Previous modeling efforts to rationalize this observation, notably by Yip and co-workers, have produced complex systems of equations underpinning the trade-off relationship. (6,9) However, these modeling efforts have not achieved an analytical expression for the upper bound relationship in the same instructive manner as in Freeman’s seminal study for gas separation membranes.

once you have more than a few cases, comparison becomes computationally difficult, and the use of mathematical expressions becomes key in arranging data in ways that let us see the signal in the noise.

Quantification is ultimately linguistic: it is a form of translation. Most of our descriptions start as ‘ordinary language’, and in some cases, we ‘code’ those descriptions using numbers rather than words

application of electricity offers an enormous opportunity to enhance selectivity in separations that involve charged solutes, even if the membrane material itself has poor selectivity.

Separations in the uncharged/charged category, such as water desalination by RO or PV, permeate the uncharged solute (e.g., water) and reject the charged solute (e.g., NaCl = Na+ and Cl–). The membrane charge enhances the performance of uncharged/charged separations that are driven by pressure, which is a major reason this category features higher selectivity than the others

We conclude that this simple capacitor model successfully captures the main physical reason behind the low dielectric constant ϵ⊥ of water in nanoconfinement

code refactoring is the process of restructuring existing computer code—changing the factoring—without changing its external behavior. Refactoring is intended to improve the design, structure, and/or implementation of the software (its non-functional attributes), while preserving its functionality. Potential advantages of refactoring may include improved code readability and reduced complexity; these can improve the source code's maintainability and create a simpler, cleaner, or more expressive internal architecture or object model to improve extensibility

战役暴露了明军诸多问题，最大的有两点：其一是丁酉之战明军兵员素质较壬辰之战时大幅度下降，战况利则一拥而上，不利则一哄而散，反映了明军精兵较少，冗兵较多的现实问题；其二是各部缺乏配合，如果此战中后军坚守阵线不退，则可以稳住前军军心以图再战或者至少将损失降到最低而不至全军溃败沦为鱼肉。

最终，明廷认定：“倭寇之图朝鲜，意实在中国，而我兵之救朝鲜实所以保中国”，因而答应让李昖渡过鸭绿江寻求庇护，居住在明境辽东半岛的宽奠堡，同时出兵援助朝鲜

Modulation, the shifting from one key to another, was a driving principle in both harmony and sonata form, the primary Western large-scale musical structure since the middle of the 18th century. Modulation maintained harmonic interest over an extended time-scale, provided a clear contrast between musical themes and showed how those themes were related to each other.

lower hydrated ionic radius for the same valence offers higher ion exchange selectivity

歌德老师和黑格尔老师都会同意，一定信息粒度以上的人类历史就是天才史，或者说精英史。什么叫精英？选出人类最重要的一百种活动——比如文学，数学，政治之类——每种选有史以来前一百强，这一万名精英创造了精神意义上的人类历史的90%+甚至99%+，其余的几千亿人都是时代背景，模型变量而已

任何信仰、故事、或命題，只要它們起作用的方式跟古老故事對原始人起作用的方式是一樣的，都可視為神話。換言之，任何我們用來解釋萬物為何如此的事物、或者任何被我們當作行為典範的事物，都可以視為神話。

以《老子》比附黑格尔的辩证法就像以算盘比附计算机一样是历史错位、牵强附会。黑格尔的辩证法恰恰建立在对以往经验主义科学扬弃的基础上

What is notable about WhatsApp is that the key identifier is not your account, but rather your phone number; any sort of technological lock-in has completely disappeared

Evidence cannot verify a theory. It cannot even select a theory

What I believe happened this weekend was a uniquely American solution to the problem of Trump’s refusal to concede and attempts to incite violence: all of corporate America collectively decided that enough was enough, and did what Congress has been unable to do, effectively ending the Trump presidency. Parler, to be honest, was just as much a bystander casualty as it was a direct target. That the tech sector is the only one with the capabilities to actually make a difference is what makes the industry stand out.

any other app with user-generated content. The goal is not to pick out the hits, but rather to attract as much content as possible, and then algorithmically boost whatever turns out to be good

Assuming that advertising revenue is a reasonable proxy for attention, it turns out that humans like pictures more than text, and moving pictures most of all; so it has gone on the Internet.

the Internet: by removing friction it removes the need for folks in the middle, and the result is that value will flow to the edges. In the case of publishing that is aggregators on one side, and focused, responsive, and differentiated 5 writers and publications on the other.

the change in droplet shape does reflect processes occurring at the interface, and as such are a good proxy for the polymerization kinetics

年轻一代的学生自己要决定这个辩论的价值在哪儿。当你看他们两位在争论甚么问题的时候，你可以考虑这对你自己有甚么启发，让你想到甚么，让你更想知道甚么，从而让你想找一个更好的回答。我这么想，如果真能达到这个效果，那就算是成功的争论。

革命不是要追求一个终极的没有矛盾的天堂，那是不现实的。革命其实是要你醒着，不要睡觉，让你看到矛盾、看到丑陋、看到问题就够了，然后你要不断地去斗争。斗争之后，可能又会有新的问题、更严重的问题出现，没有关系。只要你醒着，知道问题，继续斗争，这就是一切，这就是意义。

It thus leads to a relative reduction in the benefits of trade for those close to ports or origin locations and a relative increase in these benefits for those far away.

those that are disunified – are rejected (or not even considered) whatever their empirical success might be

But, then, the existence of books, no matter how grim the tale, is itself a sign, evidence that humanity endures, in the very contagion of reading.