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Many recent efforts on the electrode design for advanced Li-ion batteries (LIBs) are often devoted to increasing the gravimetric capacity, but little attention is paid to the volumetric capacity wh...

The boundary treatment is fundamental for modeling fluid flows especially in the lattice Boltzmann method; the curved boundary conditions effectively improve the accuracy of single-phase simulations with complex-geometry boundaries. However, the conventional curved boundary conditions usually cause dramatic mass leakage or increase when they are directly used for multiphase flow simulations. We find that the principal reason for this is the absence of a nonideal effect in the curved boundary conditions, followed by a calculation error. In this paper, incorporating the nonideal effect into the linear interpolation scheme and compensating for the interpolating error, we propose a multiphase curved boundary condition to treat the wetting boundaries with complex geometries. A series of static and dynamic multiphase simulations with large density ratio verify that the present scheme is accurate and ensures mass conservation.

We develop a pre-sodiation method by simply immersing the electrode in a liquid sodium source to reduce irreversible capacity loss for titanium-based materials. This liquid is more safe in operation and penetrates through the electrode more homogeneously than sodium metal. This method is easily extended to other titanium-based materials, and provides a possibility for large industrial applications.

Many recent efforts on the electrode design for advanced Li-ion batteries (LIBs) are often devoted to increasing the gravimetric capacity, but little attention is paid to the volumetric capacity which is more critical for practical application. Though the alloying-type anode materials are quite attractive, the challenge is that they must be composited with a large amount of carbon materials (e.g., GO, rGO, CNT) to buffer their large volume change, which would undoubtedly sacrifice the volumetric energy density of the whole electrode due to the carbon's low tap density (∼0.05 g/cm

Blending two materials together to improve electrode performance has been proven an effective and practical strategy in the battery industry. Herein, we fabricate a novel n-HC/GeP5 composite that doubles the energy density over hard carbon (HC) without sacrificing cycle stability and rate performance. The GeP5, with high capacity (2289 mAh g−1), ultra-high conductivity (2.4*106 S m−1) and high initial coulombic efficiency (ICE > 90%), enables it serve as an effective additive to HC at a low weight percent. By introducing 20% wt GeP5 by mass ratio into HC, the obtained n-HC/GeP5-20%wt composite improves the reversible capacity from 400 mAh g−1 to 898 mAh g−1, and improves ICE from 74% to 85%. In addition, the rate capability of n-HC/GeP5, with 516 mAh g−1 and 64% retention comparing 1C–8C, is much better than that of pure HC (273 mAh g−1, 54% retention). Consequently, when tested at 1C and 8C for 550 cycles, large reversible capacity of 575 mAh g−1 and 400 mAh g−1 respectively can still be obtained for this n-HC/GeP5-20% hybrid, revealing its great potential to be used in commercial battery products.

Background: MEK1 is overexpressed in various human carcinomas, but the role of MEK1 is not well unknown in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In the present study, we aimed to explore MEK1 expression of in HCC tissues, and to evaluate its relationship with clinical pathological features. Methods: Expressions of MEK1 were detected by western blot assay, real-time quantitative PCR and immunohistochemical (IHC) staining in 30 HCC tissues and their adjacent normal tissues. Pearson Chi-square test was used to analyze the relationship between MEK1 expression and clinical pathological features. The survival curve was drawn by Kaplan-Meier method, and survival was analyzed by Lon-rank test. Results: The expression of MEK1 mRNA in HCC tissues was significantly higher than that in adjacent normal tissues and so was the expression of MEK1 protein. In the 30 specimens, 70% was with Tumor/Normal ratio > 2, 10% with Tumor/Normal ratio < 1 and 20% with 1 < Tumor/Normal ratio < 2. The mean survival time in high MEK1 expression group was significantly lower than that in low MEK1 expression group (Log-rank value = 11.946, P < 0.01). Conclusion: MEK1 expressions in HCC tissues were significantly higher than that in adjacent normal tissues, which indicated that MEK1 was involved in the genesis and development of HCC. Moreover, it was closely related to the postoperative survival time of patients with HCC.

