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Station-free shared bike (SFSB) is a new travel mode that shared bikes are allowed to park in any proper places. It implies that the users are more likely to park the SFSB as close as their destinations. This advantage makes the SFSB data to be an ideal source to understand the land-use distribution. Inspired by the idea in text mining, this paper proposes a topic-based two-stage SFSB data mining algorithm to understand the SFSB user’s travel behavior and to discover city functional regions. A region, a function and human mobility patterns are treated as a document, a topic and words, respectively. Then, a region is represented by a distribution of functions, and a function is featured by a distribution of mobility patterns. The point-of-interest data is combined to annotate the clustered regions to discover the real functions. At last, the proposed method is tested using 14-day SFSB data in Beijing and the results are estimated by the Satellite Map data. The proposed methods and the results can be applied to infer the individual’s travel purpose through functional regions and to improve land-use planning, etc.

Fractal geometry provides a method of analyzing natural and especially biological morphologies. To investigate the relationship between the complexity measure, which is indexed as fractal dimensionality (FD), and the traditional Euclidean metrics, such as the volume and thickness, of the brain in older age, we analyzed 483 MRI scans of 161 community-dwelling, nondemented individuals aged 70–90 years at the baseline and their 2-year and 6-year follow-ups. We quantified changes in neuroimaging metrics in cortical lobes and subcortical structures and investigated the effects of age, sex, hemisphere, and education on FD. We also analyzed the mediating effects of these metrics for further investigation. FD showed significant age-related decline in all structures, and its trajectory was best modeled quadratically in the bilateral frontal, parietal, and occipital lobes, as well as in the bilateral caudate, putamen, hippocampus, amygdala, and accumbens. FD showed specific mediating effects on aging and cognitive decline in some regions. Our findings suggest that FD is reliable yet shows a different pattern of decline compared with volumetric measures.

With the rapid development of economy and society, the urbanization process is speeding up in China. Thereupon, several large-size urban agglomerations (or city groups) have emerged. In the present China, a typical city group consists of more than three cities, which are 50–250 km apart from each other, closedly connected in social and economic activities but administratively belonging to different provinces, and each has a population of over five million. It has become an enormous challenge to develop a comprehensive modern transportation system to serve the intercity and intracity traffic effectively, smoothly and eco-friendly. This article presents representative research progress in developing and operating such systems, with consideration of the state condition in China. The following topics, but not limited to, are addressed: (1) Travel behavior analysis and demand integration management within a city group; (2) Agglomeration system design and operation management; (3) Risk identification and emergency management of the agglomeration system; (4) Sustainable development issues.

The air transportation system has a critical impact on the global economy. While the system reliability is essential for the operational management of air traffic, it remains challenging to understand the network reliability of the air transportation system. This paper focuses on how the global air traffic is integrated from local scale along with operational time. The integration process of air traffic into a temporally connected network is viewed as percolation process by increasing the integration time constantly. The critical integration time TP which is found during the integration process can measure the global reliability of air traffic. The critical links at TP are also identified, the delay of which will influence the global integration of the airport network. These findings may provide insights on the reliability management for the temporal airport network. Keywords: Air traffic, Critical links, Percolation, Reliability, Temporal airport network

Two small assemblages of turtle swim tracks from the Hekou Group, Gansu Province, represent the sixth and seventh reports of turtle tracks from the Cretaceous of China. One assemblage from Liujiaxia Dinosaur National Geopark, with seven tracks, is interpreted to represent a partial trackway with a few isolated tracks, and another one with six tracks from the Fangtai site is interpreted to represent turtle swim tracks, including one inferred manus pes set. At least five turtle body fossil taxa are known from the Cretaceous body fossil record in Gansu, and although no one taxon can be matched with the tracks described here based on size all can be considered as possible potential trackmakers.

Many networks are physically or logically interdependent with each other, such as smart power grid, city traffic network and communication systems, where cascading overload failure becomes a major threat. Based on a load-dependent cascading model, we investigate the restoration characteristics in the consideration of repair resource, timing and load tolerance, for different coupling strength and network topologies in interdependent networks. We find that the restoration on the network with different coupling strength may lead to two extreme system effects with early repair: full recovery or completely collapse. Furthermore, SF–SF network is sensitive to repair resources, while repair effect of ER–ER network increases sharply when load tolerance is increased. When overloads are triggered in an ER network coupled with a SF network, the restoration effect can be obviously worse than other topology combinations. Our findings may help to design restoration strategy for interdependent networks and improve the system resilience.

