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We introduce locally conservative, structure-preserving split finite element (FE)discretizations of a y-independent (slice) model of the covariant rotating shallowwater equations. Studying this y-independent model case provides insight towardsdeveloping schemes for the full 2D rotating shallow equations and more sophisticatedmodels. These split schemes are derived using the split Hamiltonian FE method,which is an extension of split FE framework of [1]. The splitting introduces twochains of compatible FE spaces such that the differential operators hold strongly.This leads to a separation of the set of equations into topological prognostic andmetric-dependent closure equations. Consequently, the structure preservation isrelated to the topological equations, namely the conservation of the Hamiltonian (i.e.energy) follows from the antisymmetry of the Poisson bracket and the conservation ofmass, potential vorticity and potential enstrophy from the bracket’s Casimirs. Thesestructure-preserving properties are not affected by the metric closure equations that,in turn, carry metric information and are therefore responsible for the schemes’accuracy, stability, convergence and discrete dispersion properties. We verify theclear separation of structure preservation and numerical properties analytically andshow numerical examples of geophysical relevance for a low order single meshimplementation. References [1] Bauer, W. and Behrens, J. [2018], A structure-preserving split finite element discretization of the split wave equations. Applied Mathematics and Computation, 325, 375–400. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses medical professionalism for physicians, health system delivery leaders and stakeholders. He opines that a major effort has been made by the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation, the American College of Physicians Foundation, and the European Federation of Internal Medicine for defining medical professionalism.

To ensure high qualification standards in medical institutions, a questionnaire has been developed to evaluate the postgraduate medical education in Switzerland. This article describes the development and longitudinal analysis of a questionnaire using eight scales to assess the quality of postgraduate medical education. The questionnaire has been administered to all residents every year since 2003. In 2020, 8,745 residents returned the questionnaire, resulting in a response rate of 70%. In addition, a survey is conducted annually among the directors of medical institutions. We present results of the directors' survey and the resident evaluation from 2020, as well as longitudinal data over 16 years. The mean values of the eight scales remained stable or increased slightly over the years. The decision-making culture scale is generally rated best by the residents, while the evidence-based medicine scale is rated as the least good. The most important drivers of residents' satisfaction with a training site are the work environment and leadership culture scales. The directors perceive the evaluation to be fair and useful. The questionnaire represents a reliable and useful tool for the quality control in postgraduate medical training. It provides yearly feedback to the directors regarding how the residents perceive their training giving insights for improvments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines a successfully implemented innovation process at Nestlé's R&D headquarters in Switzerland. The six-year experience uses a micro- MBA model to train Nestlé employees in how to move beyond the traditional models and innovate far beyond technology, turning them into agents of change. Using nontraditional methods, the results achieved by the program have succeeded beyond expectations. In fact, this innovation process has turned the training into a profit opportunity for the company. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sodium‐ion batteries (SIB) are considered as a promising alternative to overcome existing sustainability challenges related to Lithium‐ion batteries (LIB), such as the use of critical and expensive materials with high environmental impacts. In contrast to established LIBs, SIBs are an emerging technology in an early stage of development where a challenge is to identify the most promising and sustainable cathode active materials (CAM) for further research and potential commercialization. Thus, a comprehensive and flexible CAM screening method is developed, providing a fast and comprehensive overview of potential sustainability hotspots for supporting cathode material selection. 42 different SIB cathodes are screened and benchmarked against eight state‐of‐the‐art LIB‐cathodes. Potential impacts are quantified for the following categories: i) Cost as ten‐year average; ii) Criticality, based on existing raw material criticality indicators, and iii) the life cycle carbon footprint. The results reveal that energy density is one of the most important factors in all three categories, determining the overall material demand. Most SIB CAM shows a very promising performance, obtaining better results than the LIB benchmark. Especially the Prussian Blue derivatives and the manganese‐based layered oxides seem to be interesting candidates under the given prospective screening framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnesium–Sulfur batteries are one of most appealing options among the post‐lithium battery systems due to its potentially high energy density, safe and sustainable electrode materials. The major practical challenges are originated from the soluble magnesium polysulfide intermediates and their shuttling between the electrodes, which cause high overpotentials, low sulfur utilization, and poor Coulombic efficiency. Herein, a functional Mo6S8 modified separator is designed to effectively address these issues. Both the experimental results and density functional theory calculations show that the electrochemically active Mo6S8 layer has a superior adsorption capability of polysulfides and simultaneously acts as a mediator to accelerate the polysulfide conversion kinetics. Remarkably, the magnesium–sulfur cell assembled with the functional separator delivers a high specific energy density (942.9 mA h g−1 in the 1st cycle) and can be cycled at 0.2 C for 200 cycles with a Coulombic efficiency of 96%. This work demonstrates a new design concept