Multi-component olivine for lithium-ion hybrid capacitor

A lithium-ion hybrid capacitor comprising of a battery type multi-component olivine (LiMn1/3Co1/3Ni1/3PO4) cathode and a capacitive type carbon negative electrode is reported. Olivine phosphate synthesized with chelating agent's polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) or triethanolamine (TEA) showed uniform carbon coating through in-situ process exhibiting a surface area 5.1 m2/g with porosity 0.02 cm2/g. The surface area for commercial carbon electrode was observed to be 1450 m2/g with high porosity 0.76 cm2/g. Galvanostatic charge/discharge cycling tests were conducted in the coin cells, olivine vs. Li, offering a cell voltage of 4.75 V vs. Li with a maximum specific capacitance of 125 F/g. In the case of olivine vs. carbon in a lithium-ion hybrid device delivered a high discharge capacitance of 86 F/g at a specific current of 0.12 A/g with a cycling retention of 53 F/g (38% loss) after 250 cycles. The obtained performance of PVP synthesized olivine material is manifested to uniform carbon coating and the trapped organic products that provide pathways for facile electrochemical reactions than their TEA counterparts

Forwarding Web Service Requests To A Single Service Instance in Service Oriented Networking

Abstract: Service providers within an enterprise network are often governed by client service contracts (CSC) that specify, among other constraints, the rate at which a particular service instance may be accessed. The service can be accessed via multiple points in a proxy tier configuration. The CSC and thus the rate specified have to be collectively respected by all the middleware appliances. The appliances locally shape the service requests to respect the global contract. Investigation is done in the case where the CSC limits the rate to a service to X requests with an enforcement/observation interval of T seconds. This paper extends, and investigates the Credit-based Algorithm in a production level enterprise network setting. CBA is a decentralized algorithm for service traffic shaping in middleware appliances

Modeling 3D Magma Dynamics Using a Discontinuous Galerkin Method

Discontinuous Galerkin (DG) and matrix-free finite element methods with a novel projective pressure estimation are combined to enable the numerical model- ing of magma dynamics in 2D and 3D using the library deal.II . The physical model is an advection-reaction type system consisting of two hyperbolic equations to evolve porosity and soluble mineral abundance and one elliptic equation to recover global pressure. A combination of a discontinuous Galerkin method for the advection equa- tions and a finite element method for the elliptic equation provide a robust and efficient solution to the channel regime problems of the physical system in 3D. A projective and adaptively applied pressure estimation is employed to significantly reduce the compu- tational wall time without impacting the overall physical reliability in the modeling of important features of melt and segregation, such as melt channel bifurcation in 2D and 3D time dependent simulations

Multilevel and Local Timestepping Discontinuous Galerkin Methods for Magma Dynamics

Discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method is presented for numerical modeling of melt migration in a chemically reactive and viscously deforming upwelling mantle column. DG methods for both advection and elliptic equations provide a robust and efficient solution to the problems of melt migration in the asthenospheric upper mantle. Assembling and solving the elliptic equation is the major bottleneck in these computations. To address this issue, adaptive mesh refinement and local timestepping methods have been proposed to significantly improve the computational wall time. The robustness of DG methods is demonstrated through two benchmark problems by modeling detailed structure of high-porosity dissolution channels and compaction-dissolution waves

Efficacy and safety of onasemnogene abeparvovec in children with spinal muscular atrophy type 1: real-world evidence from 6 infusion centres in the United Kingdom

Background: Real-world data on the efficacy and safety of onasemnogene abeparvovec (OA) in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) are needed, especially to overcome uncertainties around its use in older and heavier children. This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of OA in patients with SMA type 1 in the UK, including patients ≥2 years old and weighing ≥13.5 kg. / Methods: This observational cohort study used data from patients with genetically confirmed SMA type 1 treated with OA between May 2021 and January 2023, at 6 infusion centres in the United Kingdom. Functional outcomes were assessed using age-appropriate functional scales. Safety analyses included review of liver function, platelet count, cardiac assessments, and steroid requirements. / Findings: Ninety-nine patients (45 SMA therapy-naïve) were treated with OA (median age at infusion: 10 [range, 0.6–89] months; median weight: 7.86 [range, 3.2–20.2] kg; duration of follow-up: 3–22 months). After OA infusion, mean ± SD change in CHOP-INTEND score was 11.0 ± 10.3 with increased score in 66/78 patients (84.6%); patients aged 100 U/L (95% CI, 2.3–223.7; P = 0.008) and 21.2-fold increased odds of steroid doubling, as per treatment protocol (95% CI, 2.2–209.2; P = 0.009) in patients weighing ≥13.5 kg versus <8.5 kg. Weight at infusion was positively correlated with steroid treatment duration (r = 0.43; P < 0.001). Worsening transaminitis, despite doubling of oral prednisolone, led to treatment with intravenous methylprednisolone in 5 children. Steroid-sparing immunosuppressants were used in 5 children to enable steroid weaning. Two deaths apparently unrelated to OA were reported. / Interpretation: OA led to functional improvements and was well tolerated with no persistent clinical complications, including in older and heavier patients. / Funding: Novartis Innovative Therapies AG provided a grant for independent medical writing services

