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In recent years, the rapid development of smart container provides support for international cargo transportation and global trade, and frequent container transportation accidents have aroused widespread attention from all parties. Based on the risk propagation theory, risk matrix and evidential reasoning, this research proposes a risk assessment model for intermodal transport of smart containers. In which, the risk propagation theory is used to investigate the evolution of risk factors related to smart containers intermodal transport, the risk matrix method is used to determine the weight of each risk factor, and the evidential reasoning theory is applied to aggregate the risk assessment results of the entire transportation network. The study shows that the proposed method can be used to effectively identify the key risk factors and different risk factors dominate in different transport processes. By exploring the risk propagation process of smart container-related risk factors, it is found that the confidence of different risk levels will show different changes with the progress of transportation routes.

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of phytonutrients (PN) on growth performance, antioxidant status, intestinal morphology, and nutrient utilization of birds fed low energy diets. In Exp. 1, a total of 1,440 one-day-old Ross 308 male broiler chickens were randomly divided into 3 treatment groups, with 16 replicates per treatment (48 pens; 30 birds per pen). Birds in treatment 1 were fed diets with normal energy content (NE). Birds in treatment 2 were fed NE diet but with 60 kcal removed (LE). Birds in treatment 3 were assigned to LE diet supplemented with PN (LE + PN). Results indicated that LE diet increased feed conversion ratio (FCR) compared with NE from d 1 to 38, while LE + PN diet prevented this response (P = 0.02). At d 26, birds in the LE + PN group had the highest ileal and jejunal villus height to crypt depth (VH:CD) ratio. At d 39, PN supplementation improved ileal and jejunal VH:CD ratio, compared with LE group. Moreover, birds fed PN diets received a better economic profit. In Exp. 2, 360 one-day-old Ross 308 male broiler chickens were used in a metabolism study. The treatments used in Exp. 2 were the same as those in Exp.1, with 4 replicates (pens) and 30 birds in each replicate. Dietary apparent metabolism energy (AME), energy and protein digestibility were determined between 21 and 28 d of age. Results showed that chickens fed LE + PN diet tended to have greater AME (P = 0.02) and nitrogen-corrected apparent metabolism energy (AMEn) (P = 0.03) than birds fed LE diets. It was concluded that LE + PN showed a potential advantage to improve feed conversion and gut health of broilers, as well as economic profits.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of feed form (mash and crumble-pellet) and feed particle size (fine, medium and coarse) on growth performance, carcass characteristics and digestive tract development of broilers. A total of 1,152 one day-old Ross 308 mixed-sex broilers were used in a factorial arrangement (2 × 3) based on a completely randomized design with six replicates of 32 birds each. Higher average daily gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) were observed (P < 0.01) for birds fed the crumble-pellet diets (CPD) than for those fed the mash diets (MD) during starter, grower and the entire experiment period. From d 1 to 40, birds fed CPD had a higher (P < 0.01) body weight (BW) than those fed MD. Birds fed CPD had a lower (P < 0.01) feed:gain ratio (F:G) during the starter phase than those fed MD. Medium or coarse particle size increased (P < 0.01) ADG and ADFI during the starter phase, but birds fed fine particle size diets had lower (P < 0.01) F:G during the grower phase. In MD, medium and coarse particle sizes resulted in higher (P < 0.05) BW, ADG and ADFI than fine particle size during the whole experiment. In CPD, particle size had no significant effect on growth performance, as indicated by a feed form × particle size interaction (P < 0.05). At 41 days of age, ten birds per treatment were randomly selected and killed for slaughter yields and digestive tract characteristics determination. It was shown that particle size and feed form alone had no significant effect on slaughter yields, so changes was the feed form × particle size interaction. The relative empty weight of the gizzard was greater (P < 0.01) and the relative length of the ileum was longer (P < 0.05) in birds fed MD than in those fed CPD. Overall, CPD improved growth performance during the entire period of the study with effects being less evident during the finisher phase than during the starter and grower phases, and the effect of feed particle size varied depending on feed form.

A total of recent 187 passenger car–adult pedestrian cases, occurred in Chongqing, China, with 81 severe injuries and 106 deaths, were analysed. The AIS distributions in the head, thorax and abdomen were associated with the severe injuries and deaths, but not in the extremities. The mean ISS of the severe injuries and deaths was 26.3 ± 17.0 and 35.5 ± 17.0. For the severe injuries, 2% occurred at the impact speeds of over 70 km/h and none of the fatal accidents occurred at the impact speeds of lower than 30 km/h. Pedestrians aged over 46 years old and sustaining head injuries have a high fatality rate. The accidents with the impact speeds of over 40 km/h occurring in highways and sunny days carried a high fatal risk. The findings proposed the characteristics of vehicle–pedestrian accidents in Chongqing, China, representing some regional levels in some developing countries.