Three new species, Exilaulacus advenus sp. nov., Exilaulacus eximius sp. nov. and Electrofoenops exaltatus sp. nov. in two genera of Aulacidae, are described and figured based on three well-preserved specimens from the mid-Cretaceous Myanmar (Burmese) amber. Forewings of four described fossil species of Aulacidae and the three new species are studied by using the Geometric Morphometric Analyses (GMA) to further confirm their taxonomic classifications.

Extreme weather, such as torrential rain, could lead to severe damage to transportation. Many studies have been proposed focusing on the influence of extreme weather on the traffic flow properties. However, the robustness of whole dynamic traffic networks under extreme weather is rarely addressed. Particularly, little attention has been paid to the question whether and how the local destruction of roads is aggregated into a degradation of global traffic operation. Based on real-time traffic data, here we apply percolation analysis on traffic networks and find that the torrential rain can lead to different effects on different levels: on the network scale, the traffic percolation threshold as an indicator for city traffic reliability is stable against weather perturbation, while a portion of roads at the microscopic level is significantly influenced and forming local cluster isolated from the main functional network. This may be due to the fact that torrential rain and other extreme weather condition will not only generate the damaged roads in the supply end, but also reduce the traffic demand correspondingly. Our research suggests the traffic percolation may reflect the nature of relation between local flow and global flow, which can help to design corresponding management strategies.

Search is a universal behavior related to many types of intelligent individuals. While most studies have focused on search in two or infinite-dimensional space, it is still missing how search can be optimized in three-dimensional space. Here we study random searches on three-dimensional (3d) square lattices with periodic boundary conditions, and explore the optimal search strategy with a power-law step length distribution, p ( l ) ∼ l − μ , known as Levy flights. We find that compared to random searches on two-dimensional (2d) lattices, the optimal exponent μ o p t on 3d lattices is relatively smaller in non-destructive case and remains similar in destructive case. We also find μ o p t decreases as the lattice length in z direction increases under high target density. Our findings may help us to understand the role of spatial dimension in search behaviors.

Hearing loss is the most prevalent sensory disability worldwide and may be caused by age, drugs or exposure to excessive noise. We have previously developed a minimally-invasive nanohydrogel drug delivery system that successfully delivers nanoparticles into the inner ear. We have substantially extended this technique by functionalizing the nanoparticles and introducing a targeting peptide which recognizes prestin, a transmembrane electromotile protein uniquely expressed in outer hair cells (OHCs) of the inner ear. We demonstrate the successful delivery of molecules and plasmids specifically to OHCs. When compared to untargeted nanoparticles, the delivery of a c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) inhibitor, D-JNKi-1, to OHCs by targeted nanoparticles improved protection from noise induced hearing loss (NIHL). This is the first demonstration of a protection from NIHL using a novel safe and controllable delivery system which is minimally-invasive to the inner ear and, as such, is an extremely appealing technique for use in many clinical applications.

A new myanmarinid wasp, Myanmarina jeannineae sp. nov., is described and figured from the mid-Cretaceous Myanmar (Burmese) amber. The new species is established based on one female and two male specimens, and the following characters: antenna with 14 antennomeres in female and 12 antennomeres in males, hind femur strongly swollen in the apex, and metasoma gradually widened from the base to terminal in female. Based on the similarity of ovipositors and the phylogenetic positions of the three families of Ephialtitidae, Stephanidae and Myanmarinidae in Hymenoptera, we propose that myanmarinids are likely to be a parasitoid of wood-boring insect larvae.

