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For power batteries used in the electric vehicle, accurate state-of-charge estimation is important. However, as one of the most commonly used estimation method, the least square support vector regression is hard to balance the accuracy and efficiency. To solve this problem, the fuzzy information granulation based on asymmetric Gaussian membership function is proposed to improve the utilization efficiency of the effective data and enhance the prediction accuracy of battery states. In addition, the performance of the proposed method is compared with that of other commonly used member -ship functions. In experiments, the dynamic stress test condition and the urban dynamometer driving schedule condition are used to verify the effectiveness. Compared with the most commonly used triangle membership function, the proposed method improves the accuracy of estimation by 6.47% and 2.18% under two current conditions, respectively.

Accurate estimation of state-of-charge (SOC) and state-of-health (SOH) is extremely important for the state diagnosis of power batteries, which is related to the energy efficiency and safety of electric vehicles. However, in order to represent the signal noises of sensors, the most commonly used method based on Kalman filter introduces the random Gaussian noise into the estimation, which causes the uncertainty of the estimation results. In this article, the multithread dynamic optimization method is proposed to solve the problem. In addition, the fractional-order model and the unscented Kalman filter are used in SOC estimation. The Gaussian linear models based on parameters of six commonly used open-circuit-voltage models are proposed to estimate SOH. Finally, the dynamic stress test current condition and four lithium-ion batteries are implemented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method in the experiment. For SOC estimation, root-mean-square error (RMSE) of the proposed method is 0.098 and the average value of the six models is 0.123, thus the proposed method improves the estimation accuracy by 20.32%. For SOH estimation, we compare the smallest RMSE of the six models and that of the proposed method for four experimental batteries, thus the average improvement of accuracy is 25.44%.

Pleasant touch provides emotional and psychological support that helps mitigate social isolation and stress. However, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Using a pleasant touch–conditioned place preference (PT-CPP) test, we show that genetic ablation of spinal excitatory interneurons expressing prokineticin receptor 2 (PROKR2), or its ligand PROK2 in sensory neurons, abolishes PT-CPP without impairing pain and itch behaviors in mice. Mutant mice display profound impairments in stress response and prosocial behaviors. Moreover, PROKR2 neurons respond most vigorously to gentle stroking and encode reward value. Collectively, we identify PROK2 as a long-sought neuropeptide that encodes and transmits pleasant touch to spinal PROKR2 neurons. These findings may have important implications for elucidating mechanisms by which pleasant touch deprivation contributes to social avoidance behavior and mental disorders.

