The recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) has attracted great attention, mainly because of its significant impact on resource recycling and environmental protection. Currently, the ...processes involved in recovering valuable metals from spent LIBs have shown remarkable progress, but little attention has been paid to the effective separation of spent cathode and anode materials. Significantly, it not only can reduce the difficulty in the subsequent processing of spent cathode materials, but also contribute to the recovery of graphite. Considering the difference in their chemical properties on the surface, flotation is an effective method to separate materials, owing to its low-cost and eco-friendly characteristics. In this paper, the chemical principles of flotation separation for spent cathodes and materials from spent LIBs is summarized first. Then, the research progress in flotation separation of various spent cathode materials (LiCoO
, LiNi
Co
Mn
O
, and LiFePO
) and graphite is summarized. Given this, the work is expected to offer the significant reviews and insights about the flotation separation for high-value recycling of spent LIBs.
Cretaceous pelagic deposits in the Bangong-Nujiang Suture Zone are significant for understanding the last evolutionary stage of the Mesotethyan Ocean and constraining the timing of initial ...Lhasa-Qiangtang collision, however few existing studies present the necessary sedimentological and biostratigraphic data. Here, we present detailed lithostratigraphic and biostratigraphic surveys in the Rotug area. A total of 40 species belonging to 23 genera are identified in the pelagic siliceous sedimentary sequences and indicate an Early Cretaceous (Hauterivian–late Aptian) age based by correlation on Unitary Association Zones. These newly discovered radiolarians help to constrain the paleoceanography and paleogeography of the Mesotethyan Ocean and indicate a deep marine setting existed across western Tibet during the late Aptian. Faunal similarities across the entire Tethyan realm, suggest this ocean was connected with the Neotethyan Ocean during the Early Cretaceous. This study has implications for the paleoceanographic evolution of the post-collisional residual-sea and sedimentary characteristics of marginal basins adjacent to continents during the Late Mesozoic.
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Non-invasive positive pressure ventilation has attracted increasing attention for air management in general anesthesia. This work proposes a novel robot equipped with two snake arms and a ...mask-fastening mechanism to facilitate trachea airway management for anesthesia as well as deep sedation and to improve surgical outcomes. The two snake arms with supporting terminals have been designed to lift a patient’s jaw with design optimization, and the mask-fastening mechanism has been utilized to fasten the mask onto a patient’s face. The control unit has been developed to implement lifting and fastening force control with safety and robustness. Loading experiments on the snake arm and tension experiments on the mask-fastening mechanism have been performed to investigate and validate the performances of the proposed anesthesia airway management robot. Experiments on a mock person have also been employed to further verify the effectiveness and reliability of the developed robot system. As an early study of an anesthesia airway management robot, it was verified as a valid attempt to perform mask non-invasive positive pressure ventilation technology by taking advantage of a robotic system.
Uranium isotope compositions (δ238) and Th/U in carbonates are being explored as paleoredox proxies to study global oceanic anoxia. However, the impact of changes to local depositional environments ...that might cause a decline in δ238U and an increase in Th/U has not been thoroughly investigated. Here we report a decline in δ238U (from +0.1 to -0.3‰) and an increase in Th/U from shallow-marine carbonates during the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum at Tingri (south Tibet). Changes of δ238U and Th/U are not fully coupled. The decline in δ238U coincided with a local sea-level fall, whereas the increase in Th/U occurred mainly during a sea-level rise. The decline in δ238U likely results from changes in redox conditions of pore waters and in primary carbonate mineralogy. The increase in Th/U is ascribed to reduced authigenic U(IV) accumulation. Here our results suggest that changes in local depositional environments can cause behavior of δ238U and Th/U resembling that induced by expanded global oceanic anoxia. This finding calls for caution to consider local factors before applying δ238U and Th/U as global paleoredox proxies.
The BCL-XL-selective inhibitors exhibit potential clinical application value when combined with chemotherapeutic drugs for the treatment of solid tumors. However, their efficacy in these settings is ...still low when treated with BCL-XL inhibitors alone in solid tumors. The mechanism responsible for the poor efficacy remains unclear. We show here that unable to interact with target of BCL-XL-selective inhibitors caused by invalid entry into mitochondria is essential for their inefficacy in solid tumors. We demonstrated in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells that the instability of A-1155463 in cells as well as invalid entry into mitochondria of A-1331852, two BCL-XL-selective inhibitors, accounted for their off-target problems. Furthermore, we found that a mitochondria-targeted, non-toxic small molecule NA-2a improved the on-target effect of A-1331852 to enhance its apoptotic regulatory activity, thereby increasing its anticancer activity in NSCLC. Our results indicated that NA-2a was selectively enriched in mitochondria transported by organic-anion-transporting polypeptide (OATP) transporters, which altered the permeability of the mitochondrial membrane, thereby promoting the entrance of A-1331852 to mitochondria and enhancing its disruption of the BIM-BCL-XL complex, which finally led to the increased anticancer activity in vitro and in vivo. Collectively, our data provided overwhelming evidence that the combination of NA-2a and A-1331852 could be used as a promising synergistic therapeutic agent in NSCLC therapy.