Ying Li,1 Pawel Tabakow,2 Daqing Li,1 Hongyun Huang3 On behalf of the International Association of Neurorestoratology 1Spinal Repair Unit, Department of Brain Repair and Rehabilitation, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK; 2Department of Neurosurgery, Wroclaw Medical University, Wroclaw, Poland; 3Institute of Neurorestoratology, General Hospital of Armed Police Forces, Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaOne year ago (January 27, 2017), the sad news that Life Honorary President of the International Association of Neurorestoratology (IANR), Geoffrey Raisman (Figure 1) had passed away shocked all our association members. We could hardly hide our grief. Besides expressing our grief and condolences to his wife, Vivian; his daughter, Ruth; and all his family, the Core Administration members communicated among each other via email and made a proposal to rename the Youth Forum of the Annual Conference, to the Raisman Youth Forum of the Annual Conference. The fourth IANR Council Board meeting in Argentina on September 29, 2017 approved this motion, and decided to establish the Raisman Neurorestoratology Foundation and to write an article commemorating him to be published in the Journal of Neurorestoratology. This commemorative article is divided into three parts: 1) his students and colleagues Daqing Li and Ying Li introduce his life and work; 2) his collaborating partner Pawel Tabakow introduces the process of their clinical trial; and 3) Hongyun Huang on behalf of the IANR introduces Geoffrey Raisman’s contribution to neurorestoratology and IANR. All individuals in the included images have provided written informed consent for the images to be published.&nbsp

Various engineering systems operating with multiple performance measures are multi-state in nature. These systems are usually modelled as multi-performance multi-state series-parallel systems (MPS). In real-life cases, engineers need to design an optimal MPS structure by combining different versions and number of redundant multi-performance components. Moreover, to design a reliable structure, reliability evaluation is inevitable. However, the conventional redundancy optimization measured by single performance is difficult to model the optimal MPS structure. Furthermore, as the most frequently used method, randomly sizing of parent populations and stopping criterion of traditional genetic algorithm (GA) may lead to massive unnecessary structures. The computational burden may be huge for the redundancy optimization considering multi-performance measures. This paper proposes a redundancy optimization model considering multi-performance measuring systems. The optimization objective and the reliability constraints are described by multiple performance measures. The universal generating function technique is applied to evaluate the reliability. Based on the reliability, the efficient optimization method combining with ordinal optimization and genetic algorithms is proposed to design the optimal MPS structure. The ordinal optimization algorithm is employed to modify both the parent populations and stopping criterion of genetic algorithm. Finally, the proposed model and method are illustrated by numerical examples.

Protorhyssalinae is an extinct, Cretaceous-only subfamily of braconid wasps hitherto comprising 7 genera and 7 species in its widest acceptance. A new genus Burmabracon gen. nov. with two new species, B. gracilens sp. nov. and B. grossus sp. nov. from the mid-Cretaceous Myanmar (Burmese) amber, are described and assigned to Protorhyssalinae, based on the following characters: head orthognathous and almost certainly cyclostome, antenna with more than 20 antennomeres, notauli complete, forewing with 2m-cu absent and hind wing with 1r-m and Cu present. The Mesozoic fossil record of the Braconidae suggests that the family originated in or before the Early Cretaceous.

Bike sharing, such as Mobike, are thriving throughout the past three years. Mobike allows users to rent bikes left by previous users. This mobility mode generates self-organized bike distribution over the city. We analyze real data from Mobike bike sharing system in Beijing and Citibike bike sharing system in New York. In this paper, we study the spatial pattern of sharing activity from this new business model. We construct an Origin–Destination spatial network of bike sharing traffic flow based on trip data and study the characteristic of unbalance in the systems. The unbalance of nodes in Mobike bike mobility OD network is revealed to follows a power law distribution with different exponents on weekdays and weekends. We also found that there exists a scaling between maximum unbalance and network degree in both systems. These features of bike sharing can provide a better understanding of sharing mobility behaviors and help to develop more efficient management methods.

The wasp family Panguidae Li, Rasnitsyn, Shih & Ren, 2019 was erected on the basis of the type species Pangu yuangu, which is a female preserved in mid-Cretaceous Burmese (Myanmar) amber. Herein, a new species, Pangu antiquum sp. nov., is described based on a male wasp. In addition, the wasp Prosphex anthophilos Grimaldi & Engel, 2019, described as Family Incertae sedis from Burmese amber, fits well with the diagnosis of Panguidae. We suggest to include Prosphex Grimaldi & Engel, 2019 as the second genus in the Panguidae. A key for genera and species of Panguidae is provided. Up to date, all taxa in Panguidae are known only from the mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber.

