Engineering topics

Li, Feng

Publications and source records attributed to Li, Feng.

86 records · Page 5

DOE OSTI2012

MiR-214 inhibits cell growth in hepatocellular carcinoma through suppression of {beta}-catenin

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer miR-214 is frequently downregulated in human HCC cell lines and tissues. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer miR-214 overexpression inhibits HCC cell growth in vitro and in vivo. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer miR-214 directly targets {beta}-catenin 3 Prime -UTR in HCC cells. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer miR-214 regulates {beta}-catenin downstream signaling molecules. -- Abstract: Mounting evidence has shown that microRNAs (miRNAs) are implicated in carcinogenesis and can function as oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes in human cancers. Recent profile studies of miRNA expression have documented a deregulation of miRNA (miR-214) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, its potential functions and underlying mechanisms in hepatocarcinogenesis remain largely unknown. Here, we confirmed that miR-214 is significantly downregulated in HCC cells and specimens. Ectopic overexpression of miR-214 inhibited proliferation of HCC cells in vitro and tumorigenicity in vivo. Further studies revealed that miR-214 could directly target the 3 Prime -untranslated region (3 Prime -UTR) of {beta}-catenin mRNA and suppress its protein expression. Similar to the restoring miR-214 expression, {beta}-catenin downregulation inhibited cell growth, whereas restoring the {beta}-catenin expression abolished the function of miR-214. Moreover, miR-214-mediated reduction of {beta}-catenin resulted in suppression of several downstream genes including c-Myc, cyclinD1, TCF-1, and LEF-1. These findings indicate that miR-214 serves as tumor suppressor and plays substantial roles in inhibiting the tumorigenesis of HCC through suppression of {beta}-catenin. Given these, miR-214 may serve as a useful prognostic or therapeutic target for treatment of HCC.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2012

GIANT H II REGIONS IN M101. I. X-RAY ANALYSIS OF HOT GAS

We performed a Chandra X-ray study of three giant H II regions (GHRs), NGC 5461, NGC 5462, and NGC 5471, in the spiral galaxy M101. The X-ray spectra of the three GHRs all contain a prominent thermal component with a temperature of {approx}0.2 keV. In NGC 5461, the spatial distribution of the soft (<1.5 keV) X-ray emission is generally in agreement with the extent of H1105, the most luminous H II region therein, but extends beyond its southern boundary, which could be attributed to outflows from the star cloud between H1105 and H1098. In NGC 5462, the X-ray emission is displaced from the H II regions and a ridge of blue stars; the H{alpha} filaments extending from the ridge of star cloud to the diffuse X-rays suggest that hot gas outflows have occurred. The X-rays from NGC 5471 are concentrated at the B-knot, a 'hypernova remnant' candidate. Assuming a Sedov-Taylor evolution, the derived explosion energy, on the order of 10{sup 52} erg, is consistent with a hypernova origin. In addition, a bright source in the field of NGC 5462 has been identified as a background active galactic nucleus, instead of a black hole X-ray binary in M101.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2012

Solidification characterization of a new rapidly solidified Ni-Cr-Co based superalloy

The solidification characterization of a new rapidly solidified Ni-Cr-Co based superalloy prepared by plasma rotating electrode process was investigated by means of optical microscope, scanning electron microscope, and transmission electron microscope. The results show that the solidification microstructure changes from dendrites to cellular and microcrystal structures with decreasing powder size. The elements of Co, Cr, W and Ni are enriched in the dendrites, while Mo, Nb and Ti are higher in the interdendritic regions. The relationships between powder size with the average solid-liquid interface moving rate, the average interface temperature gradient and the average cooling rate are established. Microsegregation is increased with larger powder size. The geometric integrity of MC Prime type carbides in the powders changes from regular to diverse with decreasing powder size. The morphology and quantity of carbides depend on the thermal parameters and non-equilibrium solute partition coefficients during rapid solidification. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The relations of solidification thermal parameters with powder size are established. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The relation of non-equilibrium solute partition with powder size is investigated. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The solidification microstructure is related to thermal parameters. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The segregation behavior is linked to non-equilibrium partition coefficients. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The morphology and quantity of carbides depend on the above combined factors.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

