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The Free-Floating Bike-Sharing system (FFBSS) connects users to public transit networks and is an important component of the "last-mile" transport network. However, the rapid development of the FFBSS in China has significantly increased the local municipal workload and deteriorated the public transport. To mitigate these negative impacts, the Chinese government has launched a pilot project of electronic fence spots, by selecting several bike-sharing parking spots from the existing ones to set up the virtual stations. Compared to the traditional public shared bicycles with fixed stations, the flexibility of choosing parking spots could dynamically cater the fast-changing traffic environment and facilitate the renting and returning for users and, therefore, render a more sparse and complicate parking spots network. In this paper, we study the location selection of bike-sharing parking points as a multidimensional problem, which considers not only the interests of users and stakeholders but also the environment and safety issues. We propose a multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) model including the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and the weight-restricted data envelopment analysis (DEA) method to evaluate and determine the optimal bike-sharing parking points. Since the additional weight restrictions in the DEA method might lead to infeasible solutions, we introduce the weight restrictions feasibility theorem to avoid such infeasibility in the proposed weight-restricted DEA model, which has not been thoroughly studied in the literature. Specifically, a hyperplane adjusting model is developed to adjust the infeasible results. In the computational study, we evaluate 36 current parking spots in three regions in Beijing, China, to verify the rationality of the combined approach and put forward some managerial suggestions for this pilot project in Beijing, China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary. With the support of national policies and the holding of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, China's sports market presents an unprecedented prosperity, but it also faces many challenges. The market environment in which the sports industry is located is full of uncertainty and complexity. Creative products, competitive sports enterprises, and clear business models are urgently needed. Research purpose. To explore the future development mode and the prospect of China's sports undertakings and enterprises through the analysis and research on the competitive advantage of China's sports industry. In this context, since 2016, this study has started with the micromarket players. Research methods. Using the case study method highly praised by the international economic management academic circles, combined with in-depth learning, this study has conducted a systematic and comprehensive study on a total of 50 Chinese sports enterprises by mining and analyzing the unstructured text, video, and other data obtained from public materials and interviews. This paper deeply analyzes the competitive strategy of China's sports enterprises, creates and maintains competitive advantages in the sports industry, and studies the model construction of case studies and analysis. Conclusion. The study found that the product and business model, the leadership of managers, the innovation ability of teams, and the external market environment are the core elements for sports enterprises to formulate competitive strategies and create and maintain competitive advantages. The organic combination of the four eventually forms a competitive advantage that is difficult to replicate and finally forms a value chain through the implementation of competitive strategies so as to realize the value promotion and sustainable development of enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the background of the promotion of the Olympic effect of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and the in-depth implementation of the national ice and snow industry's strategy of "expanding from the south to the west and expanding from the east," China's ice and snow industry has ushered in a new period of development. By applying literature and logical analysis, etc., with in-depth analysis of various subjective and objective supplies for the integration of China's ice-snow industry and ecocultural tourism in Hunan Province, it is considered to be driven by the bidding and preparation effect of Beijing Winter Olympic Games in 2022. The supply capacity of ice-snow industry venues, professional facilities, and public services are gradually strengthened, and the soft power of construction of the ice-snow industry needs to be coordinated and improved. The problem of safety is prominent and it is urgent to build a safety prevention and emergency management of ice-snow tourism.The integration of ice-snow sports and ecotourism industry has gradually became a prototype, but the integration point, line, and surface still need to be further strengthened and expanded. Accordingly, this paper puts forward a method to realize the transformation and upgrading of the commercial operation mode of the integration of ice-snow industry and ecological culture tourism, comprehensively to improve the ecological innovation ability of ice-snow tourism public service, to create multi-industry ice-snow industry cluster area, and to construct the basic framework system of risk prevention and control and management with multisubject participation and other relevant strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the limitation of carbon emissions, China's photovoltaic (PV) industry has developed vigorously, while some traditional heavy industries have been violently hit. Therefore, the industrial production data exhibits significant nonlinear and complexity characteristics, which may affect prediction accuracy, thus hindering the corresponding department's decision-making. Consequently, a novel structure-adaptive fractional Bernoulli grey model is presented in this paper to surmount this toughie, and the core innovations can be summarized as follows. Initially, a novel