Network endurance can be regarded as the upper limit of survival time before the system's complete breakdown, which is highly related to system resilience. Although network endurance against overload failure is critical for network design and operational management, the definition and corresponding evaluation method still remain challenging. In this paper, based on the load-dependent overload model, we define network endurance as the cascade duration at criticality before the complete network breakdown and develop an approach for endurance evaluation. We find that network endurance highly depends on initial disturbance intensity and cascade intensity. The network endurance with a uniform initial load distribution usually monotonically increases with decreasing initial disturbance intensity, while for other initial load distributions endurance behaviors are more complicated. We also provide theoretical analysis for the network endurance. Our findings may help to understand the network reliability mechanism against cascading overload failures and design a highly reliable network.

With the growing frequency and extent of extreme weather events, the resilient operation of multi-energy systems (MESs) has drawn attention nowadays. However, there is little study on the methodolo ...

Evaniidae, commonly called ‘ensign wasps’ or ‘hatchet wasps’, comprise more than 21 described extant genera with over 449 species and an additional 17 extinct genera including 35 species from the Cretaceous and Paleogene deposits. Herein, Burmaevania gen. nov. with two new species B. brevis sp. nov and B. aequalis sp. nov, and a new species of Newjersevania rasnitsyni sp. nov. are described based on three well-preserved specimens from the mid-Cretaceous Myanmar (Burmese) amber. Besides morphological comparisons, forewings of nine described genera of Evaniidae and the three new species are studied by using the Geometric Morphometric Analyses (GMA) to confirm their state. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:DBE8E565-5671-4B5A-93F2-8AEC6DA22A50.

A new superfamily Panguoidea superfam. nov. is erected based on one new family, Panguidae fam. nov., with one new genus and species, Pangu yuangu gen. et sp. nov. In addition, one new species, Burmusculus magnus sp. nov. of Burmusculidae, is also described. Both of these two type specimens are from mid-Cretaceous Myanmar (Burmese) amber. A key to species of Burmusculidae is provided. The new family Panguidae displays a contradictory array of features to further supplement the taxonomic and morphological characters of Apocrita. (urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:42BB16DA-1F8E-40F1-ADA9-0ECF321B8355)

We report on a new enantiornithine bird, Dunhuangia cuii, gen. et sp. nov., from the Lower Cretaceous Xiagou Formation of the Changma Basin, northwestern China. Although the material is incomplete, Dunhuangia cuii preserves unique coracoidal and sternal morphologies that distinguish it from other known enantiornithines; this specimen represents only the second enantiornithine reported from the Changma Basin that is diagnostic at the species level. This study enriches our understanding of the enantiornithine component of this ornithuromorph-dominated, Early Cretaceous avifauna.

The Yangouxia dinosaur tracksites are well known for a diverse assemblage of tetrapod tracks preserved as natural impressions (concave epireliefs) on large bedding planes, representing a locally widespread surface marking the transition from a sand- to a mud-dominated sequence in the Hekou Group. Previous ichnological studies at these large sites have focused on the morphology and ichnotaxonomy of the tracks, including a single trackway representing the first pterosaur tracks reported from China. Here, we report a distinctly different assemblage associated with minor sandstones in the mud-dominated sequence 20 m above the main tracksite level. This assemblage consists of at least 20 pterosaur manus track casts attributed to a single ichnotaxon (Pteraichnus). No pes tracks have been identified. These tracks mostly occur in random orientations, although one possible trackway segment is inferred, to represent walking progression. Manus-only pterosaur track assemblages are common and likely reflect differential registration depths of manus and pes and/or sub optimal preservation conditions. The tracks are associated with distinctive invertebrate traces including Cochlichnus, Spongeliomorpha and Paleophycus and suggest the pterosaurs were likely feeding on the invertebrate tracemakers.

