Chapter 26
At the CUPT competition judging venue in the capital, the debate surrounding the zero-gravity seat project has been going on for several hours.
A judge with gray hair slammed his fist on the table and exclaimed, "In short, I disagree that this project should be ranked first!"
The chairman of the judging panel, Wen Zhengyang, sighed helplessly: "In the end, you just think that this project shouldn't use the Navier-Stokes equation to handle changes in the contact surface between the human body and the seat, but Lao Lü..."
Lu Xu interrupted him: "That's right! This is simply opportunistic! The Navier-Stokes equations describe vortices, turbulence, and all dynamic changes in fluids. Applying them to non-fluid projects is nothing short of opportunistic!"
"Why can't we say it's a flexible approach and ingenious design? Did you even read the calculation methods in their paper?" Wen Zhengyang turned to page 78 of the paper submitted by this project team. "Look! It fully considers various initial conditions, boundary conditions, and environmental conditions, and also covers the variables and their quantitative relationships in several differential and partial differential equations. It's not just a mechanical application of fluid dynamics methods!"
Lu Xu pointed at the paper forcefully, arguing, "Look, they added so many constraints to their simulation analysis. How can they guarantee that the Navier-Stokes equations won't malfunction? If they can't guarantee that, how can they be sure of the feasibility of their project?"
Wen Zhengyang was extremely annoyed by Lü Xu's stubbornness: "Old Lü! Haven't we always applied the Navier-Stokes equations this way?"
To date, the existence and smoothness of the Navier-Stokes equations have not been proven, thus their mathematical validity remains questionable. However, from a physics perspective, they are widely recognized and accepted as empirical terms, and have consistently performed well in simulating various physical systems, demonstrating highly reliable predictive capabilities.
Perhaps, someday in the future, under certain circumstances, these equations will malfunction and produce incorrect answers. However, at this stage, it is inappropriate and too harsh to criticize a university student's project design based on this.
But Lü Xu still insisted on his opinion: "As long as the Navier-Stokes equations do not yield a general solution, the feasibility of their project cannot be guaranteed!"
Wen Zhengyang was also getting a little angry: "What you're saying is unreasonable. Requiring participants to solve the general solution to the Navier-Stokes equations to affirm their application value—what kind of 'National Undergraduate Physics Competition' is that? It might as well be called the Nobel Prize in Physics China Preliminary Round!"
Comparing the importance of the Navier-Stokes equations to the Nobel Prize is indeed an exaggeration, but for undergraduate students, proving the existence and smoothness of the Navier-Stokes equations is about the same level of difficulty.
Other judges also felt that Lü Xu was being unreasonable: "Old Lü, last year's radio transmission project at Yenching University also made flexible use of BP neural network to simulate data and introduced a method for calculating the optimal detection threshold of BPS signal. I remember you were very supportive of it at the time and even praised it for being unconventional. Why do you dislike this project so much?"
"Old Lu, when students from your Peking University do this, it's called being unconventional, but when students from other schools do this, it's called being opportunistic. Isn't that a bit of a double standard?"
"I..." Old Lu was speechless for a moment, because he did have some selfish motives.
Among the awards set up in the CUPT competition, there is only one national first prize. He is optimistic about another project, "AC/DC conversion screenless display transmitter designed based on DLP technology using full-bridge converter and single-ended flyback converter".
One of the designers of this project is Wang Sikai, his granddaughter's boyfriend and a senior in the Physics Department at Yenching University. The two young people are inseparable, and they will get married next year after his granddaughter graduates from university.
This granddaughter was raised by him and his wife from a young age; she is the apple of their eye. Naturally, he cares a lot about his future granddaughter's husband.
Wang Sikai was handsome and considerate to his granddaughter. He also heard that his family was well-off, so he had no complaints. His only slight regret was that his academic achievements weren't solid enough. He later learned that Wang had been admitted to Yenching University through the "Provincial Outstanding Student" program.
However, even with limited knowledge, there's still room for action. He's 57 now and will retire in two or three years, so I'm thinking of helping him out at least before he retires.
When Yenching University organized outstanding students to form teams to participate in the CUPT competition, he found a way to include Wang Sikai in the team and then privately guided Wang Sikai to keep up with the project team's progress as much as possible.
Having served as a judge for several CUPT competitions, he naturally knew which projects were more favored in the selection process. Under his guidance, although Wang Sikai slightly lagged behind during the process, the result was still good; their project team's screenless display transmitter was fully capable of competing for the national first prize.
Unexpectedly, a Cheng Yaojin appeared out of nowhere!
To be honest, this zero-gravity seat project is truly outstanding. The paper is logically sound, the model data is detailed, and overall there is not much to criticize.
However, if Wang Sikai cannot secure a place in the graduate program through this project, he will not be able to get into Yenching University's graduate program on his own.