time function term is utilized to depict the accumulative time effect, which can smoothly represent the dynamic variations and significantly strengthen the robustness of the new model. Besides, the fractional-order accumulation technique, which could effectively improve the predicting accuracy, is employed in the proposed model. Furthermore, the adaptability and generalizability of the proposed model can be enhanced by the self-adaptive parameters optimized by the Particle Swarm Optimization. For illustration and verification purposes, experiments on forecasting the annual output of Photovoltaic modules in China and the annual output of steel in Beijing are compared with a range of benchmarks, including the classic GM (1, 1), conventional econometric technology, and machine learning methods. And the results confirmed that the proposed model is superior to all benchmark models, which indicates that the novel model is indeed suitable for industrial production forecasting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a traffic cyber physical system for urban road traffic signal control, which is referred to as UTSC-CPS. With this proposed system, managers and researchers can realize the construction and simulation of various types of traffic scenarios, the rapid development, and optimization of new control strategies and can apply effective control strategies to actual traffic management. The advantages of this new system include the following. Firstly, the fusion architecture of private cloud computing and edge computing is proposed for the first time, which effectively improves the performance of software and hardware of the urban road traffic signal control system and realizes information security perception and protection in cloud and equipment, respectively, within the fusion framework; secondly, using the concept of parallel system, the depth of real-time traffic control subsystem and real-time simulation subsystem is realized. Thirdly, the idea of virtual scene basic engine and strategy agent engine is put forward in the system design, which separates data from control strategy by designing a general control strategy API and helps researchers focus on control algorithm itself without paying attention to detection data and basic data. Finally, considering China, the system designs a general control strategy API to separate data from control strategy. Most of the popular communication protocols between signal controllers and detectors are private protocols. The standard protocol conversion middleware is skillfully designed, which decouples the field equipment from the system software and achieves the universality and reliability of the control strategy. To further demonstrate the advantages of the new system, we have carried out a one-year practical test in Weifang City, Shandong Province, China. The system has been proved in terms of stability, security, scalability, practicability and rapid practice, and verification of the new control strategy. At the same time, it proves the superiority of the simulation subsystem in the performance and simulation scale by comparing the different-scale road networks of Shunyi District in Beijing and Weifang City in Shandong Province. Further tests were conducted using real intersections, and the results were equally valid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies a location-allocation problem to determine the selection of emergency shelters, medical centers, and distribution centers after the disaster. The evacuation of refugees and allocation of relief resources are also considered. A mixed-integer nonlinear multiobjective programming model is proposed to characterize the problem. The hierarchical demand of different refugees and the limitations of relief resources are considered in the model. We employ a combination of the simulated annealing (SA) algorithm and the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm method to solve the complex model. To optimize the result of our proposed algorithm, we absorb the group search, crossover, and mutation operator of GA into SA. We conduct a case study in a district of Beijing in China to validate the proposed methodology. Some computational experiments are conducted to analyze the impact of different factors, such as the target weight setting, selection of candidate shelters, and quantity of relief resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, many cities are building themselves the transit metropolis, and the reasonable evaluation of level of service (LOS) of public transport system (PTS) is one important aspect. However, to determine the overall LOS is hard because the distribution of service in PTS is not homogeneous with regard to time and space. To address this problem, this study proposes a general framework to determine the LOS scale of PTS based on the distribution of service quality. Under the framework, two classification methods are discussed. Method 1 uses two parameters, the mean and coefficient of variation to model the distribution, and Method 2 is an existing approach that only considers mean. Then the specific use of the framework is expounded for the service attribute of crowding, and Beijing subway line LOS is evaluated. The line LOS is divided into I–IV, whose threshold is expressed as a function of mean and coefficient of variation. The results show that 57.8% of the sample points are in the most crowding level IV in morning peak hours by Method 1, but 60.9% of sample points are in a comfortable level II by Method 2, and the former is more consistent with reality. In addition, it reveals which lines and time periods need to improve the service level. The research proves the feasibility of considering the service distribution to determine the overall LOS of PTS, and it is useful for capturing more detailed information of the system performance in time and space. This research can provide an approach for evaluating and helping to improve the overall service level of PTS for public transport authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary objective of this paper is to demonstrate and validate the necessity of reforming Beijing to a public transit oriented (PTO) city from the