Multiple dinosaur tracksites are known from the red beds (sandstones and siltstones) of the Hekou Group in the Lanzhou-Minhe Basin in Gansu Province, China. Among these, the most famous is the Yanguoxia No. 1 & 2 tracksite, which has an abundance of tracks from a diverse ichnofauna. Here, we describe natural casts from six new tracksites including three located near the Yanguoxia No. 1 & 2 tracksites and three from more distant tracksites (located up to 40 km from Yanguoxia). The new tracksites have all yielded isolated, large dinosaur track casts, two of which are tridactyl tracks of ornithopod and/or theropod affinity, while another eight casts are pes and manus tracks of medium-to large-sized sauropods. The predominance of sauropod track casts may reflect the fact that, by simple virtue of their large size, sauropods tracks resist weathering and are easy to find. Notably, the sauropod track casts are deep natural tracks left in soft and moist substrates with a relatively high cohesiveness. They offer a glimpse into the three-dimensional foot morphology of the sauropod trackmakers and their foot movement (locomotion), and thus are an important complement to the tracks preserved as (shallow) impressions and the trackways of the Yanguoxia No. 1 & 2 tracksite. The new tracksites suggest a lower ecological diversity than would be inferred from the Yanguoxia No. 1 & 2 tracksite. However, it is assumed that this apparent low diversity is an artifact resulting from the small sample area and the fact that all the outcrops are cross-sections where bedding planes – that could reveal small tracks and more abundant tracks and trackways – are scarce and limited to small surfaces. These new sites suggest that the distribution and frequency of dinosaur tracks within the Lanzhou-Minhe Basin is much wider than previously assumed and that many more dinosaur tracksites are likely to be discovered within the basin in the future.

Our interests are in the development of immunoassay-based fast scanning methods for persistent organic pollutants. To develop the immunoassay method of polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE), a model compound of PBDE, 2,3′,4,5′,6-pentabromodiphenylether (BDE-121), has been chosen to develop its antibody and the competitive indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is developed. The hapten of BDE-121 containing reactive carboxylic acid was synthesized and conjugated to carrier proteins (bovine serum albumin [BSA] and ovalbumin [OVA]). Anti-BDE-121 polyclonal antibody was then developed in rabbits as a result of immunization with the BDE-121–BSA conjugate. The optimal amount of coating antigen BDE-121–OVA conjugate and the dilution of antiserum needed in the ELISA were determined with the checkerboard method, and the effects of the properties of PBST (phosphate-buffered saline and Tween 20) buffer (pH and salt concentration) and chemical solvent (types and concentrations) on the ELISA were investigated to achieve a rapid robust assay with high sensitivity. Under the optimized conditions, the developed indirect ELISA shows a linear detection range from 1.74 to 84.1 ng/ml, with an IC 50 value of 8.07 ng/ml and a detection limit of 0.644 ng/ml. In total, 11 kinds of compounds were tested for calculating the cross-reactivity, which was less than 8% for nearly all of them. Real samples were analyzed by the proposed immunoassay and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS).

Urban metro system is one of the most sustainable travel modes that affords lots of travel demands in the large cities. The boarding and alighting process is a special form of the bi-directional pedestrian flow through bottleneck, which displays complicated nonlinear dynamics. Quantitatively investigating the influence of human behavior on the boarding and alighting process is the challenging problem. To further analyze the crowd dynamics, the surveillance videos at platforms of several urban metro stations in Beijing were recorded, and the time interval of each passenger passing the train door was extracted. According to the extracted individual movement data, the time headway between each two adjacent passengers and the burst size were extracted and analyzed by statistics approaches. The concept of order degree was proposed to describe the activity pattern of a boarding and alighting process. The relationships between these factors including burst size, order degree, and time gap were explored by quantitatively analyzing the individual data. The probability density function of the time headway follows the positively skewed distribution, and the complementary cumulative distribution function shows the property of the power-law distribution. The relationship between burst size and time headway could be divided into three phases. By finding the time gap between the first alighting passenger and the first boarding passenger, the passenger activity under different time pressure was investigated. The obtained individual passenger behavior characteristics could be potentially applied to estimate and design the dwell time and improve the system sustainability.

Ionic liquid [HMIM]HSO4 was found to be an efficient catalyst for the synthesis of N-substituted pyrroles through the reaction of 2,5-hexanedione with amines under ultrasonic irradiation at room temperature. These reactions proceed with good yields under short reaction time. Furthermore, the green catalytic system can be recycled specific times with no decreases in yields and reaction rates.

