Fundamental Natures Research Articles

Rethinking Vision Transformer and Masked Autoencoder in Multimodal Face Anti-Spoofing

Recently, vision transformer (ViT) based multimodal learning methods have been proposed to improve the robustness of face anti-spoofing (FAS) systems. However, there are still no works to explore the fundamental natures (e.g., modality-aware inputs, suitable multimodal pre-training, and efficient finetuning) in vanilla ViT for multimodal FAS. In this paper, we investigate three key factors (i.e., inputs, pre-training, and finetuning) in ViT for multimodal FAS with RGB, Infrared (IR), and Depth. First, in terms of the ViT inputs, we find that leveraging local feature descriptors (such as histograms of oriented gradients) benefits the ViT on IR modality but not RGB or Depth modalities. Second, in consideration of the task (FAS vs. generic object classification) and modality (multimodal vs. unimodal) gaps, ImageNet pre-trained models might be sub-optimal for the multimodal FAS task. Finally, in observation of the inefficiency on direct finetuning the whole or partial ViT, we design an adaptive multimodal adapter (AMA), which can efficiently aggregate local multimodal features while freezing majority of ViT parameters. To bridge these gaps, we propose the modality-asymmetric masked autoencoder (M2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$^{2}$$\\end{document}A2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$^{2}$$\\end{document}E) for multimodal FAS self-supervised pre-training without costly annotated labels. Compared with the previous modality-symmetric autoencoder, the proposed M2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$^{2}$$\\end{document}A2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$^{2}$$\\end{document}E is able to learn more intrinsic task-aware representation and compatible with modality-agnostic (e.g., unimodal, bimodal, and trimodal) downstream settings. Extensive experiments with both unimodal (RGB, Depth, IR) and multimodal (RGB+Depth, RGB+IR, Depth+IR, RGB+Depth+IR) settings conducted on multimodal FAS benchmarks demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed methods. One highlight is that the proposed method is robust under various missing-modality cases where previous multimodal FAS models suffer serious performance drops. We hope these findings and solutions can facilitate the future research for ViT-based multimodal FAS.

Love and romantic relationship in the domain of medicine.

In this paper, I explore the nature of medical interventions like neuromodulation on the complex human experience of love. Love is built upon two fundamental natures, viz: the biological and the psychosocial. As a result of this distinction, scientists, and bioethicists have been exploring the possible ways this complex human experience can be biologically tampered with to produce some supposed higher-order ends like well-being and human flourishing. At the forefront in this quest are Earp, Sandberg and Savulescu whose research works over ten years has focused on the good that could stem from the medicalization of love. I acknowledge the various criticisms that have been made against this stance. However, most of these criticisms have been directed towards the mere side effects and sociocultural disservices that could result from the process of using drugs to influence human romantic relationships and in the end, critiques endorse the medicalization of love on the basis that its benefits outweigh the disadvantages. Consequently, I advance two strands of arguments against "medically-assisted love," the ontological and the socio-ethical arguments. The former presupposes that beyond the possible side effects of medicalizing love there is something inherently mistaken about this effort and there is something intrinsically different about love that distinguishes it from its medically-engineered alternative. In the latter argument, I claim that drug interventions in romantic love contravene the very nature of medicine. Overall, I believe that critiques were still able to endorse medicalizing love despite their objections because they were only looking at one direction, the physical/cultural complications.

Domain-independent thermoelastic coupling mechanism for multi-physical systems applications: a Bond Graph approach

In this paper, we propose a domain-independent nonlinear thermoelastic coupling element to enable the realization of a two-way dynamic coupling between the thermal and elastic domains. The implementation of the proposed coupling element in multi-physical systems modeling will provide reversibly conserved power transactions among the existing physical domains (thermal and elastic domains), which is a favorable demand in coupled field dynamic investigations. To guarantee a conserved and continuous power transmission between the thermal and elastic domains, by means of the Bond Graph notation, a reversible multi-dimensional storage element is designed, and the corresponding multi-dimensional constitutive equations are derived that satisfy the Maxwell reciprocity. The power network of each domain of interest is, also, represented in the Bond Graph notation, and the corresponding governing equation of each domain is extracted on the basis of physical system theory. The reversible connectivity of the thermal and elastic domains is then executed via replacing the storage elements of each of the domains with the proposed coupling element. The ensuing model will provide the thermoelastic behavior of the system from the reversible thermal and elastic domains’ energetic interactions, which preserves the fundamental physical natures of such phenomena in the model. The generated coupling element will allow the model of each physical domain to remain independent from other existing domains while they are dynamically coupled, which provides a unique benefit for multi-physical phenomena investigations.

