A study on neural mechanism of face processing based on fMRI

Recently, there were debates about the specificity of lateral middle fuisform in face processing. The debates focused on whether these areas were specialized in face processing or involved in processing of visual expertise and categorization at individual level. The present study aims to investigate the neural mechanism of face processing, using Chinese characters as comparison stimuli. Chinese characters are greatly similar to faces on a variety of dimensions, among which the most significant one is that both faces and Chinese characters not only are extremely familiar to literate Chinese adults but also are processed at individual level. In the present study, faces and Chinese characters activated bilateral middle fusiform with great correlation. Greater activities were observed in the right fusiform face area (FFA) for faces than for Chinese characters. These results demonstrate that FFA is specialized in face processing per se rather than the processing of visual expertise and categorization at individual level.     

Development of CMAQ for East Asia CO2 data assimilation under an EnKF framework: a first result

Under an Ensemble Kalman Filter(EnKF)framework,Regional Atmospheric Modeling System and Models-3 Community Multi-scale Air Quality(RAMS–CMAQ)modeling system is developed to be a CO2data assimilation system EnKF–CMAQ,and the EnKF–CMAQ system is then applied to East Asia for validation with real continuous surface CO2concentration observations available in the study domain instead of using an observation simulation system experiment.Experiments with an experimental period of January 23 to February 7,2007 are conducted,and the experimental results of the EnKF–CMAQ system and the RAMS–CMAQ model are compared against continuous surface CO2observations from assimilation sites and independent reference sites.Distributions of daily mean CO2concentration increments show that the EnKF–CMAQ system confines the update of daily mean CO2within areas nearby and downwind of the assimilation sites.Both the CO2concentration ensemble spreads and background error covariances show flow-dependent patterns.The results indicate the crucial role of wind transport in the CO2data assimilation,which agrees with the previous studies.The average bias and the average root-mean-square error(RMSE)of daily mean CO2concentration at the assimilation sites are reduced by 1.00 and1.83 ppm,respectively,and those at the reference sites are reduced by 0.24 and 0.22 ppm,respectively.The results demonstrate the EnKF–CMAQ system is capable of assimilating the continuous surface CO2concentration observations to improve the simulation accuracy of the atmospheric CO2synoptic variation.Since growing CO2observations over East Asia are being available nowadays,this work is our first step to generate consistent spatial and temporal atmospheric CO2concentration fields over East Asia,particularly over China,using both in situ and satellite observations.     

Saccharomyces cerevisiae ATM orthologue suppresses break-induced chromosome translocations

Chromosome translocations are frequently associated with many types of blood-related cancers and childhood sarcomas. Detection of chromosome translocations assists in diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of these diseases; however, despite their importance to such diseases, the molecular mechanisms leading to chromosome translocations are not well understood. The available evidence indicates a role for non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in their origin. Here we develop a yeast-based system that induces a reciprocal chromosome translocation by formation and ligation of breaks on two different chromosomes. We show that interchromosomal end joining is efficiently suppressed by the Tel1- and Mre11-Rad50-Xrs2-dependent pathway; this is distinct from the role of Tel1 in telomeric integrity and from Mec1- and Tel1-dependent checkpoint controls. Suppression of DSB-induced chromosome translocations depends on the kinase activity of Tel1 and Dun1, and the damage-induced phosphorylation of Sae2 and histone H2AX proteins. Tel1- and Sae2-dependent tethering and promotion of 5' to 3' degradation of broken chromosome ends discourage error-prone NHEJ and interchromosomal NHEJ, preserving chromosome integrity on DNA damage. Our results indicate that, like human ATM, Tel1 serves as a key regulator for chromosome integrity in the pathway that reduces the risk for DSB-induced chromosome translocations, and are probably pertinent to the oncogenic chromosome translocations in ATM-deficient cells.     

Characterization and sensor application of cellulose electro-active paper （EAPap）

As a novel piezoelectric material, the mechanical and piezoelectric properties of cellulose electro-active paper （EAPap） were studied. Young＇s modulus of piezoelectric EAPap was dependant on the material orientation as compared with other EAP materials. The highest Young＇s modulus was obtained at 0° direction, while the highest direct piezoelectric charge constant was achieved at 45°. By measuring the induced output voltage from the thin piezoelectric cellulose film under the applied impact force, we demonstrate that piezoelectric EAPap film has a potential for sensor applications.     

Development of a hybrid scaffold and a bioreactor for cartilage regeneration

We developed a hybrid scaffold and a bioreactor for cartilage regeneration. The hybrid scaffold was developed as combination of two components： a biodegradable framework and hydrogel-containing chondrocytes. We performed the MTT cell proliferation assay to compare the proliferation and viability of chondrocytes on three types of scaffolds： an aiginate gel, the hybrid scaffold, and an alginate sponge. Cells were encapsulated in 2% agarose gel. The bioreactor consisted of a circulation system and a compression system. We performed dynamic cell culture on these agarose gels in the bioreactor for 3 days.     

一种新颖的四梁式压电薄膜微型陀螺

利用压电陶瓷的特性 ,采用IC兼容的技术 ,设计并制造了一种新颖的压电薄膜微型陀螺 .在Pt/Ti/SiO2 /Si基底上以sol gel技术铺设了高质量的压电陶瓷薄膜 .基于压电反效应 ,微型陀螺在其谐振频率上被 0 .3V的交流信号驱动 .由其压电正效应 ,可检测到与转动角速度成正比的输出信号 .本文介绍了该微型陀螺的设计原理 .实验结果证实了理论预测 .     

Design of child＇ s safety management system based on ontology using context information of home network

This paper presents a system to alert of dangerous a child situation of a child by applying context information collected from a home network to ontology that is capable of inference. Radio frequency Identification （RFID） and sensors were used for the configuration of a home network, to obtain the raw data to convert into context information. To express the ontology, web ontology language （OWL） was used to provide the inference of context information. Then, simple object access protocol （SOAP） messages were used to notify of the dangerous situations that a child may be involved in via mobile devices. The proposed system consists of Context Manager, Service Manager, and Notification Manager. The child＇s safety management system can proactively detect the context data of a child on the basis of context awareness. In the experiment, the Jena 2.0 by ontology reasoner and the OSGi（Open Service Gateway initiative） Gateway developed using open source software Knopflerfish 1.3.3 were used to implement the service frame work.