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Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in various biological processes and implicated in the regulation of neuronal activity, but the potential role of lncRNAs in depression remains largely unknown. Here, we identified that lncRNA Gm2694 was increased in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of male mice subjected to chronic social defeat stress (CSDS). The down-regulation of Gm2694 in the mPFC alleviated CSDS-induced depressive-like behaviors through enhanced excitatory synaptic transmission. Furthermore, we found that Gm2694 preferentially interacted with the carboxyl-terminal domain of 78-kilodalton glucose-regulated protein (GRP78), which abrogated GRP78 function and disrupted endoplasmic reticulum homeostasis, resulting in a reduction of the surface expression of AMPA receptors (AMPARs). Overexpression of GRP78 in the mPFC promoted the surface expression of AMPARs and attenuated the CSDS-induced depressive-like behaviors of mice. Together, our results unraveled a previously unknown role of Gm2694 in regulating endoplasmic reticulum homeostasis and excitatory synaptic transmission in depression.

Parvalbumin-positive neurons (PVs) are the main class of inhibitory neurons in the mammalian central nervous system. By examining diurnal changes in synaptic and neuronal activity of PVs in the supragranular layer of the mouse primary visual cortex (V1), we found that both PV input and output are modulated in a time- and sleep-dependent manner throughout the 24-h day. We first show that PV-evoked inhibition is stronger by the end of the light cycle (ZT12) relative to the end of the dark cycle (ZT0), which is in line with the lower inhibitory input of PV neurons at ZT12 than at ZT0. Interestingly, PV inhibitory and excitatory synaptic transmission slowly oscillate in opposite directions during the light/dark cycle. Although excitatory synapses are predominantly regulated by experience, inhibitory synapses are regulated by sleep, via acetylcholine activating M1 receptors. Consistent with synaptic regulation of PVs, we further show in vivo that spontaneous PV activity displays daily rhythm mainly determined by visual experience, which negatively correlates with the activity cycle of surrounding pyramidal neurons and the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus-evoked responses in V1. These findings underscore the physiological significance of PV's daily modulation.

Recently, the nature of viscoelastic drag-reducing turbulence (DRT), especially the maximum drag reduction (MDR) state, has become a focus of controversy. It has long been regarded as polymer-modulated inertial turbulence (IT), but is challenged by the newly proposed concept of elasto-inertial turbulence (EIT). This study is to repicture DRT in parallel plane channels by introducing dynamics of EIT through statistical, structural and budget analysis for a series of flow regimes from the onset of drag reduction to EIT. Some underlying mechanistic links between DRT and EIT are revealed. Energy conversion between velocity fluctuations and polymers as well as pressure redistribution effects are of particular concern, based on which a new energy self-sustaining process (SSP) of DRT is repictured. The numerical results indicate that at low Reynolds number ( $Re$ ), weak IT flow is replaced by a laminar regime before the barrier of EIT dynamics is established with the increase of elasticity, whereas, at moderate $Re$ , EIT-related SSP can get involved and survive from being relaminarized. This further explains the reason why relaminarization phenomenon is observed for low $Re$ while the flow directly enters MDR and EIT at moderate $Re$ . Moreover, with the proposed energy picture, the newly discovered phenomenon that streamwise velocity fluctuations lag behind those in the wall-normal direction can be well explained. The repictured SSP certainly justifies the conjecture that IT nature is gradually replaced by that of EIT in DRT with the increase of elasticity.

Viscoelastic fluid naturally has both viscous and elastic properties. Therefore, there are two sources of nonlinear effects, namely inertial and elastic nonlinearities. The existence of elastic nonlinearity brings about various interesting flow phenomena in viscoelastic fluid flow, especially in microfluidics where the inertial nonlinearity can be negligible while the elastic nonlinearity can dominate the flow. Specifically, purely elasticity-induced instability and turbulence can occur in microchannels when the elastic nonlinearity is strong enough. Recently, those intriguing properties of viscoelastic fluid flow have motivated lots of researches on taking viscoelastic fluid as working fluid in different types of microfluidic devices, such as micro-mixers, micro heat exchangers, logic microfluidic circuits and particle manipulation. This paper aims to provide a state-of-the-art review of the nonlinear effect of viscoelastic fluids and its applications in the aforementioned microfluidic fields, which may provide a useful guidance for the researchers who are interested in this area.