There is increasing evidence that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from different tissues could act as an alternative source of mature hepatocytes for treatment of acute liver failure (ALF). Human umbilical cord matrix stem cells (hUCMSCs) represent a novel source of MSCs. We examined the therapeutic potential and the different mechanisms of hUCMSCs by their transplantation into nonobese diabetic severe combined-immunodeficient (NOD-SCID) mice with carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced ALF in comparison to adult human hepatocytes (AHHs). The characteristics of isolated hUCMSCs were determined from MSCs and hepatocyte marker expression, hepatic function, and differentiation. Native hUCMSCs constitutively expressed some hepatic markers, though weaker hepatocyte-specific functions were observed when compared to AHHs. When native hUCMSCs or AHHs were transplanted into livers of NOD-SCID mice with ALF induced by CCl4, both hUCMSCs and AHHs provided a significant survival benefit and prevented the release of liver injury biomarkers. hUCMSCs were found to engraft within the recipient liver and differentiated into functional hepatocytes, whereas the HepPar1-/albumin (ALB)-positive cells of the hUCMSC group were less than the AHH group in the recipient liver. Higher values of human ALB in the serum of mice-transplanted AHHs were determined in comparison with levels in mice-transplanted hUCMSCs. The analysis of mouse serum cytokine levels showed that hUCMSC transplantation was even more effective than treatment with AHHs and successfully downregulated the systemic inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-1β, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, IL-6, IL-10, and IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA). Furthermore, paracrine effects produced by hUCMSCs were identified by indirect coculture with damaged mouse hepatocytes (MHs) induced by CCl4. Coculture with hUCMSCs significantly increased the viability, ALB secretion of damaged MHs, and greatly enhanced the regeneration of MHs in vitrowhen compared with AHHs. These data suggest that direct transplantation of native hUCMSCs can rescue ALF and repopulate livers of mice through paracrine effects to stimulate endogenous liver regeneration rather than hepatic differentiation for compensated liver function, which is the primary effect of AHHs. Thus, hUCMSCs can be a potential alternative source of AHHs for cell therapy of ALF and eliminate the shortage of hepatocytes.

To evaluate effects of motor neurons prostheses (MN-prosthesis) fabricated with MNs differentiated from neural stem cells of fetal spinal cord seeded in self-assembling peptides (sapeptides) scaffolds on functional recovery after spinal cord injury (SCI). Spinal cord hemisection was performed in adult rats. The MN-prosthesis was implanted into the lesion of injured spinal cord. TUNEL staining showed that the MN-prosthesis could decrease the number of apoptotic cells at 2, 4, and 7 days after transplantation. In the MN-prosthesis group, some cholinergic neurons survived within and around the implant, more neural fibers went through the implant from rostral side to caudal side. On day 84, Basso, Beattie and Bresnahan (BBB) score, the peak latencies and amplitudes of N1 wave in both motor evoked potential (MEP) and cortical somatosensory evoked potential (CSEP) on the ipsilateral hind limb in the MN-prosthesis group were also significantly greater than those in the other groups (p<0.05). Thus, implantation of MN-prosthesis increases survival of the damaged cells, promotes formation of connection of neural fibers between the regenerative axons and the host tissue, and improves motor and electrophysiological functions. These findings demonstrate that MN-prosthesis serves as a potential tool for restoring neurologic function after SCI.

AbstractIn this paper, a new method for classifying electronic nose data in rats wound infection detection based on support vector machine (SVM) and wavelet analysis was developed. Signals of the sensors were decomposed using wavelet analysis for feature extraction and a PSO-SVM classifier was developed for pattern recognition. The sensor array was optimized and model parameters were selected to achieve the maximum classification accuracy of SVM. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) was used to achieve optimization of the sensor array and the SVM model parameters. A classification rate of 97.5% was achieved by the proposed method for data discrimination. Compared with the methods of radial basis function (RBF) neural network classifier with maximum or wavelet coefficients feature and SVM without sensor array optimization, this method gave better performance on classification rate and time consumption in rats wound infection data recognition.