This paper presents a comprehensive study on a controllable two-phase flow ejector component efficiencies and ejector performances in transcritical CO 2 refrigeration cycles. A two-phase flow ejector expansion model was developed and experimentally validated. A method of determining the efficiencies of ejector motive nozzle, suction nozzle, and mixing section based on the measured performance data external to the ejector was developed. It was found that motive nozzle efficiency decreases as ejector throat area decreases, and that suction nozzle efficiency is affected by outdoor air temperature. Empirical correlations of ejector component efficiencies were reduced. Parametric modeling study results show that the operation of an ejector reaches its optimum performance at ejector throat diameter approximately of 2.3 mm, mixing section constant-area diameter approximately of 3.5 mm, and diffuser diameter ratio a little bit larger than 2. Higher efficiencies of motive nozzle and suction nozzle as well as higher motive nozzle inlet pressure result in better ejector performances in certain ranges of motive nozzle throat diameter and mixing section constant-area diameter.

Transplants of olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) cultured from the olfactory bulb are able to induce structural regeneration of severed central axons and return of function in rat models. For clinical purposes it would be preferable to obtain the cells from the more accessible olfactory mucosa in the nasal lining. However, in our laboratory preparations cultures from mucosal samples yielded around 5% of OECs compared with the 50% obtained from samples cultured from the bulb, and when transplanted these mucosal cell preparations were less effective at repair. There are a number of manipulations which may increase the OEC content and the effectiveness of mucosal preparations, but in vivo transplantation would be a highly labour intensive method for evaluating them. As a candidate for a high throughput assay to screen for beneficial effects of modifications to mucosal cells we here report the effects of co-culture of the cells with retinal explants. Both bulbar and mucosal cell preparations prolong the survival of the explants. Counts of the surviving retinal ganglion cells, identified by beta-III-tubulin immunohistochemistry and by their axon trajectory, show that the bulbar cell preparations have around twice the potency of those from the mucosa. This in vitro system, therefore, provides a bioassay that discriminates bulbar and mucosal cell preparations, and a useful tool for evaluating the functional effects of manipulations of cultured mucosal preparations.

Previous studies from our laboratory reported that transplantation of a mixture of 50% p75+ olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) and fibroblasts derived from the outer layers of the adult olfactory bulb into unilateral lesions of the rat corticospinal tract (CST) restore function in a directed fore-paw retrieval task and induce regeneration of severed CST axons across the lesion. For future clinical application it would be preferable to obtain reparative cells from an olfactory mucosal biopsy via intranasal endoscopy rather than requiring the more invasive intracranial approach to remove an olfactory bulb. With this purpose, we used our original CST lesion paradigm to examine whether mucosal OEC preparations can provide a similar repair to those from the bulb. We found that, as in the case of bulbar OEC preparations, the mucosal cells also restored directed fore-paw retrieval. Surprisingly, however, there was no evidence of any of the severed CST axons crossing the lesion site, suggesting that the recovery of function is due to some other reaction, such as sprouting of damaged or undamaged fibres. Compared with the previous findings with bulbar cells, the mucosal cell cultures contained only 5% of OECs and a conversely much larger proportion of fibroblasts. These cell preparations showed minimal migratory ability and failed to form complete bridges across the lesions.

The concept of edge weight provides additional depth for describing and adjusting the properties of networks. Redistribution of edge weight can effectively change the properties of networks even though the corresponding binary topology remains unchanged. Based on regular networks with initially homogeneous dissimilarity weights, random redistribution of edge weight can be enough to induce small world phenomena. The effects of random weight redistribution on both static properties and dynamical models of networks are investigated. The results reveal that randomization of weight can enhance the ability of synchronization of chaotic systems dramatically.