This study investigates the viscoelastic effects on droplet migration induced by a wettability gradient on a rigid substrate by a numerical simulation based on OpenFOAM with the volume-of-fluid method. The droplets are set with different rheological properties to investigate the effect of the elastic parameters. The Oldroyd-B model was employed. Quantitative differences in the migration and deformation between Newtonian and viscoelastic droplets were investigated by changing the degree of elasticity. The droplet migration shows conspicuously higher mobility for high elasticity, especially during the accelerating period. Moreover, the displacement and velocity increased with the decrease of a viscoelasticity parameter, and the velocity enhancement was regulated by the elastic instability shown at a high Weissenberg number. In addition, the velocity of the droplet changes more significantly over the range of contact angles of 130° to 60° compared to other wettability-gradient surfaces.

Efficient mixing is one of the keen interest of many bioengineering and chemical engineering processes. In this work, we designed an efficient micro-mixer with viscoelastic fluid which can induce both strong shear and strong extension by being embedded several rhombic blocks to destabilize the viscoelastic fluid flow and can be also easily integrated. Experimental visualization and direct numerical simulation (DNS) of mixing process were conducted to evaluate the mixing performance. By adding green fluorescent particles into the fluids, apparent mixing enhancement was observed for viscoelastic fluid flow when the flow rate exceeded a threshold. The efficient micro mixing progress also shows great potential for bioengineering application with the biocompatible working fluids. Through DNS, we discussed the flow patterns and the role of polymers playing in viscoelastic fluid flow to respectively figure out the underlying mechanism of efficient mixing and the occurrence of unstable flow motions. The results show that when the elasticity is strong enough, the viscoelastic fluid flow is irregularly twisting and swinging in the channel, and as a result enhances the mixing by increasing the intersecting frequency of fluids of different concentrations. Moreover, owing to the special designed geometry, the polymers act as the energy supplier of unstable flow motions, which keeps the fluctuations from decaying towards the laminar regime.

Realization of structural manipulation in stereocomplex (sc) polylactic acid holds the key to fully leverage its surpassing performance, such as heat resistance and mechanical properties. In this study, we investigated the evolution of crystalline morphology/structure of equimolar racemic blends under the quantitative shear field modulated by the pulling speed of glass fiber (GF). Shear-induced crystallization proceeded above the melting point of homocrystals, allowing the exclusive formation of sc crystallites. Compared to sparse nuclei dispersed around the static GF with no nucleation activity, numerous oriented sc row-nuclei appeared on the surface of pulled GF. With the rise of shear rate up to 160 s−1, the number of row-nuclei was boosted prominently. As a result, interfacial sc cylindrites were fostered due to the preferential radial growth of lamellae outwards the GF axis. The integrity and contour of sc cylindrites could be regulated by the number of sc precursors and thus shear rate. Attractively, the conspicuous enhancement of interfacial adhesion and solvent resistance was attained by the presence of robust sc cylindrites. As confirmed by the single-fiber pull-out test, interfacial strength of the sheared sample (160 s−1) was over three times as large as that of the quiescent counterpart. Besides, the distortion due to the chloroform attack was significantly retarded for the film containing sc cylindrites in contrast to sc spherulites and homocrystal cylindrites. The current effort offers valuable instruction to fabricate the sc-PLA products with tailored crystalline morphology/structure.