NASA NTRS2012

A Systematic Approach for Real-Time Operator Functional State Assessment

A task overload condition often leads to high stress for an operator, causing performance degradation and possibly disastrous consequences. Just as dangerous, with automated flight systems, an operator may experience a task underload condition (during the en-route flight phase, for example), becoming easily bored and finding it difficult to maintain sustained attention. When an unexpected event occurs, either internal or external to the automated system, the disengaged operator may neglect, misunderstand, or respond slowly/inappropriately to the situation. In this paper, we discuss an approach for Operator Functional State (OFS) monitoring in a typical aviation environment. A systematic ground truth finding procedure has been designed based on subjective evaluations, performance measures, and strong physiological indicators. The derived OFS ground truth is continuous in time compared to a very sparse estimation of OFS based on an expert review or subjective evaluations. It can capture the variations of OFS during a mission to better guide through the training process of the OFS assessment model. Furthermore, an OFS assessment model framework based on advanced machine learning techniques was designed and the systematic approach was then verified and validated with experimental data collected in a high fidelity Boeing 737 simulator. Preliminary results show highly accurate engagement/disengagement detection making it suitable for real-time applications to assess pilot engagement.

Zhang, Guangfan↗

NASA NTRS2012

Engagement Assessment Using EEG Signals

In this paper, we present methods to analyze and improve an EEG-based engagement assessment approach, consisting of data preprocessing, feature extraction and engagement state classification. During data preprocessing, spikes, baseline drift and saturation caused by recording devices in EEG signals are identified and eliminated, and a wavelet based method is utilized to remove ocular and muscular artifacts in the EEG recordings. In feature extraction, power spectrum densities with 1 Hz bin are calculated as features, and these features are analyzed using the Fisher score and the one way ANOVA method. In the classification step, a committee classifier is trained based on the extracted features to assess engagement status. Finally, experiment results showed that there exist significant differences in the extracted features among different subjects, and we have implemented a feature normalization procedure to mitigate the differences and significantly improved the engagement assessment performance.

Li, Feng↗

NASA NTRS2012

Long-Term Changes in Stratospheric Age Spectra in the 21st Century in the Goddard Earth Observing System Chemistry-Climate Model (GEOSCCM)

In this study we investigate the long-term variations in the stratospheric age spectra using simulations of the 21st century with the Goddard Earth Observing System Chemistry- Climate Model (GEOSCCM). Our purposes are to characterize the long-term changes in the age spectra and identify processes that cause the decrease of the mean age in a warming climate. Changes in the age spectra in the 21st century simulations are characterized by decreases in the modal age, the mean age, the spectral width, and the tail decay timescale. Our analyses show that the decrease in the mean age is caused by two processes: the acceleration of the residual circulation that increases the young air masses in the stratosphere, and the weakening of the recirculation that leads to the decrease of tail of the age spectra and the decrease of the old air masses. The weakening of the stratospheric recirculation is also strongly correlated with the increase of the residual circulation. One important result of this study is that the decrease of the tail of the age spectra makes an important contribution to the decrease of the main age. Long-term changes in the stratospheric isentropic mixing are investigated. Mixing increases in the subtropical lower stratosphere, but its impact on the age spectra is outweighed by the increase of the residual circulation. The impacts of the long-term changes in the age spectra on long-lived chemical traces are also investigated. 37 2

Li, Feng↗

DOE OSTI2011

Complexin Cross-links Prefusion SNAREs into a Zigzag Array

Complexin prevents SNAREs from releasing neurotransmitters until an action potential arrives at the synapse. To understand the mechanism for this inhibition, we determined the structure of complexin bound to a mimetic of a prefusion SNAREpin lacking the portion of the v-SNARE that zippers last to trigger fusion. The 'central helix' of complexin is anchored to one SNARE complex, while its 'accessory helix' extends away at {approx}45{sup o} and bridges to a second complex, occupying the vacant v-SNARE binding site to inhibit fusion. We expected the accessory helix to compete with the v-SNARE for t-SNARE binding but found instead that the interaction occurs intermolecularly. Thus, complexin organizes the SNAREs into a zigzag topology that, when interposed between the vesicle and plasma membranes, is incompatible with fusion.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS2011