Emerging of Heterostructure Materials in Energy Storage: A Review

With the ever-increasing adaption of large-scale energy storage systems and electric devices, the energy storage capability of batteries and supercapacitors has faced increased demand and challenges. The electrodes of these devices have experienced radical change with the introduction of nano-scale materials. As new generation materials, heterostructure materials have attracted increasing attention due to their unique interfaces, robust architectures, and synergistic effects, and thus, the ability to enhance the energy/power outputs as well as the lifespan of batteries. In this review, the recent progress in heterostructure from energy storage fields is summarized. Specifically, the fundamental natures of heterostructures, including charge redistribution, built-in electric field, and associated energy storage mechanisms, are summarized and discussed in detail. Furthermore, various synthesis routes for heterostructures in energy storage fields are roundly reviewed, and their advantages and drawbacks are analyzed. The superiorities and current achievements of heterostructure materials in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), lithium-sulfur batteries (Li-S batteries), supercapacitors, and other energy storage devices are discussed. Finally, the authors conclude with the current challenges and perspectives of the heterostructure materials for the fields of energy storage.

Husserl on Hallucination: A Conjunctive Reading

Several commentators have recently attributed conflicting accounts of the relation between veridical perceptual experience and hallucination to Husserl. Some say he is a proponent of the conjunctive view that the two kinds of experience are fundamentally the same. Others deny this and purport to find in Husserl distinct and non-overlapping accounts of their fundamental natures, thus committing him to a disjunctive view. My goal is to set the record straight. Having first briefly laid out the problem under discussion and the terms of the debate, I then review the proposals that have been advanced, disposing of some and marking others for further consideration later in the paper. A. D. Smith's disjunctive reading is among the latter. I discuss it at length, arguing that Smith fails to show that Husserl's views on perceptual experience entail a form of disjunctivism. Following that critical discussion, I present a case for a conjunctive reading of Husserl's account of perceptual experience.

Lower bound of performance index of anti-sway control of a pendulum using on-off damping radial spring-damper

An on-off damping radial spring-damper can be attached to a pendulum to suppress its nonlinear sway motion. This paper studies the class of on-off damping controller, which switches the damping level from high to low and back at fixed times every quarter of period. Among this class, this paper shows the solution of the lower bound controller producing the lowest amplitude-frequency curve. The lower bound curve shows some fundamental natures of the system and gives some useful directions for a good on-off damping controller.

Lanthanide (III) (La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, and Yb) Ions Loaded in CeO2 Support; Fundamental Natures, Hydrogen Reduction, and CO Oxidation Activities

Lanthanide (III) (La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, and Yb) Ions Loaded in CeO₂ Support; Fundamental Natures, Hydrogen Reduction, and CO Oxidation Activities

Radical Pluralism

AbstractHumean Supervenience is the view that (a) there are a plurality of fundamental beings, (b) there are no inexplicable constraints on modal space, and hence the fundamental nature of each such being is independent of those of all the rest and of the fundamental relations in which it stands to the rest, (c) the fundamental beings stand in no fundamental causal or nomic relations, and hence (d) the distribution of any causal or nomic relations in which they do stand globally supervenes on their fundamental natures and the non‐nomic, non‐causal fundamental relations in which they stand. If Humean Supervenience is true, then as A.J. Ayer put it, it's just one damn thing after another. Radical Pluralism is the view that Humean Supervenience is true, and, moreover, that none of the fundamental beings stands in any fundamental relations at all. If Radical Pluralism is true, then, as William James puts it, the world's pieces are held together by nothing more than conjunction: it's just one damn thing and another. I argue that Radical Pluralism is very likely true, conditional upon Humean Supervenience. Any philosopher pluralist enough to be Humean ought to be radically pluralistic.