Deregulation of Roundabout homolog 1 (Robo1) has been demonstrated to be associated with several types of human cancer, including gastric cancer. However, the detailed role of Robo1 and its regulatory mechanism in gastric cancer remain largely unclear. In the current study, it was demonstrated that the expression of microRNA (miR)‑29a was frequently reduced in gastric cancer tissues, compared with their matched normal adjacent tissues. Similar results were additionally observed in AGS and SGC‑7901 human gastric cancer cells. Overexpression of miR‑29a led to reduced migration and invasion of AGS cells. To explore the targets of miR‑29a in gastric cancer, bioinformatics analysis was conducted and Robo1 was identified as a putative target of miR‑29a. Further western blotting and luciferase activity assay data confirmed that miR‑29a was able to negatively regulate the protein expression of Robo1, through directly binding to the 3'‑untranslated region of Robo1 mRNA in gastric cancer cells. In addition, it was demonstrated that Robo1 was frequently upregulated in gastric cancer tissues compared with their matched adjacent normal tissues, and a significant inverse correlation was identified between miR‑29a and Robo1 expression. In addition, knockdown of Robo1 by small interfering RNA markedly inhibited the migratory and invasive capabilities of AGS cells, which the results obtained with overexpression of miR‑29a. In conclusion, to the best of our knowledge the current study suggested for the first time, that miR‑29a inhibits migration and invasion in part via direct inhibition of Robo1 in gastric cancer cells. Therefore, Robo1 and miR‑29a may serve as diagnostic or therapeutic targets for gastric cancer.

Input according to Pin Yin notation and input according to Zhu Yin notation are allowed. Input data in the Pin Yin notation and input data in the Zhu Yin notation are respectively converted into corresponding Yin codes using a Pin Yin/Yin code conversion table and a Zhu Yin/Yin code conversion table. A dictionary stores a Chinese character code (corresponding to a word) in correspondence with an Yin code sequence. An input Yin code sequence is created from the input data. An Yin code in the input Yin code sequence and an Yin code in the Yin code sequence in the dictionary are compared with each other through a filter for masking a predetermined bit of the Yin code. A Chinese character code corresponding to Yin code sequences which coincide with each other by the comparison is read out from the dictionary, and a word (a Chinese character) corresponding to the Chinese character code is displayed.

Timestamp ordering concurrency control mechanisms were considered to be quite suitable for distributed database systems, since transactions to be rolled badk can be determined locally at each site. Experiments, however, have shown that timestamp ordering mechanisms do not seem to be efficient and has a starvation problem for long transactions. In this paper, to improve efficiency of timestamp ordering mechanisms we propose to use a termination timestamp which is defined by a predicted commitment time or a predicted last read/write request time of a transaction. Besides other advantages the mechanism simplifies operations required for abort selection. The abort selection method introduced by the authors tries to improve the efficienty by selecting a proper transaction to be rolled back when conflict occurs. Comparison of several timestamp ordering methods obtained by combining these techniques is also given.

Background To compare the biological characteristics of three types of human hepatocellular carcinoma multi-drug resistant cell sub-lines Bel-7402/ADM models established by three methods. Methods Established human hepatocellular carcinoma adriamycin (ADM) multi-drug resistant cell sub-lines models Bel-7402/ADMV, Bel-7402/ADML and Bel-7402/ADMS by three methods of in vitro concentration gradient increased induction, nude mice liver-implanted induction and subcutaneous-implanted induction respectively. Phase contrast microscopy was used to observe the cells and the MTT (methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium) method was used to detect drug resistance of the three different sub-lines of cells. Results The three groups of drug resistant cells, Bel-7402/ADMV, Bel-7402/ADML and Bel-7402/ADMS generated cross-resistance to ADM and CDDP (cis-Diaminedichloroplatinum), but showed a significant difference in resistance to Bel-7402 IC50 value (P < 0.01). The doubling times were significantly extended compared to the parent cell line (39 h) and were 65 h (Bel-7402/ADMV), 46 h (Bel-7402/ADML), and 45 h (Bel-7402/ADMS). The excretion rates of ADM were significantly increased compared with the parent cell (34.14%) line and were 81.06% (Bel-7402/ADMV), 66.56% (Bel-7402/ADML) and 61.56% (Bel-7402/ADMS). Expression of P-gp and MRP in the three groups of resistant cells was significantly enhanced (P < 0.01). There was no significant variation in the expression of GSH/GST (P > 0.05). Conclusions Stable resistance was involved in the resistant cell line model established by the above three methods. Liver implantation was a good simulation of human hepatocellular and proved to be an ideal model with characteristics similar to human hepatocellular biology and the pharmacokinetics of anticancer drugs.