view of transportation equity. Equity is believed to be of significant importance to the development of sustainable transportation. This paper presents a comparison of the transportation structure in Beijing with that in other big cities around the world using Cluster Analysis. To accomplish the objective, a road spatial recourse analyzing model is used. This model describes how to distribute road spatial resources fairly to private cars, taxies, and buses. Furthermore, a survey on the satisfactory degree about the first bus rapid transit (BRT) line in Beijing from 8 aspects was conducted. An average score between 4.5 and 3.5 out of 5 demonstrates that the residents are satisfied with the BRT line. Results of this study show the feasibility and creditability in applying PTO transportation structure in Beijing. It is emphasized that more attention should be paid to public transit and it should be the orientation of Beijing's transportation system developed for the consideration of transportation equity. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the stochastic concept for freeway capacity, the procedure of capacity estimation is developed. Due to the fact that it is impossible to observe the value of the capacity and to obtain the probability distribution of the capacity, the product-limit method is used in this paper to estimate the capacity. In order to implement estimation of capacity using this technology, the lifetime table based on statistical methods for lifetime data analysis is introduced and the corresponding procedure is developed. Simulated data based on freeway sections in Beijing, China, were analyzed and the results indicate that the methodology and procedure are applicable and validated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the bus network, key bus station failure can interrupt transfer lines, which leads to the low effectiveness of the whole network, especially during peak hours. Thus, identifying key stations in the bus network before the emergency occurs has a great significance to improve the response speed. In this paper, we proposed a new method considering station hybrid influence and passenger flow to identify key stations in the whole bus network. This method aims to measure the influence of bus stations while combining the topological structure of the bus network and dynamic bus stations passenger flow. The influence of bus stations was calculated based on the local structure of the network, which refines from finding the shortest paths with high computational complexity. To evaluate the performance of the method, we used the efficiency of the network and vehicle average speed at the station to examine the accuracy. The results show that the new method can rank the influence of bus stations more accurately and more efficiently than other complex network methods such as degree, H-index, and betweenness. On this basis, the key stations of the bus network of Beijing in China are identified out and the distribution characteristics of the key bus stations are analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Along with the increasing proportion of urban public transportation trip, pedestrian flow in transportation hub areas increased. For effectively improving the emergency handling ability of related management apartments and preventing the incident of pedestrian congestion, this paper studied the method of pedestrian flow forecast in Beijing transportation hub areas. Firstly, 34 typical sidewalks in Beijing transportation hub areas were surveyed to obtain 2200 valid data. Secondly, correlation analysis was used to analyze the relationship between pedestrian flow and its influential factors. 11 significant influential factors were extracted. Thirdly, forecasting model was established with modular neural network. The surveyed pedestrian flow sample was fuzzy clustered according to the regional land use where the transportation hub existed. Then, membership function based on the distance measure was constructed. Through fuzzy discrimination, online selection for the subnetwork of the information can be achieved. Consequently, the self-adaptation of the neural network on information processing was improved. Finally, this paper tested the pedestrian flow sample of a transportation hub in Beijing. It was concluded that the accuracy of pedestrian flow forecasting model using modular neural network was higher than other neural network models. There was also improvement in the adaptability to environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2007, Beijing Metro started to use track geometry car to measure quality of its tracks under wheel loading conditions. The track quality measurement data from the track geometry car were only used to assess local track quality by means of scoring 1000 m long track segments based on track exceptions. Track quality management experience of national railroads of China shows that, in addition to local track quality assessment, an overall track quality assessment method should be employed. The paper presented research results funded by Road Administration of Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport. The paper proposed an overall track quality assessment method for Beijing Metro and determined the overall track quality standards by means of a statistical method which was proposed in the paper. The standards are necessary for the proposed method to be applied and have been approved by Road Administration of Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport and put into practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a multimodal travel behavior, park and ride includes several trip modes such as car, walking, bus, or railway. And people's choice of park and ride is influenced by many factors. This paper, based on the park and ride behavior survey in Beijing, will analyze the relationship between the perception of the influencing factors and the behavior intent for park and ride by using structural equation modeling. The conclusions suggest that the park and ride choice for travelers is a passive behavior which means giving up driving the car is mainly caused by the serious traffic congestion. Furthermore, improving