Fragility-Confinement Effects: Apparent Universality as a Function of Scaled Thickness in Films of Freely Deposited, Linear Polymer and Its Absence in Densely Grafted Brushes

Ellipsometry measurements as a function of cooling rate are used to study nanoscale confinement effects on dynamic fragility (kinetic fragility), m, in supported films of freely deposited, linear polymer. Polymers include neat polystyrene (PS), neat polycarbonate (PC), and PS + 2 wt % 1,10-bis(1-pyrene)decane (BPD) as small-molecule diluent; in each case, the substrate/polymer interface lacks significant attractive interactions. In terms of both the length scale at which confinement effects become evident and the percentage reduction in m from its bulk value, the magnitude of the m-confinement effect increases with increasing bulk polymer system m. Additionally, for films of linear polymer lacking significant attractive interactions with the substrate surface, m-confinement effects are evident at larger onset thicknesses than those commonly reported in the literature for the glass transition temperature (Tg)-confinement effect. Evans et al. [Macromolecules 2013, 46, 6091] found that the Tg-confinement effect in related films exhibits a universal nature as a function of scaled thickness. Fragility-confinement effects of films of freely deposited, linear polymer chains exhibit a similar universal nature as a function of scaled thickness using shift factors consistent with those used by Evans et al. However, when PS is confined in a dense brush with one end of each chain covalently attached to the substrate surface, both m and Tg are independent of brush thickness. The strong correlation of fragility-confinement and Tg-confinement effects has important implications for understanding the fundamental natures of both the Tg-confinement effect and the glass transition itself.

Oscillation of Davydov Solitons in Three Wells

In this work, we propose a model of oscillation of Davydov solitons in three wells. It can be used as a mathematical and physical frame in simulation of circle of some nonlinear oscillation of excitations via acupuncture system. The calculation shows that this sort of oscillation is possible if the initial rate of average occupational number of the quasi-particles in the wells is not equal to zero. One of oscillations arising relies on the initial rate of average occupational number of quasi-particles to be equal with each other within three wells. Then, the oscillation is not a kind of Josephson oscillation and has complicated frequency distributions. However, the total behavior of oscillation played is similar to three big solitons concentrated in three wells. In this sense, this model generally reveals a sort of oscillation mechanism of the acupuncture system how to work in the body, which allows us to understand the oscillation that may be one of fundamental natures in the acupuncture system.

LINCS: Towards building a trustworthy litigation hold enabled cloud storage system

Litigation holds are inevitable parts of modern civil lawsuits that mandate an organization to preserve all forms of documents related to a lawsuit. In current data storage models, this includes documents stored in clouds. However, due to the fundamental natures of today's clouds, incorporating a trustworthy litigation hold management system is very challenging. To make the situation more complicated, defendants or plaintiffs may collude with the cloud service provider (CSP) to manipulate the documents under the hold. Serious consequences can follow if a litigant party fails to comply with the litigation hold for evidence stored in the cloud, resulting in legal sanctions for spoliation. This will not only harm the reputation of an organization but also levy of sanctions, such as fines, penalties, etc.In this paper, we define a model of trustworthy litigation hold management for cloud-based storage systems and identify the key security properties. Based on the model, we propose a trustworthy LIitigation hold eNabled Cloud Storage (LINCS) system. We show that LINCS can provide the required security properties in a strong adversarial scenario, where a plaintiff or defendant colludes with a malicious CSP. Our prototype implementation reveals that the performance overhead of using LINCS is very low (average 1.4% for the user), which suggests that such litigation hold enabled storage system can be integrated with real clouds.

Experimental and theoretical study of carbohydrate–ionic liquid interactions

With increasing interest in the use of lignocellulosic biomass for the production of renewable transportation fuels, new approaches for biomass pretreatment have been of considerable interest. The conversion of biomass cellulose to water-soluble sugars is currently one of the most intensive demands worldwide. The use of ionic liquids has been described as a new potentially viable development in this area. Indeed, previous work indicates that carbohydrates are soluble in some imidazolium based ionic liquids. For a better understanding of the behavior of such systems, theoretical quantum chemical calculation have become complementarities of experimental measurements. The goal of this work is to investigate the fundamental natures of the interaction between glucose or cellulose and imidazolium based ionic liquids using ab initio calculations and comparing these results with experimental data. Furthermore, a characterization study was made to investigate the changes in the cellulose structure during the process of solubility and regeneration with ionic liquids.

