Revealing the Thermodynamic Mechanism of Phase Transition Induced by Activation Polarization in Lithium-Ion Batteries.

Enhancing the phase transition reversibility of electrode materials is an effective strategy to alleviate capacity degradation in the cycling of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, a comprehensive understanding of phase transitions under microscopic electrode dynamics is still lacking. In this paper, the activation polarization is quantified as the potential difference between the applied potential (Uabs) and the zero-charge potential (ZCP) of electrode materials. The polarization potential difference facilitates the phase transition by driving Li-ion adsorption and supplying an electron-rich environment. A novel thermodynamic phase diagram is constructed to characterize the phase transition of the example MoS2 under various Li-ion concentrations and operating voltages using the grand canonic fixed-potential method (FPM). At thermodynamic quasi-equilibrium, the ZCP is close to the Uabs, and thus is used to form the discharge curve in the phase diagram. The voltage plateau is observed within the phase transition region in the simulation, which will disappear as the phase transition reversibility is impaired. The obtained discharge curve and phase transition concentration both closely match the experimental results. Overall, the study provides a theoretical understanding of how polarization affects phase evolution in electrode dynamics, which may provide a guideline to improve battery safety and cycle life.

Forecasting shipping index using CEEMD-PSO-BiLSTM model.

Shipping indices are extremely volatile, non-stationary, unstructured and non-linear, and more difficult to forecast than other common financial time series. Based on the idea of "decomposition-reconstruction-integration", this article puts forward a combined forecasting model CEEMD-PSO-BiLSTM for shipping index, which overcomes the linearity limitation of traditional models. CEEMD is used to decompose the original sequence into several IMF components and RES sequences, and the IMF components are recombined by reconstruction. Each sub-sequence is predicted and analyzed by PSO-BiLSTM neural network, and finally the predicted value of the original sequence is obtained by summing up the predicted values of each sub-sequence. Using six major shipping indices in China's shipping market such as FDI and BDI as test data, a systematic comparison test is conducted between the CEEMD-PSO-BiLSTM model and other mainstream time-series models in terms of forecasting effects. The results show that the model outperforms other models in all indicators, indicating its universality in different shipping markets. The research results of this article can deepen and improve the understanding of shipping indices, and also have important implications for risk management and decision management in the shipping market.

Sleep need, the key regulator of sleep homeostasis, is indicated and controlled by phosphorylation of threonine 221 in salt-inducible kinase 3.

Sleep need drives sleep and plays a key role in homeostatic regulation of sleep. So far sleep need can only be inferred by animal behaviors and indicated by electroencephalography (EEG). Here we report that phosphorylation of threonine (T) 221 of the salt-inducible kinase 3 (SIK3) increased the catalytic activity and stability of SIK3. T221 phosphorylation in the mouse brain indicates sleep need: more sleep resulting in less phosphorylation and less sleep more phosphorylation during daily sleep/wake cycle and after sleep deprivation (SD). Sleep need was reduced in SIK3 loss of function (LOF) mutants and by T221 mutation to alanine (T221A). Rebound after SD was also decreased in SIK3 LOF and T221A mutant mice. By contrast, SIK1 and SIK2 do not satisfy criteria to be both an indicator and a controller of sleep need. Our results reveal SIK3-T221 phosphorylation as a chemical modification which indicates and controls sleep need.

LKB1 is physiologically required for sleep from Drosophila melanogaster to the Mus musculus.

Liver Kinase B1 (LKB1) is known as a master kinase for 14 kinases related to the adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase. Two of them salt inducible kinase 3 and adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase α have previously been implicated in sleep regulation. We generated loss-of-function mutants for Lkb1 in both Drosophila and mice. Sleep, but not circadian rhythms, was reduced in Lkb1-mutant flies and in flies with neuronal deletion of Lkb1. Genetic interactions between Lkb1 and threonine to alanine mutation at residue 184 of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase in Drosophila sleep or those between Lkb1 and Threonine to Glutamic Acid mutation at residue 196 of salt inducible kinase 3 in Drosophila viability have been observed. Sleep was reduced in mice after virally mediated reduction of Lkb1 in the brain. Electroencephalography analysis showed that nonrapid eye movement sleep and sleep need were both reduced in Lkb1-mutant mice. These results indicate that liver kinase B1 plays a physiological role in sleep regulation conserved from flies to mice.

γδ T cells aggravate blood-brain-barrier injury via IL-17A in experimental ischemic stroke.

BACKGROUND: γδ T cells were reported to play a key role in ischemic stroke. The integrity of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) directly affects the prognosis of ischemic stroke. This study aimed to determine whether γδ T cells aggravate BBB injury and determine the outcome of ischemic stroke. METHODS: Oxygen-glucosedeprivation (OGD) and middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) were used as ischemic stroke models in vitro and in vivo. Flow cytometry was used to evaluate the intracranial infiltration of γδ T cells. RT-qPCR was used to evaluatethe mRNA levels of cytokines and γδ T cell markers. ELISA was used to test the levels of cytokines. Immunofluorescence, TEER and western blotting were used to measure BBB injury. RESULTS: In this study, we found that a large number of γδ T cells infiltrated the ischemic penumbra 24 h after MCAO. Knockout of γδ T cells improved the motor function injury induced by MCAO and significantly reduced the volume of cerebral infarction and blood-brain barrier injury. IL-17A neutralization could rescue the BBB injury induced by γδ T cells both in vitro and in vivo. CONCLUSIONS: Peripheral γδ T cells immediately infiltrated into the lesion site after ischemic stroke and aggravated BBB injury by releasing IL-17A, which might be a potential therapeutic target for ischemic stroke.

Genome-wide Association Mapping of Cold Tolerance Genes at the Seedling Stage in Rice.

BACKGROUND: Rice is a temperature-sensitive crop and its production is severely affected by low temperature in temperate and sub-tropical regions. To understand the genetic basis of cold tolerance in rice, we evaluated the cold tolerance at the seedling stage (CTS) of 295 rice cultivars in the rice diversity panel 1 (RDP1), these cultivars were collected from 82 countries. RESULTS: The evaluations revealed that both temperate and tropical japonica rice cultivars are more tolerant to cold stress than indica and AUS cultivars. Using the cold tolerance phenotypes and 44 K SNP chip dataset of RDP1, we performed genome-wide association mapping of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for CTS. The analysis identified 67 QTLs for CTS that are located on 11 chromosomes. Fifty-six of these QTLs are located in regions without known cold tolerance-related QTLs. CONCLUSION: Our study has provided new information on the genetic architecture of rice cold tolerance and has also identified highly cold tolerant cultivars and CTS-associated SNP markers that will be useful rice improvement.