the service level of the park and ride facilities and the comfort for riding bus or railway will increase the utilization of park and ride facilities. The perceptions of the influencing factors have both direct and indirect effects on the travel intent for park and ride by the interaction among the influencing factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reviews the recent researches implemented in Chinese Academy of Sciences, with achievements on integrated resonant microcantilever sensors. In the resonant cantilevers, the self-sensing elements and resonance exciting elements are both topdown integrated with silicon micromachining techniques. Quite a lot of effort is focused on optimization of the resonance mode and sensing structure for improvement of sensitivity. On the other hand, to enable the micro-cantilevers specifically sensitive to bio/chemical molecules, sensing materials are developed and modified on the cantilever surface with a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) based bottom-up construction and surface functionalization. To improve the selectivity of the sensors and depress environmental noise, multiple and localized surface modifications are developed. The achieved volume production capability and satisfactory detecting resolution to trace-level biological antigen of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) give the micro-cantilever sensors a great promise for rapid and high-resoluble detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposed a new method to describe, compare, and classify the traffic congestion points in Beijing, China, by using the online map data and further revealed the relationship between traffic congestion and land use. The data of the point of interest (POI) and the real-time traffic was extracted from an electronic map of the area in the fourth ring road of Beijing. The POIs were quantified based on the architectural area of the land use; the congestion points were identified based on real-time traffic. Then, the cluster analysis using the attributes of congestion time was conducted to identify the main traffic congestion areas. The result of a linear regression analysis between the congestion time and the land use showed that the influence of the high proportion of commercial land use on the traffic congestion was significant. Also, we considered five types of land use through performing a linear regression analysis between the congestion time and the ratio of four types of land use. The results showed that the reasonable ratio of land use types could efficiently reduce congestion time. This study makes contributions to the policy-making of urban land use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owing to the current development trend of globalization and informatization, traditional transportation technologies and means can no longer meet the needs of economic and social development. Thus, intelligent transportation will be an inevitable and revolutionary choice for the development of the transportation industry. As a subsystem of the intelligent transportation system, the electronic nonstop toll collection (ETC) system provides a good solution to the problems of traffic congestion, environmental pollution, energy consumption, and low toll operation efficiency caused by expressway toll collection. This high-technology system is utilized in many fields, such as radio communication and computer and automatic control in the transportation field. China's expressway ETC systems have evident effects on congestion reduction at toll stations. Although the advantages of ETC lanes are significant, and China actively implements ETC-handling policies, some drivers are reluctant to install ETC on-board systems or they have negative experiences after handling them. According to a survey, existing literature lacks research on the factors affecting user satisfaction with ETC. On the basis of the questionnaire data of ETC user experience in Shanghai and Beijing, we comprehensively investigate the reasons of banking, ETC equipment, and drivers' personal factors and travel characteristics to establish an ordinal logistics model. Through cluster analysis, drivers in the two cities are divided into three groups, and the significance of related variables is further analyzed. This research can help us understand the degree of influence of different factors on user satisfaction with ETC to a certain extent. Moreover, effective methods and measures can be used to promote the popularity of ETC vehicle equipment and the utilization rate of ETC-dedicated lanes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of autonomous driving technologies, robo-taxis (shared autonomous vehicles) are being tested on real roads. In China, in particular, people in some cities such as Beijing and Shanghai can book a robo-taxi online and experience the service. To examine the influential factors on user acceptance of robo-taxi services, this study proposes and employs an extended technology acceptance model (TAM) with four external factors: perceived trust, government support, social influence, and perceived enjoyment. Data were collected through an online questionnaire in China, and responses from 403 respondents were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Both typical TAM factors—including perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and attitude—and external factors were found to play significant roles in predicting users' intention to use robo-taxis. The four external factors influenced the user acceptance indirectly via typical TAM factors. Improving users' perceived trust is important for increasing public adoption. A greater emphasis by manufacturers on safety concerns, wider dissemination of information on data protection and safety systems, and government support through incentives for manufacturers and users can help improve public adoption of robo-taxi services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the travel time distribution of different types of urban roads, the link and path average travel time, and variance estimation methods by analyzing the large-scale travel time dataset detected fromautomatic number plate readers