He had already made plans: once Wang Sikai secured a place in the graduate program, he would recruit him as his graduate student, then support him until he earned a doctorate, and finally have him stay at the university as a junior faculty member, gradually working his way up. After his granddaughter graduated, he would arrange for her to work as a clerk in the administration building—an easy job. The young couple would live nearby, both under their watchful eyes, giving them peace of mind. Considering his granddaughter's lifelong happiness, this was the safest path.
But if he allowed the national first prize to go to someone else, his entire plan would be ruined. Thinking of his granddaughter's lifelong happiness, Lü Xu stubbornly clung to the non-applicability and indeterminism of the Navier-Stokes equations, resolutely refusing to believe that the zero-gravity seat project was qualified to win first prize.
Other judges, like Lü Xu, were critical of the application of the Navier-Stokes equations, while others favored other projects. The debate lasted all morning, leaving the judges exhausted, especially since most of them were quite old. So they stopped arguing and took a short break.
During his two-hour lunch break, Lü Xu didn't close his eyes. He flipped through the dozens of pages of his paper over and over again, hoping to find some loopholes and find some faults.
After a busy morning, some progress had been made. Lü Xu was determined to use this as leverage in the afternoon to push forward the zero-gravity chair project.
He took off his reading glasses and sighed. In truth, he wouldn't have done this if it weren't for his granddaughter's lifelong happiness. However, Wang Sikai was already a senior, and this was her last chance to be recommended for graduate school.
Moreover, he had reviewed the project team's materials, and the designers were from Guangling University. He remembered that according to Guangling University's regulations, as long as one could obtain a third-place finish in the national competition, they could be recommended for postgraduate studies at the same university. Even if these three students were aiming for a first-place finish in the national competition and hoped to use it to gain admission to Yenching University or Tsinghua University, they were only sophomores, and they would have two more opportunities to participate in the competition later.
Comparing the two, I have no choice but to apologize to those three students.
As soon as the afternoon selection meeting began, before Lü Xu could even speak, Wen Zhengyang took out a document.
"Has everyone read this week's 'Internal Reference'?"
"Internal Reference" is an internal reference document, not publicly distributed, and intended for leaders or a limited group of colleagues. Academicians like Wen Zhengyang, being important national scholars, naturally have the right to read it.
Articles or reports published in the "Internal Reference" generally cover major events and development trends in politics, economics, military affairs, people's livelihood, and other aspects.
Lu Xu tapped his fingers on the table: "Now doesn't seem like the time to look at this, does it?" He knew things could get complicated, and he wanted to help his future grandson-in-law secure the top spot in the national competition as soon as possible. Moreover, Wen Zhengyang's sudden appearance of the "Internal Reference" gave him a bad feeling.
Wen Zhengyang smiled reassuringly: "Hey, Lao Lü, don't be so serious. There's a very interesting article in this issue, which is also related to our selection process."
After hearing Wen Zhengyang's words, Lü Xu didn't know what else to say, and the other judges were also intrigued.
Wen Zhengyang brought only one copy of the "Internal Reference" document. He asked his staff to make more than a dozen copies of the article he specified and distribute them to the other judges for review.
Lu Xu took a look and saw that the article was about the 6.4 magnitude earthquake in Guangning City not long ago, and it highlighted the earthquake prediction software that played an important role in the earthquake.
What does this have to do with their judging process? There were no earthquake or earthquake prediction-related entries in this competition.
Other judges shared the same question: "Old Wen, what does this have to do with our selection process?"
Wen Zhengyang pointed to the article: "The earthquake prediction software mentioned here, as far as I know, part of its technology involves introducing flow vector functions to constrain the Navier-Stokes equations, and then analyzing the movement of positive charges in the near-Earth atmosphere and the disturbance of the ionosphere. It uses the movement of charged particles and the change in the permeability of the magnetic medium to determine the occurrence of earthquakes."
Upon hearing the words "NS equation," Lü Xu's heart skipped a beat.
"Old Wen, is your information accurate?"
"Exactly!" Wen Zhengyang has a doctoral student working on Navier-Stokes equations, so he pays more attention to this kind of information.
Wen Zhengyang continued, "Look! The Navier-Stokes equations have once again been proven accurate by examples! Moreover, the motion of charged particles is not fluid. Since the Navier-Stokes equations with introduced constraints can effectively describe the motion of charged particles, why can't they be used to describe the changes in the contact surface between the human body and the seat?"
The example is right before our eyes: the three judges who had previously been prejudiced against the zero-gravity seat project because of the application of the Navier-Stokes equations no longer insisted on their opinions. In the end, practice makes perfect.
The CUPT competition has a total of 12 judges. Originally, 6 judges recommended the zero-gravity seat project, and now with the addition of these 3, 9 judges have endorsed the project. This represents 2/3 of the judges, and according to the competition's judging rules, the project is eligible for first prize.