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Alfalfa (
Medicago sativa
L.) is an important forage crop, and salt stress is a major limiting factor in its yield. Melatonin (MT) is a multi-regulatory molecule in plants. We showed that basal MT ...content was positively correlated with the salt tolerance degree of different alfalfa varieties. MT and its precursor 5-HT fully recovered seed germination while partially ameliorated seedling growth of salt-stressed alfalfa. The 5-HT showed some divergent effects from MT with regards to growth amelioration under salinity. Salt stress caused stunted plant growth in soil culture, while MT ameliorated it by elevating plant height, fresh weight, branching number, and chlorophyll content. Silencing of a putative MT receptor,
MsPMTR1
, which was shown to be membrane-localized, abolished the ameliorative effects of MT on salt-stressed alfalfa seedling growth, while overexpression of
MsPMTR1
improved plant growth under salt stress. The RNA sequencing analysis showed that nine pathway genes were specifically induced by MT treatment compared with salt stress. These MT-responsive differentially expressed genes include basal metabolic pathway genes, such as “ribosome, elongation factor,” “sugar and lipid metabolism,” and “photosynthesis” and stress-related genes encoding “membrane integrity” related proteins, heat shock protein, peroxidase/oxidoreductase, and protease. Several abiotic stress response-related genes, such as
DRE
,
ARF
,
HD-ZF
,
MYB
, and
REM
were repressed by NaCl treatment while induced by MT treatment. In summary, we demonstrated the importance of
MsPMTR1
in MT-mediated salt tolerance in alfalfa, and we also analyzed the regulatory mechanism of MT during alfalfa seed germination under salt stress.
Abstract Transient cerebral ischemia may result in neuronal apoptosis. During this process, several apoptosis-regulatory genes are induced in apoptotic cells. Among these genes, cysteinyl ...aspartate-specific protease-3 (caspase-3) and B-cell leukemia-2 (Bcl-2) are the most effective apoptotic regulators because they play a decisive role in the occurrence of apoptosis. Research has shown that propofol, which is an intravenous anesthetic agent, exhibits neuroprotective effects against cerebral ischemia–reperfusion injury, although the neuroprotective mechanism is still unclear. In this study, we examined the effects of propofol in rats after forebrain ischemia–reperfusion. We assessed the expression of hippocampal caspase-3, which acts as an apoptotic activator, and Bcl-2, which acts as an apoptotic suppressor. Forebrain ischemia was induced in hypotensive rats by clamping the bilateral common carotid arteries for 10 min. Propofol was administered via a lateral cerebral ventricle injection using a microsyringe after the induction of ischemia. Neuronal damage was determined by histological examination of brain sections at the level of the dorsal hippocampus. Caspase-3 and Bcl-2 expression in the hippocampus were detected using semiquantitative reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT–PCR) and Western blot analysis. We also used an immunohistochemical method after ischemia–reperfusion. In the hippocampus, caspase-3 and Bcl-2 mRNA were dramatically increased at 24 h after forebrain ischemia. Following 6–24 h of reperfusion, forebrain ischemia for 10 min induced a gradual increase in the expression of caspase-3 and Bcl-2 protein in the rat hippocampus, which peaked at 24 h. In the propofol (1.0 mg/kg) intervention group, the hippocampal expression of caspase-3 mRNA decreased significantly in rats 24 h after ischemia; Bcl-2 mRNA was increased at the same time point. During the 24-h reperfusion period and after treatment with propofol, the level of caspase-3 protein expression was low, while the level of Bcl-2 was high. Thus, our results suggest that the neuroprotective effects of propofol against neuronal apoptosis may be mediated by the inhibition of caspase-3 expression and an increase in Bcl-2 expression.
Flame propagation tests and explosibility tests were conducted on three different particle sizes of dust samples with a vertical glass tube and a 20 L spherical explosibility test apparatus. The ...explosibility was examined using Pmax, dp/dtmax, and tb. Proximate analysis and SEM analysis were performed on the oil shale dust samples before and after explosion. The results indicate that, within a given limit of particle size, the smaller the particle size, the greater the flame propagation velocity and explosibility of oil shale dust; beyond this limit, oxygen content and particle agglomeration will both make a difference, eventually weakened the combustion reaction. The extent to which particle size affects explosibility also varies as a function of concentration, and the optimum concentration of dust was found to vary with mass median particle size. The process of the oil shale dust explosion is mainly the volatile matter combustion reaction. Particle size affects oil shale dust explosion primarily as a result of the different pyrolysis rate and amount of volatile matter.
A simple and novel approach is proposed to represent the mutual solubility of water and hydrocarbon components based on equations of state at high temperatures in thermal recovery processes. Sϕreide ...and Whitson modifications are applied to the Peng–Robinson (PR) equation of state (EOS) so that all components, including the water component, can exist in all phases, reasonably representing gas solubility in water and water solubility in hydrocarbon phases. We propose an algorithm to assign binary interaction parameters (BIPs) for aqueous and nonaqueous phases. The water vapor pressure helps select initial K-values for stability analysis so that the aqueous phase can be split out first if present. The algorithm is tested by a wide range of variations in pressure, temperature, and composition. The results show the robustness of the algorithm and the effects of temperature and overall water mole fraction on phase behaviors in steam flooding processes.
Alfalfa (
L.) is an important forage legume and soil salinization seriously affects its growth and yield. In a previous study, we identified a salt-tolerant variety 'Gongnong NO.1' and a ...salt-sensitive variety 'Sibeide'. To unravel the molecular mechanism involved in salt stress, we conducted transcriptomic analysis on these two cultivars grown under 0 and 250 mM NaCl treatments for 0, 12, and 24 h. Totals of 336, and 548 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in response to NaCl were, respectively, identified in the 'Gongnong NO.1' and 'Sibeide' varieties. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and Gene Ontology (GO) pathway enrichment analysis showed that the DEGs were classified in carbohydrate metabolism, energy production, transcription factor, and stress-associated pathway. Expression of
, encoding a putative H
O
receptor, was responsive to both NaCl and H
O
treatment. MsHPCA1 was localized in cell membrane and overexpression of
in alfalfa increased salt tolerance and H
O
content. This study will provide new gene resources for the improvement in salt tolerance in alfalfa and legume crops, which has important theoretical significance and potential application value.
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