Finding an appropriate test track, especially suitable for higher velocity impacts, has become increasingly important in today’s sled testing environment. This paper describes the design and development of a new sled test track recommended for evaluating the crash safety performance of vehicle components and injury characteristics of impact biomechanics experimental samples. The extensive development programme considered the track foundation stability, rail grinding and welding techniques, track alignment procedures, and track precisions while meeting or surpassing the requirements of ECE R94 and higher velocity impacts. This facility was finally developed to be a continuously welded, high-precision, 82 metre impact test track. In order to examine its experimental precisions, the linearity, parallelism and flatness of this sled track were evaluated by means of precise surveying and mapping instruments, and six dummy 30 mph frontal impact tests were carried out. The experimental results point out the reliability of the precision welded impact sled test track.

To study the role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the process of fracture healing and the effect of VEGF and anti-VEGF polyclonal antibody on fracture healing.

To reveal the effects of confinement and curvature on the jet mixing in a supersonic cross-flow, large eddy simulations were conducted to study the jet in supersonic cross-flow in a channel and a pipe at a Mach number of 2.7. The comparison was based on an equal friction Mach number, friction Reynolds number, and Prandtl number. The synthetic eddy model was utilized to generate the inflow turbulent boundary layer. Our study shows the major counter-rotating vortex pair (CVP) was higher in the pipe than in the channel, while the trailing CVP was larger and appeared within the recirculating flow. The pipe had a stronger shock train than the channel due to the confinement and curvature of the pipe. The jet penetration of the pipe is 18.4% larger than that of the channel at x/D= 10, and the stream velocity of the pipe is much more reduced behind the jet than in the channel. Three reasons for the higher mixing efficiency of the pipe are revealed according to our findings, including the larger and higher major CVP, the higher penetration, the stronger shock. The mixing efficiency of the pipe is 4.68% higher than that of the channel due to the above reasons at x/D= 10.

Our objective was to investigate the expression of scavenger receptor SR and CD14 in the liver and their relationship with local antiinflammatory and proinflammatory responses in endotoxemia in order to uncover the mechanism for the liver to turn into effector organ from defense one at the level of cell receptors in sepsis. Mouse models of endotoxemia of different severity were reproduced by injection of different doses of lipopolysaccharide LPS via tail vein. Expression of SR and CD14 in the liver was assayed by immunohistochemistry and was then analyzed with an image analysis system. The levels of TNF, IL6, IL4, and IL10 in liver tissue were determined with ELISA. Expression of SR in the liver in the highdose group was markedly decreased 1 h after injection of LPS, and also in low and mediumdose groups at 3 h. The expression of SR in the liver in the three groups was shown to be progressively decreased with the time prolonged. There was significant difference in average optical density OD values of SR among the three groups. The expression of CD14 in the liver in the three groups was shown to be significantly increased 1 h after injection of LPS, and much more with the time prolonged. But there was no significant difference in OD values of CD14 among the three groups. The contents of intrahepatic proinflammatory mediators TNF and IL6 and antiinflammatory mediators IL4 and IL10 were successively significantly increased after injection of LPS. The release of antiinflammatory mediators was shown to be later than that of proinflammatory mediators. Correlation analysis indicated that there was negative correlation between expression of SR and CD14, and that changes of TNF, IL6, IL4, and IL10 levels in liver tissues were correlated significantly positively with OD values of CD14 and negatively with OD values of SR. Expression of SR in the liver was shown to be progressively decreased, and that of CD14 increased in endotoxemia, which was closely related to the uncontrolled inflammatory response in liver. This might be an important mechanism for the liver to turn into effector organ from defense one in sepsis.

Softtissue wounds were inflicted on the upper parts of both hind legs of dogs by fragments which were shot with a smoothbore testing rifle. Three impact velocities were used “high” 1,500 ms, six dogs, “middle” 1,000 ms, eight dogs and “low” 700 ms, seven dogs. Debridement and gross examination were carried out 6 hours after wounding. The main conclusions were as follows

On the basis of experimental study on 17 dogs, this paper reports on the variation of serum creatine kinase SCK with time in the early phase of wounding by spherical steel bullets at three different velocities and its relation with the kinetic energy absorbed by the tissue and with the amount of the excised necrotic tissue surrounding the wound tracks. The results showed that the energy absorbed by the tissue and the amount of the excised necrotic tissue surrounding the wound tracks increased with increasing velocity. Within a period of 6 hours after wounding the SCK activity increased correspondingly.