We report a new quasi-one-dimensional compound KMn6Bi5 composed of parallel nanowires crystallizing in a monoclinic space group C2/m with a = 22.994(2) A, b = 4.6128(3) A, c = 13.3830(13) A and β = 124.578(6)°. The nanowires are infinite [Mn6Bi5]− columns each of which is composed of a nanotube of Bi atoms acting as the cladding with a nanorod of Mn atoms located in the central axis of the nanotubes. The nanorods of Mn atoms inside the Bi cladding are stabilized by Mn–Mn bonding and are defined by distorted Mn-centered cluster icosahedra of Mn13 sharing their vertices along the b axis. The [Mn6Bi5]− nanowires are linked with weak internanowire Bi–Bi bonds and charge balanced with K+ ions. The [Mn6Bi5]− nanowires were directly imaged by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and scanning transmission electron microscopy. Magnetic susceptibility studies show one-dimensional characteristics with an antiferromagnetic transition at ∼75 K and a small average effective magnetic moment (1.56 μB/Mn for H...

As a double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) sensor, the PYHIN family member absent in melanoma 2 (AIM2) is an essential component of the inflammasome families. Activation of AIM2 by dsDNA leads to the assembly of cytosolic multimolecular complexes termed the AIM2 inflammasome, resulting in activation of caspase-1, the maturation and secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-18, and pyroptosis. Multiple central nervous system (CNS) diseases are accompanied by immune responses and inflammatory cascade. As the resident macrophage cells, microglia cells act as the first and main form of active immune defense in the CNS. AIM2 is highly expressed in microglia as well as astrocytes and neurons and is essential in neurodevelopment. In this review, we highlight the recent progress on the role of AIM2 inflammasome in CNS disorders, including cerebral stroke, brain injury, neuropsychiatric disease, neurodegenerative diseases, and glioblastoma.

A spectral integral method (SIM) is developed to solve the scattering problem from smooth multilayered bodies of revolution (BoRs). This SIM is a spectral method to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the SIM by the fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm. This method can achieve high accuracy and greatly reduce the computational time consumption. In our BoR-SIM, the BoR generatrix current is expanded by the truncated Fourier series. Then, the impedance matrix is generated in the spectral domain to solve the scattering problem. Unlike the conventional methods that need eight to ten segments per wavelength, in the BoR-SIM, two points per wavelength are adequate to achieve high accuracy according to the Nyquist theorem. Being accelerated by FFT, this method shows a significant efficiency advantage over the conventional BoR method. Numerical results demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of our new method. By combining with the Poggio–Miller–Chang–Harrington–Wu–Tsai surface integral equations, this method can be used to solve many practical scattering problems.

Numerical simulations were conducted on viscoelastic fluid flows in straight ducts with different cross sections, for which the origin of secondary flows and influences of material parameters and flow passage geometrical configuration were numerically investigated. The Giesekus constitutive model was chosen to describe the viscoelastic fluid with the second normal stress difference N 2 , and solved by embedding UDF (User-defined Function) into the CFD (computational fluid dynamics) code FLUENT. The origin of such kind of secondary flow was theoretically studied from the perspective of the budget of vorticity energy for the first time. Sufficient and necessary condition for the existence of secondary flow was then developed in terms of N 2 , the gradient of N 2 and cross-sectional geometry ϑ (i.e., generation term E Ω ). Moreover, helicity density was considered as an excellent indicator of secondary flow pattern. Effects of material properties (including anisotropic parameter α , solvent viscosity ratio β and relaxation time λ ) and flow passage geometrical configuration (aspect ratio of cross sections r , the number of polygon sides n ) on secondary flow strength and pattern were investigated with E Ω . Finally, a universal variable σ s was proposed to describe non-circularity of cross section, based on which the results for ducts with different cross sections can be normalized together.

We examined the physical properties of the quasi-one-dimensional superconductor Ta

Evolution of crystalline morphology/structure of PLA was investigated by combination of homemade fiber-pulling device and polarized optical microscopy, where the intense shear field within the range of the actual processing conditions was modulated by the pulling speed of glass fiber (GF). Sporadic dispersion of PLA spherulites in the quiescent melt indicated no nucleation ability of GF. High density of row-nuclei was induced by the strong shear flow (120 s–1) around the pulled GF surface. Also, these nuclei hindered the lateral extension of lamellae and forced growth direction perpendicular to the GF axis, leading to the formation of the semicircle cylindrite. As the shear rate rose to 280 and 420 s–1, nuclei density on the surface of pulled GF was further increased, and the cylindrites became more compact, generating the fan-shaped and brush-like morphology, respectively. As detected by two-dimension wide-angle X-ray diffraction, the cylindrites showed increased crystallinity and degree of orientation w...

