of such interventions in the future.

Engineering the Climate

Notions of the impending climate crisis have pushed a set of highly contested techno-scientific measures onto policy agendas around the world. Suggestions to deliberately alter, to engineer, the Earth’s climate have gained political currency in recent years not as a positive vision of techno-scientific innovation, but as a daunting measure of last resort. The controversial status of various so-called climate engineering proposals raises a simple, yet pressing question: How has it has come to this? And, more specifically, how did such contested measures earn their place on policy agendas, despite enormous scientific complexities and fierce political contestation? Global societal problems, such as climate change, financial crises, or pandemics have brought the political relevance of scientific expertise to the foreground. This book speaks to scholarship in sociology and science studies, seeking to illuminate the essential entanglements between efforts to understand and efforts to govern such problems. By giving climate engineering a life of its own and following its dynamic trajectory as a contested object of expert work, this book sheds light on the reflexive and historically contingent interplay of science and politics as two distinct, yet increasingly interdependent, realms of society.

Reproducibility and research integrity: the role of scientists and institutions

Reproducibility and research integrity are essential tenets of every scientific study and discovery. They serve as proof that an established and documented work can be verified, repeated, and reproduced. New knowledge in the biomedical science is built on the shoulders of established and proven principles. Thus, scientists must be able to trust and build on the knowledge of their colleagues. Scientific innovation and research discoveries especially in the field of medicine has contributed to improving the lives of patients and increasing life expectancies. However, the growing concerns of failure to comply with good scientific principles has resulted in issues with research integrity and reproducibility. Poor reproducibility and integrity, therefore, may lead to ineffective interventions and applications. Here we comment on research reproducibility in basic medical and life sciences with regards to issues arising and outline the role of stakeholders such as research institutions and their employees in addressing this crisis.

Training in Interdisciplinary, Practice-Oriented Minority Aging Research: Honoring the Work of Dr. James Jackson

Few scientists had the breadth and depth of scholarship, the keen interest in interdisciplinary scientific collaboration, and the commitment to mentoring the next generation of scientists as Dr. James Jackson. His passing remains a tremendous loss for the field. This symposium, organized by members of the Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research (MCUAAAR), which was founded by James over 20 years ago, reflects on the impact of transdisciplinary team science, of the importance of research networks and resource sharing, of the need to center research within practice and community, and of the scientific innovation that comes from integrating conceptual models, data sources, and methodological approaches from seemingly disparate fields. The session is co-chaired by Dr. Robert Taylor, longtime faculty member and current PI of MCUAAAR. The talk by session chair Dr. Briana Mezuk will discuss the ways in which the training approach of Analysis Core has inspired new training programs on integrative methods focused on minority health and disparities. The talk by Dr. Tam Perry will describe the innovations of the Community Liaison and Recruitment Core, including how COVID-19 impacted the activities of the Healthier Black Elder Center. The third talk by Dr. Rodlescia Sneed, a MCUAAAR early-career scientist, provides an example of how this Center supports interdisciplinary minority aging research through her project focused on older adults who have a history of incarceration. Finally, Discussant Dr. Roland Thorpe, a member of the MCUAAAR Advisory Board, will reflect on Dr. Jackson’s legacy of mentorship and collaboration.

Anna Kingsford and the Intuitive Science of Occultism

Feminist, anti-vivisectionist, occultist, and one of the first British women to qualify as a medical doctor, Anna Kingsford remains notably absent from recent studies of Victorian science and spiritualism. Her efforts to synthesize occult and scientific worldviews have been side-lined by those of male contemporaries such as Oliver Lodge and Alfred Russel Wallace, ones whose professional status and gender coordinates more readily align with implicit assumptions about the kind of person for whom disenchantment posed an intellectual problem that might best be solved in the laboratory. My paper positions Kingsford at the very heart of the late Victorian project to accommodate scientific innovation and spiritual belief by tracing her attempts to forge an intuitive epistemology superior to what she viewed as the deeply suspect championship of objectivity. In doing so, it aims to expose and redress blind spots within recent esotericism studies-based approaches to the disenchantment debate.

Preface

Due to recent pandemic, the 2021 International Conference on Energy, Power and Electrical Engineering (EPEE 2021) which was planned to be held in Jilin, China, was held virtually online during September 24-26, 2021. The decision to hold the virtual conference was made in compliance with many restrictions and regulations that were imposed by countries around the globe. Such restrictions were made to minimize the risk of people contracting or spreading the COVID-19 through physical contact. There were 100 individuals who attended this online conference, represented many countries including Malaysia, Australia, Ireland and China. As a leading role in the global megatrend of scientific innovation, China has been creating a more and more open environment for scientific innovation, increasing the depth and breadth of academic cooperation, and building a community of innovation that benefits all. These endeavors have made new contribution to globalization and creating a community of shared future. EPEE 2021 aimed to promote an exchange of recent and advanced information among scientists and engineers in the wide field of “energy„, “power„ and “electrical engineering„. The forum is also aimed particularly at promoting communication and collaboration between fundamental researchers and those engaged in the development of practical technology in respective areas of energy, power and electrical engineering. List of Committee member is available in this pdf.