installed throughout Beijing. The results show that the best-fitting travel time distribution for different road links in 15 min time intervals differs for different traffic congestion levels. The average travel time for all links on all days can be estimated with acceptable precision by using normal distribution. However, this distribution is not suitable to estimate travel time variance under some types of traffic conditions. Path travel time can be estimated with high precision by summing the travel time of the links that constitute the path. In addition, the path travel time variance can be estimated by the travel time variance of the links, provided that the travel times on all the links along a given path are generated by statistically independent distributions. These findings can be used to develop and validate microscopic simulations or online travel time estimation and prediction systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking Beijing as the core, this study takes the data related to the construction industry from 2011 to 2018 as the basis. By constructing a cross-regional influence model and collaborative coupling evaluation model of China's construction industry considering economic, social, and ecological development, this study comprehensively investigates the current situation of the cross-regional development of China's capital construction industry. Results show that the external contribution of Beijing's construction industry is manifested in three situations. A general trend of rising first and then falling is also observed. The contribution of Beijing's construction enterprises to northwest China has long been low, whereas its contribution rate to Tianjin, Hebei, and Guangdong Provinces is high. The regional difference is significant, showing a "catch-up effect." The contribution degree and the development level of China's construction industry are usually at a low coupling and antagonistic level. The verification of the influencing factors indicates that the external influence of the construction industry in Beijing has a significant positive effect on the supporting environment of the industry and the development level of the construction industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The national new area Xiong'an has been established to take over the noncapital functions of Beijing in China. In light of local resources and environmental constraints, it is important to clarify the mode of industrial transfer for Xiong'an new area (XNA) to achieve the developmental goals. This study simulates and analyzes the speed of industrial transfer and the capacities of XNA in light of resource and environmental constraints. The results show that, to just realize modernization in 2035, the transfer rate of the secondary industry and tertiary industry is annually 3.7 billion yuan and 6.4 billion yuan, respectively. But at this speed, the atmospheric environment will be overloaded by 2028. The minimum and maximum transfer rate to realize modernization in 2035 without overloading resources and environment are also specified as well as the total size of economy and population. The results indicate that land for the construction of XNA is rich, but local water is not sufficient to support industrial growth. The atmospheric environment of XNA is also an important limiting factor. It is thus necessary to reduce air pollution and increase the population and industrial scale of the area by increasing the transfer rate of the tertiary industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate clinical features, independent associated factors, treatment, and outcome of patients with peripheral neuropathy (PN) in eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA).Methods: We retrospectively analyzed clinical data of 110 EGPA patients from 2007 to 2019 in Peking Union Medical College Hospital. The independent factors associated with PN in EGPA were analyzed with univariate and multivariate logistic regressions.Results: In EGPA with PN, paresthesia and muscle weakness were observed in 82% and 33% of patients, respectively. Both the upper and lower limbs were involved in 51% of patients. 30% of EGPA patients had symmetrical multiple peripheral neuropathy, whereas only 16.4% presented with mononeuritis multiplex. Compared to patients without PN, patients with PN had a higher erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, rheumatoid factor, Birmingham vasculitis activity score (BVAS), and positivity of myeloperoxidase-antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (MPO-ANCA). Regarding manifestations, patients with PN tended to develop weight loss and arthritis or joint pain. Notably, ANCA positivity, arthritis or joint pain, and higher BVAS were found to be independent associated factors for PN in EGPA. Patients with PN more frequently need glucocorticoid pulses and intravenous infusion of cyclophosphamide. With the longest follow-up of 11.0 years, we found that age and cardiac involvement were risk factors for survival, and female was the protective factor.Conclusion: PN in EGPA frequently displays with symmetrical multiple peripheral neuropathy in China. Positive ANCA, arthritis or joint pain, and higher BVAS are the independent associated factors of PN in EGPA. Glucocorticoids with immunosuppressants are vital therapeutic strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. Few studies have examined whether maternal 25(OH)D deficiency and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) jointly affect fetal growth. We aimed to examine the separate and combined effects of maternal 25(OH)D deficiency and GDM on trajectories of fetal growth. Methods. We established a birth cohort (2016-2017) with 10,913 singleton pregnancies in Tongzhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Beijing, China. Maternal 25(OH)D deficiency (serum 25 OH D concentration < 20.0 ng / mL) was detected, and GDM was diagnosed at 24~28 gestational weeks. Fetal growth was assessed by longitudinal ultrasound measurements of estimated fetal weight (EFW) and abdominal circumference (AC) from 28 gestational weeks to delivery, both of which were standardized as gestational-age-adjusted Z -score. A k -means algorithm was used to cluster the longitudinal measurements (trajectories) of fetal growth. Logistic regression models were used for estimating exposure-outcome associations and additive interactions. Results. We identified two distinct trajectories of fetal growth, and the faster one resembling the 90th centile curve in the reference population was classified as excessive fetal growth. Maternal 25(OH)D deficiency and GDM were independently associated with an increased risk of excessive fetal growth. The combination of maternal 25(OH)D deficiency and GDM was associated with an increased risk of excessive fetal growth assessed by EFW Z -score (odds ratio (OR): 1.36; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.15~1.62) and AC Z -score (OR (95% CI): 1.32 (1.11~1.56)), but the relative excess risks attributable to interaction were nonsignificant (P > 0.05). Conclusion. Maternal 25(OH)D deficiency and GDM may jointly increase the risk of excessive fetal growth. Interventions for pregnancies with GDM may be more beneficial for those with 25(OH)D deficiency than those without regarding risk of excessive fetal growth, if confirmed in a large sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buses represent the main mode for intercity passenger transportation in China. In recent years, a multichannel ticketing strategy has been widely employed in the bus passenger transportation industry. However, the mechanisms and key drivers of the channels through which bus passengers purchase tickets are underexplored. Thus, the aim of this study is to empirically apply an integrated choice and latent variable (ICLV) approach to analyze ticketing channel choice behavior and the heterogeneous preferences of bus passengers. The variables incorporated in the model include the socioeconomic characteristics of passengers, trip attributes, and latent attitudes with 12 ordinal indicators. Based on the data of 1800 participants collected from the city of Beijing, China, this study develops a ticketing channel choice ICLV model merging a discrete choice model with a structural equation model. The key factors that affect the channel preference are further discussed through a comparison with a conventional multinomial logit (MNL) model. The results reveal that the three attitudinal variables have a significant influence on ticketing channel choice. Furthermore, this study indicates that perceptual differences exist due to various socioeconomic and trip characteristics. Personal privacy is a major obstacle that prevents passengers from choosing online channels, especially for older passengers and those with lower education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we isolated a new estrogen-degrading bacterium from a soil sample collected near a pharmaceutical factory in Beijing, China. Morphological observations, physiological and biochemical analyses, and sequence analysis showed that the strain was in the genus Acinetobacter, and it was named DSSKY-A-001. The estrogen degradation rate and growth density of strain DSSKY-A-001 were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography and a growth assay using a microplate reader, respectively. The estrogen degradation rate was 76% on the third day and 90% on the sixth day of culture. Three kinds of estrogen metabolism intermediates were detected by high-performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry, and the estrogen metabolic pathway and possible estrogen-degrading enzymes were predicted. RT-PCR was used to verify whether the three putative enzymes, catechol 1,2-dioxygenase, dioxygenase, and 7α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, were expressed in the strain. The results of the validation were consistent with the predictions that these three enzymes were present and expressed in Acinetobacter DSSKY-A-001. To further understand the estrogen-degrading activity of the strain at the genetic level, we sequenced the genome and performed a functional gene annotation. Through this gene sequence analysis, we identified genes predicted to encode the previously detected enzymes, catechol 1,2-dioxygenase, dioxygenase, and 7α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, as well as six other enzymes that may be involved in estrogen degradation. Therefore, a total of nine enzymes related to estrogen degradation were found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The human coronaviruses (HCoVs) HCoV-NL63 and HCoV-HKU1 are two recently discovered coronaviruses that circulate widely and are associated with acute respiratory infections (ARI). We detected HCoV-NL63 and HCoV-HKU1 in specimens collected from May 2008 to March 2010 from patients with ARI aged <7.75 years of age attending the Beijing Children's Hospital. Thirty-two (8.4%) and 57 (14.9%) of 382 specimens tested positive for HCoV-NL63 and HCoV-HKU1, respectively, by real-time RT-PCR. Use of a Luminex xTAG RVP Fast kit showed that coinfection with respiratory syncytial virus and parainfluenza 3 virus was common among patients infected with either virus type. InHCoV-HKU1-infected patients, the predominant clinical symptoms were cough, fever, and expectoration. In HCoV-NL63-infected patients they were cough, fever, and rhinorrhea. Phylogenetic studies showed that the HCoV-HKU1 nucleoprotein gene was relatively conserved compared to NCBI reference sequences, while the 1ab gene of HCoV-NL63 showed more variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) method to detect the long-range correlation and scaling properties of daily precipitation series of Beijing from 1973 to 2004 before and after adding diverse trends to the original series. The correlation and scaling properties of the original series are difficult to analyze due to existing crossovers. The effects of the coefficient and the power of the added trends on the scaling exponents and crossovers of the series are tested. A crossover is found to be independent of the added trends, which arises from the intrinsic periodic trend of the precipitation series. However, another crossover caused by the multifractal vanishes with the increasing power of added trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]