Modal Characteristic Basis Function method for bodies of revolution (BoR-CBFM) is a fast solver for scattering from multiple BoRs. By using of BoR-CBFM, the modal characteristic basis functions (MCBFs) are constructed, and the size of impedance matrix is greatly reduced. However, the matrix filling, especially the filling of mutual-interaction matrix, is still a huge burden for numerical computation. To further enhance the efficiency of BoR-CBFM and reduce the cost of matrix filling, we present a sparse technique for BoR-CBFM. Through this technique, those weak elements in mutual-interaction matrix that contribute little to the linear system are neglected, and a sparse impedance matrix is achieved. As a result, this technique leads to a reduction on the cost of matrix filling. Numerical results are presented to prove the efficiency of this technique.

We report a new quasi-one-dimensional compound KMn

We proposed an innovative method to achieve dynamic control of particle separation by employing viscoelastic fluids in deterministic lateral displacement (DLD) arrays. The effects of shear-thinning and elasticity of working fluids on the critical separation size in DLD arrays are investigated. It is observed that each effect can lead to the variation of the critical separation size by approximately 40%. Since the elasticity strength of the fluid is related to the shear rate, the dynamic control can for the first time be easily realized through tuning the flow rate in microchannels.

The analysis of scattering from multiple Bodies of Revolution (BoR) has important applications in microwave remote sensing, radar imaging and other areas. Due to the rotational symmetry, the three dimensional scattering and radiation problems from BoR structures can be reduced to series of two dimensional problems and solved by method of moment(BoR-MoM). This characteristic greatly reduced both the computational time and storage for solving this kind of problems. To further improve the efficiency of the BoR method, a spectral integral method is applied to combined with the BoR method for the single BoR problems. Furthermore, to extend the application of BoR method to multiple BoRs problems, two methods are introduced: The mode characteristic basis function method is applied as a direct solver for the multiple right-hand problems, while a fast iterative solver based on the multi-region iterative method is applied which is more suitable for the mono right-hand problems. The typical numerical results for all the methods are given to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency.

We investigate the electronic structure of group VI-B transition metal di-arsenides (TAs2, T = Mo, W). By comparing the formation energies, the centrosymmetric di-arsenides compounds are energetically more stable, in contrast to the di-phosphorides (MoP2/WP2). Both compounds can be well described by a two-band model with a pair of well-separated electron/hole bands. The electron/hole carrier density is nearly compensated in MoAs2 (|n e − n h|/n h

With the rapid development of electric vehicles, power battery market demand rapidly expanding, battery scrap and recycling has become a serious problem. Based on the analysis and forecast of waste battery amount from 2014 to 2024, the paper researched the future theoretical metal recycling amount of power battery in China. Life cycle assessment method is used to establish a waste lithium ion batteries and nickel-metal hydride batteries recycling process of environmental impact assessment model, and the data lists of recycling process are built. The environmental impact load are analyzed and compared. Through the establishment of economic analysis model of waste battery recycling process, the economic performance is quantified. To develop the recycling of waste power battery mode, laws, regulations and relevant technical standards for China[, this paper provide the method reference and data support.