Resource treatment of HPF coking desulphurisation waste solution: composition and characteristics of pyrolysis

HPF (H: hydroquinone; P: dinuclear cobalt-phthalocyanine sulfonate; F: ferrous sulphate) coking desulphurisation waste solution (CDWS) produced from coking oven gas desulphurisation process is an extremely harmful pollutant. The fundamental natures of this solution, which involves its main ingredient and content, type of organic matter, thermal decomposition characteristics of salt, and relationship of boiling point and density with salt content, were examined in this paper. Results show that inorganic salts in CDWS mainly contain ammonium thiosulfate and ammonium thiocyanate; the content and ratio of this two differ with factories and batches of CDWS. Organic matters in CDWS mainly contain phenolic and nitrogenous organic compounds, which together account for 98.79% of the total organic matter. The salts in CDWS are of poor thermal stability and can be decomposed at 425°C. The density and boiling point of CDWS increase with increasing salt content. Heating temperature should be strictly controlled, and solution flow should be supplemented by stirring at vacuum conditions during concentration and drying.

Adsorption/photocatalytic activity and fundamental natures of BiOCl and BiOClxI1−x prepared in water and ethylene glycol environments, and Ag and Au-doping effects

BiOCl and BiOClxI1−x were synthesized in two different solvents of ethylene glycol (EG) and water, and their natures were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron transmission microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction, UV–vis absorption and Raman, Fourier-transform infrared, and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The Ag and Au-doping effects on the fundamental nature and photocatalytic activity of BiOCl and BiOClxI1−x were investigated in detail. SEM revealed that 3D flower-like and 2D plate-like microstructures were formed with EG and water solvents, respectively. The as-synthesized samples were tested for the adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange and Rhodamine B, with the flower-like 3D-structure showing superior adsorption performance relative to the stacked 2D plate-like structures. Upon introducing iodine into BiOCl, we observed a dramatic increase in the adsorption ability and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area, with an order of 2D BiOCl<3D BiOCl≪BiOClxI1−x (x=0.8, 0.6 and 0.4). The dye degradation performance was further markedly enhanced under irradiation by visible light. However, a small amount of Ag and Au-doping drastically negated the adsorption and photocatalytic performance. The photocatalytic mechanism was elucidated by an indirect chemical probe method using active species scavengers, and photoluminescence spectroscopy. On the basis of the results obtained, we propose a dye-sensitized photodegradation mechanism, and the active species play roles in the order of OH≪O2−≈h+ under visible light irradiation.

2D‐ and 3D‐Photoluminescence Imaging of Eu(III) Embedded in CeO2 Nanomatrix

2D‐ and 3D‐photoluminescence characteristics of Eu(III) doped in CeO2 nanoparticles were fully imaged for the first time. Their fundamental natures were also examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X‐ray diffraction (XRD) crystallography, and UV–visible absorption spectroscopy. The magnetic dipole 5D0 → 7F1 transition was dominated by an indirect transition associated with a O2−–Ce4+ charge‐transfer band of CeO2. The electric dipole 5D0 → 7F2 transition was dominated by a direct transition of Eu(III), indicating that Eu(III) replaces Ce(IV) at octahedral sites (Oh and O) with and without an inversion center. Upon annealing, the photoluminescence intensity caused by direct transition was dramatically decreased, whereas that induced by indirect transition was greatly enhanced. These findings indicate that charge transfer to the Eu(III) at the octahedral (Oh) site with the inversion center is more efficient than that to the Eu(III) site without an inversion center. The absolute quantum yield for the 10 mol% Eu(III)–CeO2 was found to be ϕ = 0.007 at an excitation wavelength of 350 nm. The photoluminescence of Tb‐doped CeO2 was briefly discussed for comparison.