Histamine-dependent and -independent itch is conveyed by parallel peripheral neural pathways that express gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) and neuromedin B (NMB), respectively, to the spinal cord of mice. B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) has been proposed to transmit both types of itch via its receptor NPRA encoded by Npr1. However, BNP also binds to its cognate receptor, NPRC encoded by Npr3 with equal potency. Moreover, natriuretic peptides (NP) signal through the Gi-couped inhibitory cGMP pathway that is supposed to inhibit neuronal activity, raising the question of how BNP may transmit itch information. Here, we report that Npr3 expression in laminae I-II of the dorsal horn partially overlaps with NMB receptor (NMBR) that transmits histaminergic itch via Gq-couped PLCβ-Ca2+ signaling pathway. Functional studies indicate that NPRC is required for itch evoked by histamine but not chloroquine (CQ), a nonhistaminergic pruritogen. Importantly, BNP significantly facilitates scratching behaviors mediated by NMB, but not GRP. Consistently, BNP evoked Ca2+ responses in NMBR/NPRC HEK 293 cells and NMBR/NPRC dorsal horn neurons. These results reveal a previously unknown mechanism by which BNP facilitates NMB-encoded itch through a novel NPRC-NMBR cross-signaling in mice. Our studies uncover distinct modes of action for neuropeptides in transmission and modulation of itch in mice., eLife digest An itch is a common sensation that makes us want to scratch. Most short-term itches are caused by histamine, a chemical that is released by immune cells following an infection or in response to an allergic reaction. Chronic itching, on the other hand, is not usually triggered by histamine, and is typically the result of neurological or skin disorders, such as atopic dermatitis. The sensation of itching is generated by signals that travel from the skin to nerve cells in the spinal cord. Studies in mice have shown that the neuropeptides responsible for delivering these signals differ depending on whether or not the itch involves histamine: GRPs (short for gastrin-releasing proteins) convey histamine-independent itches, while NMBs (short for neuromedin B) convey histamine-dependent itches. It has been proposed that another neuropeptide called BNP (short for B-type natriuretic peptide) is able to transmit both types of itch signals to the spinal cord. But it remains unclear how this signaling molecule is able to do this. To investigate, Meng, Liu, Liu, Liu et al. carried out a combination of behavioral, molecular and pharmacological experiments in mice and nerve cells cultured in a laboratory. The experiments showed that BNP alone cannot transmit the sensation of itching, but it can boost itching signals that are triggered by histamine. It is widely believed that BNP activates a receptor protein called NPRA. However, Meng et al. found that the BNP actually binds to another protein which alters the function of the receptor activated by NMBs. These findings suggest that BNP modulates rather than initiates histamine-dependent itching by enhancing the interaction between NMBs and their receptor. Understanding how itch signals travel from the skin to neurons in the spinal cord is crucial for designing new treatments for chronic itching. The work by Meng et al. suggests that treatments targeting NPRA, which was thought to be a key itch receptor, may not be effective against chronic itching, and that other drug targets need to be explored.

The energy crisis combined with increasingly severe environment pollution have highlighted the significance of the energy conservation and emission reduction in shipping industry. To improve the energy utilization rate and reduce pollution, a dual-pressure organic Rankine cycle system is proposed to reuse the heat of exhaust gas in marine engines. Many researches focused on the thermodynamics and thermos-economics of the waste heat recovery system, and optimized it from these two goals to recover more energy and decrease cost. However, the impact of the system itself on the environment, which was significant to assess the greenness, was often neglected in these studies. The system with high energy recovery rate may also cause serious environment pollution in the manufacturing or operation process, hence the environmental factor should be taken into account in the optimization. To solve the problems, an evaluation method combined thermodynamics, economics and environment is proposed. The parametric study of the dual-pressure organic Rankine cycle system with six common used working fluids is assessed by this method. Finally, taking the indicators of evaluation method as objective function, the multi-objective optimization method is conducted to figure out the optimum operation conditions for the system. Results show cyclopentane is the optimal working fluid considering thermodynamic, economic and environmental properties. Under the conditions of the evaporation pressure in high-pressure circuit 2.79 MPa, the evaporation pressure in low-pressure circuit 1.97 MPa, the condensation temperature 35 °C, the superheating temperature 1.2 °C, the system obtains a good performance with exergy efficiency 60.24%, electricity production cost 0.167 $/kWh and the environmental impact of net power output 11831.9 mPts/GJ.

Facing the energy shortage and environmental pollution problems in the world, a high-efficiency fuel cell scheme combined with waste heat recovery is regarded as an optimal selection of auxiliary power generation equipment for ships. In this study, a novel system, comprising solid-oxide-fuel-cell-preheating subsystem, homogeneous charge compression ignition engine and organic Rankine cycle, is designed and analysed. First, the mathematical model is established and verified to ensure the reliability of simulation results. Then, the effect of relevant parameters on homogeneous charge compression ignition engine performance is observed, and the optimal zeotropic working fluid of organic Rankine cycle is determined according to the exhaust temperature. Finally, the thermodynamic and economic analysis are carried out. The results indicate that the performance of the new system is better than that of the traditional combined system using gas turbine. Thermal efficiency and exergy efficiency of the system are more than 63.6% and 61.3%, which is about 18.76% and 17.95% higher than that of simple cell. In addition, the payback time is about 2.98 years, which is about half of the traditional combined system and can fully meet the economic requirements. This novel system can be a new selection of marine auxiliary power generation equipment.