Imbalanced Learning for Functional State Assessment

This paper presents results of several imbalanced learning techniques applied to operator functional state assessment where the data is highly imbalanced, i.e., some function states (majority classes) have much more training samples than other states (minority classes). Conventional machine learning techniques usually tend to classify all data samples into majority classes and perform poorly for minority classes. In this study, we implemented five imbalanced learning techniques, including random undersampling, random over-sampling, synthetic minority over-sampling technique (SMOTE), borderline-SMOTE and adaptive synthetic sampling (ADASYN) to solve this problem. Experimental results on a benchmark driving lest dataset show thai accuracies for minority classes could be improved dramatically with a cost of slight performance degradations for majority classes,

Li, Feng↗

NASA NTRS2011

Seasonal Variations of Stratospheric Age Spectra in GEOSCCM

There are many pathways for an air parcel to travel from the troposphere to the stratosphere, each of which takes different time. The distribution of all the possible transient times, i.e. the stratospheric age spectrum, contains important information on transport characteristics. However, it is computationally very expensive to compute seasonally varying age spectra, and previous studies have focused mainly on the annual mean properties of the age spectra. To date our knowledge of the seasonality of the stratospheric age spectra is very limited. In this study we investigate the seasonal variations of the stratospheric age spectra in the Goddard Earth Observing System Chemistry Climate Model (GEOSCCM). We introduce a method to significantly reduce the computational cost for calculating seasonally dependent age spectra. Our simulations show that stratospheric age spectra in GEOSCCM have strong seasonal cycles and the seasonal cycles change with latitude and height. In the lower stratosphere extratropics, the average transit times and the most probable transit times in the winter/early spring spectra are more than twice as old as those in the summer/early fall spectra. But the seasonal cycle in the subtropical lower stratosphere is nearly out of phase with that in the extratropics. In the middle and upper stratosphere, significant seasonal variations occur in the sUbtropics. The spectral shapes also show dramatic seasonal change, especially at high latitudes. These seasonal variations reflect the seasonal evolution of the slow Brewer-Dobson circulation (with timescale of years) and the fast isentropic mixing (with timescale of days to months).

Li, Feng↗

NASA NTRS2010

Narrowing of the Upwelling Branch of the Brewer-Dobson Circulation and Hadley Cell in Chemistry-Climate Model Simulations of the 21st Century

Changes in the width of the upwelling branch of the Brewer-Dobson circulation and Hadley cell in the 21st Century are investigated using simulations from a coupled chemistry-climate model. In these model simulations the tropical upwelling region narrows in the troposphere and lower stratosphere. The narrowing of the Brewer-Dobson circulation is caused by an equatorward shift of Rossby wave critical latitudes and Eliassen-Palm flux convergence in the subtropical lower stratosphere. In the troposphere, the model projects an expansion of the Hadley cell's poleward boundary, but a narrowing of the Hadley cell's rising branch. Model results suggest that eddy forcing may also play a part in the narrowing of the rising branch of the Hadley cell.

Li, Feng↗

NASA NTRS2010

Narrowing of the Upwelling Branch of the Brewer-Dobson Circulation and Hadley Cell in Chemistry-Climate Model Simulations of the 21st Century

Changes in the width of the upwelling branch of the Brewer-Dobson circulation and Hadley cell in the 21st Century are investigated using simulations from a coupled chemistry-climate model. In these model simulations the tropical upwelling region narrows in the troposphere and lower stratosphere. The narrowing of the Brewer-Dobson circulation is caused by an equatorward shift of Rossby wave critical latitudes and Eliassen-Palm flux convergence in the subtropical lower stratosphere. In the troposphere, the model projects an expansion of the Hadley cell's poleward boundary, but a narrowing of the Hadley rising branch. Model results suggest that the narrowing of the Hadley cell ascent is also eddy-driven.