Purpose: Local failure and toxicity to adjacent critical structures is a significant problem in radiation therapy of cancers of the head and neck. We are developing a gene therapy based method of sensitizing head/neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) to radiation treatment. As patients with the rare hereditary disorder, Nijmegen breakage syndrome, show radiation sensitivity we hypothesized that tumor-specific disruption of the function of the Nbs1 protein would lead to enhanced cellular sensitivity to ionizing radiation. Experimental Procedures: We constructed two recombinant adenoviruses by cloning the full-length Nbs1 cDNA as well as the C-terminal 300 amino acids of Nbs1 into an adenovirus backbone under the control of a CMV promoter. The resulting adenoviruses were used to infect HNSCC cell line JHU011. These cells were evaluated for expression of the viral based constructs and assayed for clonogenic survival following radiation exposure. Results: Exposure of cells expressing Nbs1-300 to ionizing radiation resulted in a small reduction in survival relative to cells infected with control virus. Surprisingly, expression of full-length Nbs1 protein resulted in markedly enhanced sensitivity to ionizing radiation. Furthermore, the use of a fractionated radiation scheme following virus infection demonstrates that expression of full-length Nbs1 protein results in significant reduction in cell survival. Conclusions: These results provide a proof of principle that disruption of Nbs1 function may provide a means of enhancing the radiosensitivity of head and neck tumors. Additionally, this work highlights the Mre11 complex as an attractive target for development of radiation sensitizers.

Diverse and well-preserved assemblages of dinosaur (theropod, sauropod and ornithopod), pterosaur, and bird tracks from the Hekou Formation (Lower Cretaceous) in the Yellow River (Huang He) valley represent the first significant fossil footprint discoveries in Gansu Province, China. However, the sites are large, visually spectacular, and well-exposed thanks to labor-intensive hand excavation. The sites have the potential for development as educational and tourist destinations. These sites have become one of the National Geoparks in China. Dinosaur tracks include at least two theropod morphotypes that range in size from about 5 to >30 cm in length. Wide-gauge sauropod tracks ( Brontopodus ) range in size from 25 to 90 cm (pes length) and are the best-preserved examples known from China, with clear claw impressions. One trackway suggests an accelerating/running individual. Parallel ornithopod trackways indicate gregarious behavior. An enigmatic trackway may be a manus-only ornithopod trackway. A pterosaur trackway (cf. Pteraichnus ), the first reported from China, consists of 24 consecutive footprints, and is the longest, well-preserved trackway on record. Bird tracks (cf. Aquatilavipes ) are also very well preserved. The tracks occur at multiple stratigraphic levels in fluvio-lacustrine sequences of paleosol mudstones and sandstones with mud cracks and wave ripple marks. A minimum ichnodiversity of eight, the highest reported from the Cretaceous of China, is estimated. The saurischian component (theropods and sauropods) compares well with Inner Mongolia ichnofaunas from the Jing Chuan Formation. However, the co-occurrence of ornithopod and sauropod tracks is rare in Asia and globally, and compares with assemblages from South Korea, a similar Cretaceous paleolatitude (ca. 30°).

The objectives of this study were to evaluate: (i). the influences of hydrogel geometry, DNA molecular weight, and DNA conformation on DNA release from a silk-elastinlike protein polymer (SELP) hydrogel, (ii). the bioactivity and transfection efficiency of encapsulated DNA over time in vitro, (iii). the delivery and transfection of a reporter gene in a murine model of human breast cancer in vivo, and (iv). the in vitro release and bioactivity of adenovirus containing the green fluorescent protein (gfp) gene as a marker of gene transfer. Plasmid DNA was released from SELP hydrogels in a size-dependent manner, with the average effective diffusivity ranging from 1.70+/-0.52 x 10(-12) cm(2)/s for a larger plasmid (11 kbp) to 2.55+/-0.51 x 10(-10) cm(2)/s for a smaller plasmid (2.6 kbp). Plasmid conformation also influenced the rate of release, with the rank order linear>supercoiled>open-circular. DNA retained bioactivity in vitro, after encapsulation in a SELP hydrogel for up to 28 days. Delivery of pRL-CMV from a SELP hydrogel resulted in increased transfection in a murine model of human breast cancer by 1-3 orders of magnitude, as compared to naked DNA. The release of a bioactive adenoviral vector was related to the concentration of the polymer in the hydrogel. These studies indicate that genetically engineered SELP hydrogels have potential as matrices for controlled nonviral and viral gene delivery.

