Xiamen University

About: Xiamen University is a education organization based out in Amoy, Fujian, China. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Catalysis & Population. The organization has 50472 authors who have published 54480 publications receiving 1058239 citations. The organization is also known as: Amoy University & Xiàmén Dàxué.

Draft genome sequence of the Tibetan antelope

Abstract: The Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsonii) is endemic to the extremely inhospitable highaltitude environment of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, a region that has a low partial pressure of oxygen and high ultraviolet radiation. Here we generate a draft genome of this artiodactyl and use it to detect the potential genetic bases of highland adaptation. Compared with other plain-dwelling mammals, the genome of the Tibetan antelope shows signals of adaptive evolution and gene-family expansion in genes associated with energy metabolism and oxygen transmission. Both the highland American pika, and the Tibetan antelope have signals of positive selection for genes involved in DNA repair and the production of ATPase. Genes associated with hypoxia seem to have experienced convergent evolution. Thus, our study suggests that common genetic mechanisms might have been utilized to enable high-altitude

Water Soluble Binder, an Electrochemical Performance Booster for Electrode Materials with High Energy Density

Abstract: Binders, though often used in small doses, play a crucial role in determining the electrochemical performance of lithium ion batteries with high energy density. The traditional PVDF binder, which interacts with electrode materials via weak Van der Waals forces and consequently lacks the necessary capabilities (e.g., the suppression of significant volume variations, the interface maintenance etc.), could not fulfill the high demands of batteries with high energy density. Besides, extensive usage of the PVDF binder in the lithium ion battery is cost-ineffective and may raise environmental concerns as its handling often needs the assistance of organic solvents. Herein, recent progresses on the development of novel eco-friendly, low-cost and water-soluble binders which recently have gained increasing attention as a promising performance booster for lithium ion batteries with high energy density are reviewed. Such water soluble polymer binders are either natural, or modified, or synthesized, and they were observed with profoundly enhanced chemical/physical interactions with the electrode materials, stronger mechanical adhesion and evidently improved volume variation durability, leading to dramatic improvements in the electrochemical performances of Si-based anodes, spinel/layered oxide cathodes and S cathodes. Perspectives for future research directions on water soluble binders are also discussed.

Generalized Jacobi functions and their applications to fractional differential equations

Abstract: In this paper, we consider spectral approximation of fractional dif- ferential equations (FDEs). A main ingredient of our approach is to define a new class of generalized Jacobi functions (GJFs), which is intrinsically related to fractional calculus and can serve as natural basis functions for properly de- signed spectral methods for FDEs. We establish spectral approximation results for these GJFs in weighted Sobolev spaces involving fractional derivatives. We construct efficient GJF-Petrov-Galerkin methods for a class of prototypical fractional initial value problems (FIVPs) and fractional boundary value prob- lems (FBVPs) of general order, and we show that with an appropriate choice of the parameters in GJFs, the resulting linear systems are sparse and well- conditioned. Moreover, we derive error estimates with convergence rates only depending on the smoothness of data, so true spectral accuracy can be attained if the data are smooth enough. The ideas and results presented in this paper will be useful in dealing with more general FDEs involving Riemann-Liouville or Caputo fractional derivatives.