Li, Feng↗

NASA NTRS2010

On the Relationship Between the Brewer-Dobson Circulation and the Southern Annular Mode During Austral Summer in Couple Chemistry-Climate Model Simulations

The Brewer-Dobson circulation (BDC) is the mean transport circulation in the stratosphere. It consists of an upwelling branch in the tropics, poleward flows from the tropics to the extratropics, and downward flows in the extratropics. The BDC plays a crucial role in the distribution of important stratospheric trace gases, such as ozone and water vapor. Therefore changes in the strength of the BDC under global warming could have significant impact on stratospheric ozone depletion and recovery. For example, all climate models that are used by the World Meteorological Organization to predict ozone evolution in the 21 st century project a strengthening of the BDC that leads to ozone superrecovery in the mid-latitudes. On the other hand, ozone changes could also affect the strength of the BDC. This work investigates an outstanding question: whether and how changes in the Brewer-Dobson circulation are connected to climate change in the troposphere, in particular, the annular modes. The annular modes are the leading variability in the extratropical troposphere, which describes a seesaw pattern of circulation fluctuations between the polar and middle latitudes. Using simulations from the Goddard Earth Observing System Coupled Chemistry Climate Model (GEOS CCM), we found the strengthening of the BDC in the summer Southern Hemisphere is strongly correlated with a shift of the Southern Hemisphere Annular Mode (SAM) toward its positive phase for the last 4 decades of the 20th century. This relationship is only present in model runs that simulate the stratospheric ozone depletion. Therefore it is concluded that the BDC-SAM relationship is driven by Antarctic ozone depletion. The ozone hole significantly cools the Antarctic stratosphere in late spring/early summer, which leads to a delayed breakdown of the polar vortex: strong circumpolar eastward flows that usually shift to westward winds in late spring. The prolonged persistence of stratospheric eastward flow enhances upward propagation of tropospheric waves into the stratosphere and strengthens the BDC. The increased wave flux in the stratosphere in turn drives a SAM trend toward its positive phase. Our results also show that the BDC-SAM relationship is robust on the interannual timescale

Li, Feng↗

NASA NTRS2008

Stratospheric Ozone in the Post-CFC Era

Vertical and latitudinal changes in the stratospheric ozone in the post-chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) era are investigated using simulations of the recent past and the 21st century with a coupled chemistry-climate model. Model results reveal that, in the 2060s when the stratospheric halogen loading is projected to return to its 1980 values, the extratropical column ozone is significantly higher than that in 1975-1984, but the tropical column ozone does not recover to 1980 values. Upper and lower stratospheric ozone changes in the post- CFC era have very different patterns. Above 15 hPa ozone increases almost latitudinally uniformly by 6 Dobson Unit (DU), whereas below 15 hPa ozone decreases in the tropics by 8 DU and increases in the extratropics by up to 16 DU. The upper stratospheric ozone increase is a photochemical response to greenhouse gas induced strong cooling, and the lower stratospheric ozone changes are consistent with enhanced mean advective transport due to a stronger Brewer-Dobson circulation. The model results suggest that the strengthening of the Brewer-Dobson circulation plays a crucial role in ozone recovery and ozone distributions in the post-CFC era.

Li, Feng↗

NASA NTRS1996

Nonlinear Dynamics of a Foil Bearing Supported Rotor System: Simulation and Analysis

Foil bearings provide noncontacting rotor support through a number of thin metal strips attached around the circumference of a stator and separated from the rotor by a fluid film. The resulting support stiffness is dominated by the characteristics of the foils and is a nonlinear function of the rotor deflection. The present study is concerned with characterizing this nonlinear effect and investigating its influence on rotordynamical behavior. A finite element model is developed for an existing bearing, the force versus deflection relation characterized, and the dynamics of a sample rotor system are studied. Some conclusions are discussed with regard to appropriate ranges of operation for such a system.

Li, Feng↗