Seeing that the tide had turned and there was nothing more to be done, Lü Xu could do nothing more. Watching Wang Sikai's project settle for second prize, he couldn't help but sigh. If Wang Sikai had been a little more competitive, he wouldn't have had to go through so much trouble.
After the first prize, which was originally the most controversial, was decided, the winners of the remaining two second prizes and three third prizes were also quickly determined.
After the staff printed out the list of winners according to the selection results, they handed it to Wen Zhengyang for confirmation and verification.
Wen Zhengyang glanced around and saw the name "Yan Anjin" listed as the instructor for the Zero Gravity Seat project.
"Oh, it's Old Yan. No wonder." Yan Anjin has been studying Navier-Stokes equations since he was young, and he was already considered an expert in this field more than a decade ago. Later, for some reason, he changed his research direction, but he is still more than capable of guiding college students to apply them in competitions.
Although the list has been finalized, it cannot be officially announced yet. According to the competition process, the proposed winners must complete an on-site paper defense before the winners can be officially confirmed.
The thesis defense is essentially a formality, designed to verify that the paper was indeed written by the participant and prevent ghostwriting. Generally, very few participants fail at the defense stage.
Staff members sent notices to the relevant schools one by one according to the proposed list of winners, asking the participants to report to the capital three days later to participate in the defense.
After receiving the phone call, even the director of the office at Guangling University doubted whether he had misheard.
"First prize? You mean a student from our school is nominated for first prize?"
After receiving confirmation from the staff, the director was momentarily dazed.
Over the years, Guangling University has won many national third-level awards in the CUPT competition, and has also won national second-level awards a few times, but has never won a national first-level award.
The school team that was previously highly anticipated has been eliminated. Although a second-year project team managed to make it to the national cutoff, it will probably be difficult for them to compete with the elite third- and fourth-year students from other schools.
Unexpectedly, this unofficial project team broke the CUPT competition record of Guangling University and won the national first prize!
The director immediately rushed to the principal's office after hanging up the phone. Upon hearing the news, the principal was so surprised that he stood up from his chair.
"Are you sure? Are you sure?! Are you sure?!"
"I'm absolutely certain, I heard it with my own ears!" The office director nodded repeatedly. "The official letter will be sent over shortly!"
"Great! Great!" The principal slammed his hand on the table and clapped his hands, bursting into laughter.
The principal laughed for a while, then instructed the director not to make a fuss yet. He said it wouldn't be too late to publicize it after the defense was over and the official list was released on the website—there had been profound historical lessons to this.
A few years ago, their school's project team participating in the CUPT competition made it to the national finals and won first place for the first time. Everyone was overjoyed, and the school, student union, physics department, and the winners' relatives and friends arranged one celebratory banquet after another. After two days of feasting and drinking, plus some beer, liquor, and wine, all three project designers developed gastroenteritis.
Even after being rushed to the hospital for IV fluids and medication, the three of them still struggled to stand on the stage for their thesis defense on the third day, appearing listless and suffering from intermittent abdominal pain.
The defense was, of course, a complete disaster! In the words of Wen Zhengyang, the chairman of the competition's judging committee at the time, "Such a terrible defense is unprecedented!"
As a result, the national first-class qualification that was originally a sure thing slipped away, and they were downgraded to the national second-class qualification. Such a blunder has only happened once in the history of the CUPT competition, and Guangling University became a laughing stock for a time...
Recalling the painful lessons of history, the principal and the director became serious. The more regretful and dejected they were then, the more cautious and careful they would be this time.
“The students are very well-informed, and the media loves to keep an eye on Zhixing these days. It’s hard to guarantee there won’t be a few more rounds of interviews and celebrations.” The principal slammed his hand on the table. “No way! Those three need to be locked up right now—no, I mean, protected!”
Therefore, the director immediately contacted Ji Zhixing, Lin Lang, and Xu Dongyang by phone, asking them to immediately suspend classes and stay in the school's closed laboratory for two days to prepare the PPT for their thesis defense.
On the third day, the director personally escorted—no, protected—the three precious seedlings to Beijing!
Dorm 310 was naturally overjoyed upon receiving the news of their award. However, they were a bit confused after hearing about the arrangements for the next two days. Did they need to prepare the presentation slides in the lab? Wasn't a computer all they needed?
However, they didn't object to the school's arrangement. The main problem was that Ji Zhixing was still being harassed by the media. Although he was kept out of the school by the security guards, he received a constant stream of phone calls and text messages. His roommates, Lin Lang and Xu Dongyang, were also constantly being asked for favors. All three of them were fed up and wanted a quiet place to hide away.
Lin Lang was the happiest, he didn't have to go to class!
On the third day, the office director and Chen Yan, the counselor of the second-year students in the School of Physics, took three students by plane to Beijing.
