Ultra-fast charging in aluminum-ion batteries: electric double layers on active anode

With the rapid iteration of portable electronics and electric vehicles, developing high-capacity batteries with ultra-fast charging capability has become a holy grail. Here we report rechargeable aluminum-ion batteries capable of reaching a high specific capacity of 200 mAh g−1. When liquid metal is further used to lower the energy barrier from the anode, fastest charging rate of 104 C (duration of 0.35 s to reach a full capacity) and 500% more specific capacity under high-rate conditions are achieved. Phase boundaries from the active anode are believed to encourage a high-flux charge transfer through the electric double layers. As a result, cationic layers inside the electric double layers responded with a swift change in molecular conformation, but anionic layers adopted a polymer-like configuration to facilitate the change in composition

Enterprise competence organization schema: publishing the published competences

This article was published in the journal Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture [Sage © IMechE]. The definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/09544054JEM2097Competence is a standardized way to define the profile of an enterprise. Understanding and auditing competences acquired, required, and desired by a company and further representing them in a structured manner is a beneficial step for enhancing the company's performance. Ontology is emerging as an effective tool to structure competences for comprehensive and transportable machine understanding. In the present paper, ECOS (Enterprise Competence Organization Schema) is presented as a mechanism to capture enterprise competence in a manner understandable by computers. The objective behind this concept is to create a web of machine-readable pages describing basic information and competences of enterprises with sets of interconnected data and semantic models. The ECOS ontology captures enterprise competences using a consistent and comprehensive list of concepts and vocabulary and converts them into a semantic web resource using the Web Ontology Language (OWL). The novel concept of an ECOS-card and ECOS-form is proposed and used for developing and publishing enterprise competences. Examples from real-life enterprise applications of ECOS are also shown in the paper

Synthesis, Biological, and Antitumor Activity of a Highly Potent 6-Substituted Pyrrolo[2,3-<i>d</i>]pyrimidine Thienoyl Antifolate Inhibitor with Proton-Coupled Folate Transporter and Folate Receptor Selectivity over the Reduced Folate Carrier That Inhibits β-Glycinamide Ribonucleotide Formyltransferase

2-Amino-4-oxo-6-substituted pyrrolo[2,3-<i>d</i>]pyrimidine antifolates with a thienoyl side chain (compounds <b>1</b>–<b>3</b>, respectively) were synthesized for comparison with compound <b>4</b>, the previous lead compound of this series. Conversion of hydroxyl acetylen-thiophene carboxylic esters to thiophenyl-α-bromomethylketones and condensation with 2,4-diamino-6-hydroxypyrimidine afforded the 6-substituted pyrrolo[2,3-<i>d</i>]pyrimidine compounds of type <b>18</b> and <b>19</b>. Coupling with l-glutamate diethyl ester, followed by saponification, afforded <b>1</b>–<b>3</b>. Compound <b>3</b> selectively inhibited the proliferation of cells expressing folate receptors (FRs) α or β, or the proton-coupled folate transporter (PCFT), including KB and IGROV1 human tumor cells, much more potently than <b>4</b>. Compound <b>3</b> was more inhibitory than <b>4</b> toward β-glycinamide ribonucleotide formyltransferase (GARFTase). Both <b>3</b> and <b>4</b> depleted cellular ATP pools. In SCID mice with IGROV1 tumors, <b>3</b> was more efficacious than <b>4</b>. Collectively, our results show potent antitumor activity for <b>3</b> in vitro and in vivo, associated with its selective membrane transport by FRs and PCFT over RFC and inhibition of GARFTase, clearly establishing the 3-atom bridge as superior to the 1-, 2-, and 4-atom bridge lengths for the activity of this series