toward high‐performance metal–sulfur batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In order to study the significance of as-sintered surfaces for the strength of Si3N4 micro components, micro bending specimens with dimensions of 240μm×240μm×1400μm were prepared from sintered reaction-bonded silicon nitride. The processing parameters sintering temperature and dwell time were varied, and two different types of powder bed were applied during sintering. The characteristic strength σ 0 – determined by micro-3-point-bending tests – varied from about 500 to 1200MPa. Strength values of about 1000MPa and higher were observed when powder beds were applied which were newly prepared and doped with the sintering additives Y2O3, Al2O3, and MgO. In that case, the mass loss during sintering was negligible or even a small mass gain occurred. Samples sintered in used and undoped powder beds by contrast showed mass loss and an enrichment of the secondary phase YN-melilite (Y2Si3O3N4) at the surface; for these samples σ 0 was found to be restricted to about 500–700MPa. Contrary to expectations, it was observed that the residual porosity – ranging from less than 1% up to 11% – does not act as a predominant strength-determining factor. Instead, the more or less pronounced formation of surface-near defects, due to the decomposition and volatilization of Si3N4 during sintering, is considered to be decisive for the achievable strength. Mass loss and YN-melilite formation are indicators for defect creating reactions. Due to the increased surface-to-volume ratio of micro components, the affected surface zone in particular determines the overall mechanical properties. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Combine compatible finite element method with Hamiltonian framework. • Include upwinding schemes while maintaining energy conservation. • Obtain more stable fields, with energy conservation up to machine precision. We present an energy conserving space discretisation of the rotating shallow water equations using compatible finite elements. It is based on an energy and enstrophy conserving Hamiltonian formulation as described in McRae and Cotter (2014), and extends it to include upwinding in the velocity and depth advection to increase stability. Upwinding for velocity in an energy conserving context was introduced for the incompressible Euler equations in Natale and Cotter (2017), while upwinding in the depth field in a Hamiltonian finite element context is newly described here. The energy conserving property is validated by coupling the spatial discretisation to an energy conserving time discretisation. Further, the discretisation is demonstrated to lead to an improved field development with respect to stability when upwinding in the depth field is included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current work, graphite electrodes comprising PVDF binder and carbon black are subjected to characterization. An energy selective backscatter detector is used to localize carbon black and fluorine of PVDF. Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish between graphite, amorphous carbon and fluorine rich regions. Typically, an angular selective backscatter detector is employed to obtain an image providing the material contrast of the sample. Suitable materials for that detector are e.g. alloys to observe intermetallic phases, semiconductor for “channeling contrast”, or imaging SiO 2 and Au nanoparticles in biological cells. However, this detector cannot be used to distinguish between light elements with low atomic numbers, such as C to P. In addition, the contrast of fluorine rich regions and graphite is poor in normal in-lens images due to the low difference of the atomic mass between C and F. The aim of this study is to enhance the contrast of fluorine rich regions to graphite to carbon black. Therefore, the energy selective backscatter detector is used and its advantages and setup is described. Finally this technique is applied to investigate 400 μm thick cross-sections of graphite electrodes dried at different temperatures and obtain the carbon black distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) is evaluated regarding its applicability for revealing the binder distribution in lithium-ion battery electrode films. Graphite anodes comprising carbon black and PVDF binder are subject to varying drying conditions during solvent removal in order to adjust different binder distributions; fluorine is used as a marker for the presence of PVDF. For electrodes of about 70 μm thickness the fluorine concentration is detected at the surface of the electrode film as well as at the interface between electrode film and current collector foil. It is clearly visible by EDS that increasing drying temperatures (and drying rates) result in an accumulation of binder at the surface and a corresponding depletion at the interface. It is demonstrated on the basis of ion-milled cross-sections of thick electrodes (ca. 400 μm) that a quantitative mapping of the binder distribution delivers additional information about concentration gradients in dependence of the drying parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Battery storage systems have become an important pillar in the transformation of the energy and transportation sector over the last decades. Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are the dominating technology in this process making them a constant subject of analysis regarding their sustainability. To assess their environmental performance, several Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) of LIBs have been performed over the last years. Yet, the amount of available primary data on their production remains low, leading to recurrent reliance on a few disclosed datasets, mostly at industrial scale. Thus, there is a need for new LCA studies at different scales (lab, pilot, industrial) using transparent datasets to facilitate more reliable and robust assessments. This work presents a screening of recent environmental assessments for LIBs at different production scales aiming at identifying remaining gaps and challenges, and deriving a detailed LCA of a lab-scale battery cell production. For the first time the environmental impact of a lab-scale battery production based on process-oriented primary data is investigated. The results are flanked by sensitivity analyses and scenarios and compared with literature values. The hotspots identified