Relationship between chemical constituents and herbs' properties of relative plant herbs

The material fundament of Chinese herbs is chemical constituents which represented the properties of herbs, including five fundamental natures (cold, cool, neutral, warm and hot), seven flavors (sour, bitter, sweet, salty, acerbity, mild and pungent) and twelve meridians (liver, heart, spleen, lung, kidney, Xin Bao, Gall bladder, small intestine, stomach, large intestine, bladder and San Jiao). In this article, authors study the relationship between chemical constituents of plant herbs and their properties. First, authors build a relationship network where the herbs with similar chemical compositions are connected each other. The particular difference of our work is to filter the common chemical constituents that many plants from different families contained. As a result, considering relative plants have similar chemical constituents, the relative plant herbs are clustering closely and the herbs of different family are connected loosely in our network. The results indicates that the method of building the herbs network is correct. The characteristics of herbs' properties in the network are that the same properties are usually connected regardless the plant families. There is "properties hole" phenomenon, that is, the majority of adjacent drugs of a herb have a certain properties, while the drug does not have the properties.

Experimental Prospect

This is the first conference of this series the three of the lepton mixing angles are known. The non-zero value of the third mixing angle (θ13) has been reported by νe appearance in accelerator νμ beam and by ν¯e disappearance in reactor experiments. The observation of the νe appearance in νμ beam is the first clear evidence of the flavor oscillations. The results also show that neutrino oscillations phenomena can be described by three-generation scheme to the first approximation, where mixing of neutrinos can be described by three angles and one complex phase. There are two main issues to be investigated by neutrino oscillation experiments. One is the study of CP violation in lepton secto. Namely, the measurement of CP violating complex phase δCP and the studies of the nature of CP violation phenomena in lepton sector. The other is search for neutrinos beyond three generations. There are indications of the existence of additional neutrinos, which should be tested by definitive experiments. The number of neutrino species has important implications not only in particle physics but also in physics of early Universe. Also many fundamental natures of neutrinos remain to be studied, such as absolute values of masses, nature of the particle (Majorana or Dirac particle). This article concentrates on the future experimental prospects on the study of neutrino physics by means of neutrino oscillation.

DEVELOPING DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES TO MEET SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES

Dynamic capabilities are recognized as key factors for the adaptation of the firm to its changing environment. For two decades, a new pressure has been added on the shoulders of firms: they have to integrate sustainable development considerations in their strategy. This paper explores the impact of those new sustainability requirements on the dynamic capabilities that a firm should develop and sustain to remain competitive in turbulent environments. In particular, which new innovation capabilities are required to integrate environmental, social and financial objectives? To answer this question, we first consider the dynamicity levels identified in the literature in relationship with the turbulence of the firm's environment and we study what level is required for which type of sustainable innovation. Secondly, we look at the three fundamental natures of dynamic capabilities (sensing, seizing, transforming) and identify typical new requirements coming from sustainability challenges. We apply this reflection to Green IT innovations.

Building the world from its fundamental constituents

What is the fundamental structure of the world? To clarify: I take fundamentality to be metaphysical priority, where ‘‘metaphysical priority’’ is best understood in the traditional sense, such that the metaphysically prior is that in which everything else consists. The fundamental structure concerns the fundamental constituents of the world, the constituents from which everything else is constructed, and the fundamental categorical structure. The fundamental categorical structure is determined by the fundamental kinds or natures of the world, i.e., by the fundamental categories. The fundamental constituents are the constituents of these categories. Unless we are nihilists or monists, to have a world, we need more than just its fundamental constituents and categories: we need a building relation as well. This relation may itself be fundamental, even if the constituents it ties together generate a less fundamental entity, the world. I hold that there is a world built from more fundamental constituents, and that the building relation is composition: the world is built by mereologically fusing its constituents. The composition intuition, as we may call it, is based on the thought that we enjoy a direct grasp of the nature of proper

Isolated attosecond electron wave packet diffraction

Wave-particle duality is one of the most fundamental and mysterious natures of matters. Here, we present an interesting scheme of isolated electron wave packet diffraction with a few-cycle laser pulse and an extreme ultraviolet (XUV) pulse. The diffraction fringes are clearly present in the laser dressed XUV photoelectron spectra, strongly resembling the Airy diffraction pattern of optical waves. This phenomenon suggests a great potential of attosecond diffractometry. According to this scheme we also propose a simple method to determine the XUV pulse duration from the photoelectron spectra with a rather high resolution.