Ancient mtDNA from the extinct Indian cheetah supports unexpectedly deep divergence from African cheetahs

Abstract: The Indian cheetah was hunted to extinction by the mid-20th century. While analysis of 139 bp of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has confirmed that the Indian cheetah was part of the Asiatic subspecies (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus), the detailed relationships between cheetah populations remains unclear due to limited genetic data. We clarify these relationships by studying larger fragments of cheetah mtDNA, both from an Indian cheetah museum specimen and two African cheetah, one modern and one historic, imported into India at different times. Our results suggest that the most recent common ancestor of cheetah mtDNA is approximately twice as ancient as currently recognised. The Indian and Southeast African (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus) cheetah mtDNA diverged approximately 72 kya, while the Southeast and Northeast African (Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii) cheetah mtDNA diverged around 139 kya. Additionally, the historic African cheetah sampled from India proved to have an A. j. jubatus haplotype, suggesting a hitherto unrecognised South African route of cheetah importation into India in the 19th century. Together, our results provide a deeper understanding of the relationships between cheetah subspecies, and have important implications for the conservation of A. j. venaticus and potential reintroduction of cheetahs into India

Ancient mtDNA from the extinct Indian cheetah supports unexpectedly deep divergence from African cheetahs

Abstract: The Indian cheetah was hunted to extinction by the mid-20th century. While analysis of 139 bp of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has confirmed that the Indian cheetah was part of the Asiatic subspecies (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus), the detailed relationships between cheetah populations remains unclear due to limited genetic data. We clarify these relationships by studying larger fragments of cheetah mtDNA, both from an Indian cheetah museum specimen and two African cheetah, one modern and one historic, imported into India at different times. Our results suggest that the most recent common ancestor of cheetah mtDNA is approximately twice as ancient as currently recognised. The Indian and Southeast African (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus) cheetah mtDNA diverged approximately 72 kya, while the Southeast and Northeast African (Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii) cheetah mtDNA diverged around 139 kya. Additionally, the historic African cheetah sampled from India proved to have an A. j. jubatus haplotype, suggesting a hitherto unrecognised South African route of cheetah importation into India in the 19th century. Together, our results provide a deeper understanding of the relationships between cheetah subspecies, and have important implications for the conservation of A. j. venaticus and potential reintroduction of cheetahs into India

Making sense of missense variants in TTN-related congenital myopathies.

Mutations in the sarcomeric protein titin, encoded by TTN, are emerging as a common cause of myopathies. The diagnosis of a TTN-related myopathy is, however, often not straightforward due to clinico-pathological overlap with other myopathies and the prevalence of TTN variants in control populations. Here, we present a combined clinico-pathological, genetic and biophysical approach to the diagnosis of TTN-related myopathies and the pathogenicity ascertainment of TTN missense variants. We identified 30 patients with a primary TTN-related congenital myopathy (CM) and two truncating variants, or one truncating and one missense TTN variant, or homozygous for one TTN missense variant. We found that TTN-related myopathies show considerable overlap with other myopathies but are strongly suggested by a combination of certain clinico-pathological features. Presentation was typically at birth with the clinical course characterized by variable progression of weakness, contractures, scoliosis and respiratory symptoms but sparing of extraocular muscles. Cardiac involvement depended on the variant position. Our biophysical analyses demonstrated that missense mutations associated with CMs are strongly destabilizing and exert their effect when expressed on a truncating background or in homozygosity. We hypothesise that destabilizing TTN missense mutations phenocopy truncating variants and are a key pathogenic feature of recessive titinopathies that might be amenable to therapeutic intervention