in this study, cathode slurry, anode current collector, as well as the energy demand of the dry room and coating process, are consistent with the literature, although the absolute values are an order of magnitude larger. The main reason for this are the inefficiencies inherent in lab-scale production. In order to analyze the effects of production scale, an upscaling to the pilot scale is performed. • Extensive review of relevant environmental assessment studies of LIB manufacturing. • First LCA for LIB cell manufacturing at laboratory scale. • Compiling fully transparent process-based primary data. • Theoretical scale-up and consequent analysis of lab-scale data to pilot scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The property determining micro-structure of battery electrodes essentially evolves during drying, appointing it a paramount, yet insufficiently understood processing step in cell manufacturing. The distribution of functional additives such as binder or carbon black throughout the film strongly depends on the drying process. A representative state-of-the-art model system comprising graphite, polymeric binder, carbon black and solvent is investigated to gain an insight into the underlying processes. A new experimental approach is introduced that allows for revelation of the evolution of binder concentration gradients throughout the film during drying. Binder is detected by means of energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) at the top and bottom surface. Drying kinetics is investigated and the impact of the drying process on electrochemical performance is disclosed. The enrichment of binder at the surface, which is observed while applying high drying rates, is shown to depend on two fundamental processes, namely capillary action and diffusion. The findings reveal characteristic drying stages that provide fundamental insights into film solidification. Based on that, a top-down consolidation mechanism capable of explaining the experimental findings is disclosed. Adhesion of the active layer to the substrate is shown to strongly depend on the local binder concentration in the vicinity of the substrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Negative electrodes of lithium-ion batteries generally consist of graphite-based active materials. In order to realize batteries with a high current density and therefore accelerated charging processes, the intercalation of lithium and the diffusion processes of these carbonaceous materials must be understood. In this paper, we visualized the electrochemical active surface area for three different anode materials using a novel OsO 4 staining method in combination with scanning electron microscopy techniques. The diffusion behavior of these three anode materials is investigated by potentiostatic intermittent titration technique measurements. From those we determine the diffusion coefficient with and without consideration of the electrochemical active surface area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Na 3 V 2 (PO 4) 3 /C cathode and commercial hard carbon anode materials are coated with a roll-to-roll coater on an aluminum current collector. Sodium-ion pouch and coin cells are assembled. The degradation mechanism, cycle stability, morphology of cycle-aged material, and aging influence on the heat generation during cycling are thoroughly investigated. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy permits resistance assignment to the specific electrodes by using the distribution of relaxation times. Comparison of pristine and cycle-aged cells allows separating the degradation contributions of the particular electrodes. The generated heat during charging and discharging is determined by means of an advanced highly sensitive MS80 3D Tian-Calvet calorimeter under isothermal conditions at 25 °C and the heat generation mechanisms are elucidated. It is observed that less heat is generated during charging than discharging process. Furthermore, the cell balancing reveals a pronounced effect (approximately 50% in charging and 20% in discharging) on the amount of generated heat, which is valuable feedback for the material developers and cell designers. These analyses represent a fingerprint for the underlying electrochemical processes at the electrodes and are very essential for state of health, aging prediction as well as the subsequent tackling of safety-related issues in sodium-ion batteries. • Na 3 V 2 (PO 4) 3 /C vs HC in coin and pouch cell formats are studied. • The heat generation is measured both on pristine and cycled-aged cells. • Identification and contribution of various resistances from cathode and anode. • Describe the relationship between generated heat and the degradation of materials. • The cell balancing shows a pronounced effect on the amount of generated heat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanical properties of ceramic parts are strongly influenced by the quality of the surface. In the present work it is demonstrated that for the surface quality, material specific properties (sintering activity, grain morphology) as well as process-related factors (debinding and sintering) are vitally important. For the exemplarily investigated materials zirconium dioxide (ZrO) and silicon nitride (SiN) the surface morphology of micro specimens turned out to be the limiting factor for high bending strength. Due to its fine and homogenous microstructure ZrO allows the formation of very smooth surfaces with correspondingly high characteristic strength up to 3,000 MPa. SiN is characterized by a highly anisotropic microstructure, pronounced grain growth, and thereby high surface roughness. Although both materials reveal virtually the same strength level in macro dimensions, in micro dimensions SiN seems to be the inferior choice with a maximum strength of 1,200 MPa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This second part of the report deals with, how the sintering additives Y2O3, Al2O3, and MgO influence the sintering behaviour of SRBSN. Paraffin-based feedstocks with varying sintering aid compositions and silicon grain size were used for moulding macro- and micro-scale samples. It was observed that compositions with smaller Si grain size (with correspondingly high SiO2 content) and containing Al2O3 as sintering additive exhibit higher shrinkage and lower residual porosity when sintered at 1700–1800°C after nitridation. The mechanical properties determined for micro-scale samples were obtained by three-point bending tests, with the resulting characteristic strength values σ 0 ranging from 500MPa up to 1200MPa. Surprisingly residual porosity did not play the role of a strength limiting factor; rather it was observed that the presence of crystalline secondary phases – mainly Y2Si3O3N4 – was responsible for reducing the micro-bending strength. As micro-samples exhibit a large surface-to-volume ratio they are in particular affected by decomposition of Si3N4 and volatilization of SiO2 which is considered to be responsible for the occurrence of secondary phases preferred at the sample surface. The powder bed condition was also found to play a prominent role in the development of the secondary phases during liquid phase sintering. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Nanoparticles have many advantages as active materials, such as a short diffusion length, low charge transfer resistance, or a reduced probability of cracking. However, their low packing density makes them unsuitable for commercial battery applications. Hierarchically structured microparticles are synthesized from nanoscale primary particles by targeted aggregation. Due to their open accessible porosity, they retain the advantages of nanomaterials but can be packed much more densely. However, the intrinsic porosity of the secondary particles leads to limitations in processing properties and increases the overall porosity of the electrode, which must be balanced against the improved rate stability and increased lifetime. This is demonstrated for an established cathode material for lithium-ion batteries (LiNi 0.33 Co 0.33 Mn 0.33 O 2 , NCM111). For active materials with low electrical or ionic conductivity, especially post-lithium systems, hierarchically structured particles are often the only way to produce competitive electrodes.

Magnesium-Sulfur batteries are one of most appealing options among the post-lithium battery systems due to its potentially high energy density, safe and sustainable electrode materials. The major practical challenges are originated from the soluble magnesium polysulfide intermediates and their shuttling between the electrodes, which cause high overpotentials, low sulfur utilization, and poor Coulombic efficiency. Herein, a functional Mo 6 S 8 modified separator is designed to effectively address these issues. Both the experimental results and density functional theory calculations show that the electrochemically active Mo 6 S 8 layer has a superior adsorption capability of polysulfides and simultaneously acts as a mediator to accelerate the polysulfide conversion kinetics. Remarkably, the magnesium-sulfur cell assembled with the functional separator delivers a high specific energy density (942.9 mA h g -1 in the 1st cycle) and can be cycled at 0.2 C for 200 cycles with a Coulombic efficiency of 96%. This work demonstrates a new design concept toward high-performance metal-sulfur batteries., (© 2022 The Authors. Advanced Science published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been proven as an enabling technology for consumer electronics, electro mobility, and stationary storage systems, and the steadily increasing demand for LIBs raises new challenges regarding their sustainability. The rising demand for comprehensive assessments of this technology's environmental impacts requires the identification of energy and materials consumed for its production, on lab to industrial scale. There are no studies available that provide a detailed picture of lab scale cell production, and only a few studies provide detailed analysis of the actual consumption, with large deviations. Thus, the present work provides an analysis of the energy flows for the production of an LIB cell. The analyzed energy requirements of individual production steps were determined by measurements conducted on a laboratory scale lithium-ion cell production and displayed in a transparent and traceable manner. For the comparison with literature values a distinction is made between the different production scales., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interest., (© 2021 The Authors.)

What will be the future of internal medicine in Europe? Because of rapidly growing concerns regarding the position of internal medicine in many European countries, the European Federation of Internal Medicine (EFIM) has established a working group to analyze the situation. Being well aware of the variation in working practices in the different countries, the members of the group used an "all-European" approach to answer the following questions: Are there problems for internal medicine? If so, what are these problems and why? Why do the health care systems in the European countries need internal medicine? Why do patients need internal medicine? What needs to be done? Internal medicine is the modern, clinical, and scientific medical discipline that is responsible for the care of adult patients with one or more complex, acute, or chronic illnesses. Internal medicine is the cornerstone of an integrated health care delivery service that is needed today. Decision-makers in politics and hospitals, insurers, journalists, and the general public need a better understanding of what internal medicine can offer to the health care system and to the individual patient.

What will be the future of Internal Medicine in Europe? Because of rapidly growing concerns regarding the position of Internal Medicine in many European countries, the European Federation of Internal Medicine has established a working group to analyze the situation. Being well aware of the variation of working practices in the different countries, the members of the group used an "all-European" approach to answer the following questions: Are there problems for Internal Medicine, what problems and why? Why do the health care systems of the European countries need Internal Medicine? Why do the patients need Internal Medicine? What needs to be done? Internal Medicine is the modern, clinical and scientific medical discipline taking care of adult patients with one or more complex, acute or chronic illnesses. Internal Medicine is the cornerstone of integrated health care delivery service that is needed today. Decision-makers in politics and hospitals, insurers, journalists and the general public need a better understanding of what Internal Medicine can offer to the health care system and to the individual patient.