While waiting at the airport, the three of them were bored and couldn't gossip in front of their school teachers, so they could only stare at the news on the screen in the waiting room.
It has been some time since the earthquake in Quang Ninh City, and many recent news reports have been summarizing the situation.
The 6.4-magnitude earthquake affected 82,000 households and more than 400,000 people, causing 5,817 houses to collapse and 63,541 houses to be damaged, with direct economic losses amounting to 1.18 billion yuan!
However, no one died, and only 32 people were injured, all of whom sustained minor injuries.
Historically, earthquakes of around magnitude 6, both domestically and internationally, have invariably caused thousands of casualties and countless psychological traumas. The fact that this magnitude 6.4 earthquake in Gwangnyeong City caused only this many casualties is truly an unprecedented miracle!
Therefore, many Western media outlets have accused the Chinese government of concealing the number of dead and injured, using this as an opportunity to attack China's human rights situation.
After thorough verification and validation, the Chinese government announced that China now possesses software technology for accurately predicting earthquakes. Depending on the specific circumstances, it can predict earthquake fluctuations and issue warnings 20-30 minutes in advance.
Even in high-rise apartment buildings, it only takes about six or seven minutes to walk from the 30th floor to the 1st floor. Twenty or thirty minutes is enough time for most people to evacuate from various buildings to safe and open spaces.
It can be said that, apart from the unavoidable economic losses, the possibility of the Chinese people losing their lives due to the earthquake has been reduced to an extremely low level.
The news caused a global uproar.
The United States, wielding its human rights stick, demands that the Chinese government release the code of its earthquake prediction software and share the right to use the earthquake prediction technology for the benefit of all mankind!
The Chinese government has reciprocally demanded that the United States disclose its high-profit medical patents, such as targeted cancer drugs, to protect all of humanity from the threat of serious diseases.
How could the United States possibly agree to that? If they did, the big capitalists behind those pharmaceutical companies would tear the politicians apart!
Then the Chinese government generously offered to grant us access to real-time satellite observations. We would input the data into our earthquake prediction software, and we would provide free alerts if there were any problems.
The United States almost coughed up blood. Opening up real-time satellite observation permissions is no different from running naked under China's nose!
As a result, a war of words has been raging between officials and the general public.
Of course, there are also underhanded and clandestine methods. However, Shi Yanshi and others who possess the core technology of earthquake prediction software have long been under strict protection by the state, and no malicious hands from various parties can touch them.
So some people set their sights on Ji Zhixing. Although they all knew that he had never actually been exposed to core technologies, something was better than nothing, and they might be able to get a clue from him.
Every party tried their best, resorting to various tactics—bribes, coercion, even deception—but Ji Zhixing remained unmoved. Later, with government intervention, these malicious methods were finally effectively blocked.
A peninsula nation in eastern China, unwilling to let the matter rest, publicly claimed that Ji Zhixing's surname actually originated from the "Jin" surname, one of the four major surnames in their country. They asserted that the Ji family ancestors were forced to leave their homeland due to war and eventually ended up in China. One family patriarch even produced a thick genealogy book, urging Ji Zhixing, a descendant of the Ji family, to return to his homeland and settle down as soon as possible.
Upon hearing this, Ji Zhixing couldn't help but curse, "Bullshit! My ancestors for eighteen generations are all innocent!"
Some countries are more pragmatic, such as that island nation in eastern China. After verifying the authenticity of the earthquake prediction software through various channels, it immediately contacted China through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, hoping to arrange a state visit between the two countries as soon as possible.
Located at the boundary of two tectonic plates, the island nation has always been prone to earthquakes. Recently, its highest peak, a volcano that has been dormant for 300 years, has been exhibiting unusual activity. An eruption could potentially lead to the annihilation of the entire country, making earthquake prediction software from China a technology they urgently need.
However, after several attempts to contact China, the response was lukewarm. Left with no other option, the island nation began to reflect on its history, confront the historical issues between the two countries, and quickly adjust its policy towards China.
Faced with the threat of national extinction, even the fury of the distant American nation, the Bald Eagle, and the imposition of various sanctions could not stop the island nation from rapidly aligning itself with China.
Nations are competing, and individuals are also vying for dominance. At the CUPT competition judging venue, students who came to present their papers gathered together, finding their seats according to their name tags.
Since the thesis was mainly written by Ji Zhixing, the three students in dormitory 310 discussed it and decided that Ji Zhixing would be mainly responsible for the defense.
The office director and counselor breathed a sigh of relief after escorting the three into the venue. As long as Ji Zhixing didn't suddenly mess things up, the first place in the national competition was practically guaranteed!
Ji Zhixing and the others were also very relaxed, and discussed going to climb the Great Wall and visit the Forbidden City after the defense.
However, the hand lurking in the shadows has already taken action.
A note from the author:
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