An important feature of detailed system simulation models for unitary air conditioners is the calculation of charge inventory. Void fraction determination in the two-phase regions of the heat exchangers is the primary challenge associated with charge inventory calculations. Annular flow is one of the predominant flow regimes encountered in horizontal heat exchangers. Analytical annular flow models typically fail to accurately represent void fraction. Thus, many of the available void fraction models are empirically based. To improve the prediction capabilities of void fraction models, a mechanistic void fraction model has been developed for annular flow in horizontal tubes. The present model considers the effect of momentum eddy diffusivity damping at the liquid–vapor interface. Two approaches are presented for determining the wall shear stress. The modeling results are compared to predictions from various void fraction models found in the literature. The present model is found to work well at moderate mass fluxes.

While chronic susceptibility of rodents to audiogenic seizures (AGSs) is often accompanied by cochlear lesions, it has not been demonstrated whether cochlear hair cell losses are essential to pathogenesis in this epileptic disorder. An alternative possibility is that the neonatal timing of hearing losses is what unites various models of chronic AGS susceptibility. In the latter case, either transient or permanent hearing losses might induce susceptibility as long as they concur with a critical period of development. To address this issue, it was examined whether lesions were universally present in cochleas of adult rats after having been made susceptible to sound-triggered seizures by different types and severities of neonatal auditory trauma. Neonatal treatments included: (1) an 8 min exposure of rat pups to intense noise (125 dB SPL) on postnatal day (PND) 14; (2) injections of low doses of kanamycin (KM: 100 mg/kg) on PNDs 9–12; or (3) injections of high doses of KM (500 mg/kg) on PNDs 9–12. As adults, rats in all experimental groups, but not in sham-treated groups, exhibited sound-triggerable seizure responses. Nonetheless, this outcome did not depend on integrity of cochleas. Hair cells were rarely missing in the cochleas of noise-exposed, low-dosage KM-treated, or sham-treated rats. By contrast, all inner and outer hair cells were missing from the basal 75% of cochleas of adult rats which had been treated with high-dose KM on PNDs 9–12. Results indicate that cochlear lesions are not requisite for the induction or expression of AGS susceptibility. At the same time, however, significant hair cell losses do not necessarily preclude susceptibility. It appears that the neonatal timing rather than the permanence of hearing losses may be what engenders chronic AGS susceptibility.

Purpose: Local failure and toxicity to adjacent critical structures is a significant problem in radiation therapy of cancers of the head and neck. We are developing a gene therapy based method of sensitizing head/neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) to radiation treatment. As patients with the rare hereditary disorder, Nijmegen breakage syndrome show radiation sensitivity we hypothesized that tumor−specific disruption of the function of the Nbs1 protein would lead to enhanced cellular sensitivity to ionizing radiation. In order to test this hypothesis we have devised recombinant adenoviruses expressing various portions of the Nbs1 protein and assessed the ability of these viruses to increase the radiation sensitivity of HNSCC cells. Materials and Methods: We constructed two recombinant adenoviruses by cloning the full-length Nbs1 cDNA as well as the C-terminal 300 amino acids of Nbs1(Nbs1-300, aa453 to aa754) into an adenovirus backbone under the control of a CMV promoter. The resulting adenoviruses were used to infect HNSCC cell line 011. These cells were evaluated for expression of the viral based constructs and assayed for growth rate and clonogenic survival following radiation exposure. Results: A constitutively expressed GFP gene in the viral backbone confirmed efficient uptake of the virus into the 011 cell line and Western blot confirmed the presence of the virally expressed Nbs1 and Nbs1-300. Following exposure to ionizing radiation cells infected with the Nbs1-300 virus showed a significant reduction in growth rate relative to cells infected with control virus. Surprisingly, this effect was even stronger with the full-length wild-type Nbs1 protein. Examination of clonogenic survival also demonstrated statistically significant sensitization, however the effects of the two constructs were distinct as Nbs1-300 expression resulted in reduction of the shoulder while expression of the full-length Nbs1 showed a change in the slope of the survival curve. Conclusion: Dominant negative constructs of the Nbs1 protein are able to sensitize cells to ionizing radiation exposure. Surprisingly expression of the full-length Nbs1 protein results in enhanced sensitivity as well. These results provide a proof of principle that disruption of Nbs1 function may provide a means of enhancing the radiosensitivity of head and neck tumors.