The analysis of scattering from multiple bodies of revolution (BoRs) has important applications in microwave remote sensing, radar imaging and other areas. For single BoR, three dimensional problem can be degenerated into 2.5 dimensional problem based on the modal Green functions (MGFs), reducing the solving time and storage remarkably. However, it is difficult to extend the MGF to multiple arbitrarily orientated BoRs. This paper presents a modal characteristic basis function method for solving the scattering from multiple BoRs. It combines the MGF of BoR with the characteristic basis function method, named as the BoR-CBF method. Here, the MGF of BoR is first applied to efficiently solve the current distribution on the surface of each BoR. The singular value decomposition is then used to construct the global modal characteristic basis functions (MCBFs) for each BoR. Finally, the MCBFs are transformed into the RWG basis functions using a basis function mapping technique so that the filling of the interaction matrix can be accelerated by the multilevel fast multipole algorithm. By using the BoR-CBF method, the scattering of multiple arbitrarily orientated BoRs can be solved efficiently. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the BoR-CBF method.

Green performance assessment of power battery is a whole life cycle process, which integrates Environment (E), Resource (R), Technology (T) and Cost (C) objectives considered as evaluation of multi-objective and multi-stage. According to definition of Green Product, the assessment model of multi-objective and multi-stage for power battery was built. The green utility function is proposed, by which the evaluation data of indices are changed uniformly into range of (0, 1) according to the assessment standard initialized as 0.5. The synthesis calculation method is given, which remains all the messages in the assessment. Finally, the green performance comparison between lithium-ion battery and nickel metal hydride battery proves the assessment method and process.

Now, the renewable resources recycling system do not include the traction battery recycling in China, and there are also some problems in the existed recycling system. In the field of resource recycling, especially for battery recycling, the management system, laws and regulations, and technical standards have been behind of the developed countries. This paper from producers self-establish the recycling system, producers alliance self-establish the recycling system and producers recycling business commission mode to discuss the recycling model for traction battery.

To solve the scattering from multiple bodies of revolution (BoRs), a fast iterative solver is proposed in this paper. By dividing the original multiple BoRs problem into single BoR problems, the present method can achieve a fast solution by the method of moment for single BoR problem and an efficient strategy for calculating interactions between different BoRs. Due to the rotational symmetry of single BoR, the BoR basis functions can be used, the impedance matrix is constructed for each mode, the number of unknowns is reduced greatly. Meanwhile, by basis function mapping technique, the interactions between different BoRs can be accelerated by multilevel fast multipole algorithm(MLFMA). In this paper, multiple BoRs including dielectric and PEC objects are discussed. At the same time, more details on MLFMA implementation and iterative methods will be addressed. Some numerical results are given to show the performance of the present method.

In this paper, a domain decomposition method is developed for scattering from multiple conducting bodies of revolution (BoR). The BoR basis functions are utilized to solve the single BoR problem and multilevel fast multipole algorithm (MLFMA) is used to take into account the interaction between multiple BoRs. Because the MLFMA cannot be applied for entire domain basis functions directly, a basis function mapping technique (BFMT) developed by us is used to transform the BoR basis functions into RWG basis functions to overcome this difficulty. Numerical results prove the validity and efficiency of the present method.

Composited right/left-handed transmission line (CRLH-TL) metamaterials exhibit exceptional properties and provide efficient tools for the practical design of microwave components. In this paper, a new dual-stop-band filter based on CRLH-TL structure is proposed. The commercial software general electromagenic servers (GEMS) is used to optimize the size of CRLH-TL unit in order to obtain two stop which band with center frequencies of 4 GHz and 6 GHz. The phase characteristics of novel structure are analyzed. The good simulation results are obtained.

The analysis of scattering from multiple Bodies of Revolution(BoR) has important applications in microwave remote sensing, radar imaging and other areas. Traditional BoR basis functions are only valid for single BoR, difficult for extension into multiple BoR case. In this paper we describe a numerically efficient strategy for solving the scattering problems from multiple BoR This approach is based on the BoR basis function and characteristic basis function method(CBFM). The BoR basis functions are applied to realize fast solution of each BoR the interactions between multiple BoR are evaluated based on the CBFM. In order to accelerate the filling of the CBF impedance matrix, hybrid basis function mapping technique with the MLFMA is developed here. By use of the present approach, the scattering of multiple BoR can be solved efficiently. Numerical results demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of this method.