The hydrodynamic characteristics of upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors were investigated in this study. A UASB reactor was visualized as being set‐up of a number of continuously stirred tank reactors (CSTRs) in series. An increasing‐sized CSTRs (ISC) model was developed to describe the hydrodynamics of such a bioreactor. The gradually increasing tank size in the ISC model implies that the dispersion coefficient decreased along the axial of the UASB reactor and that its hydrodynamic behavior was basically dispersion‐controlled. Experimental results from both laboratory‐scale H2‐producing and full‐scale CH4‐producing UASB reactors were used to validate this model. Simulation results demonstrate that the ISC model was better than the other models in describing the hydrodynamics of the UASB reactors. Moreover, a three‐dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation was performed with an Eulerian‐Eulerian three‐phase‐fluid approach to visualize the phase holdup and to explore the flow patterns in UASB reactors. The results from the CFD simulation were comparable with those of the ISC model predictions in terms of the flow patterns and dead zone fractions. The simulation results about the flow field further confirm the discontinuity in the mixing behaviors throughout a UASB reactor. © 2008 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2009

Although the correspondence between habitual activity and diaphyseal cortical bone morphology has been demonstrated for the fore‐ and hind‐limb long bones of primates, the relationship between trabecular bone architecture and locomotor behavior is less certain. If sub‐articular trabecular and diaphyseal cortical bone morphology reflects locomotor patterns, this correspondence would be a valuable tool with which to interpret morphological variation in the skeletal and fossil record. To assess this relationship, high‐resolution computed tomography images from both the humeral and femoral head and midshaft of 112 individuals from eight anthropoid genera (Alouatta, Homo, Macaca, Pan, Papio, Pongo, Trachypithecus, and Symphalangus) were analyzed. Within‐bone (sub‐articular trabeculae vs. mid‐diaphysis), between‐bone (forelimb vs. hind limb), and among‐taxa relative distributions (femoral:humeral) were compared. Three conclusions are evident: (1) Correlations exists between humeral head sub‐articular trabecular bone architecture and mid‐humerus diaphyseal bone properties; this was not the case in the femur. (2) In contrast to comparisons of inter‐limb diaphyseal bone robusticity, among all species femoral head trabecular bone architecture is significantly more substantial (i.e., higher values for mechanically relevant trabecular bone architectural features) than humeral head trabecular bone architecture. (3) Interspecific comparisons of femoral morphology relative to humeral morphology reveal an osteological “locomotor signal” indicative of differential use of the forelimb and hind limb within mid‐diaphysis cortical bone geometry, but not within sub‐articular trabecular bone architecture. Am J Phys Anthropol 147:187–200, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The evaporation behavior of urea‐water‐solution (UWS) droplet was investigated for application to urea‐selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems. A number of experiments were performed with single UWS droplet suspended on the tip of a fine quartz fiber. To cover the temperature range of real‐world diesel exhausts, droplet ambient temperature was regulated from 373 to 873 K using an electrical furnace. As a result of this study, UWS droplet revealed different evaporation characteristics depending on its ambient temperature. At high temperatures, it showed quite complicated behaviors such as bubble formation, distortion, and partial rupture after a linear D2‐law period. However, as temperature decreases, these phenomena became weak and finally disappeared. Also, droplet diminishment coefficients were extracted from transient evaporation histories for various ambient temperatures, which yields a quantitative evaluation on evaporation characteristics of UWS droplet as well as provides valuable empirical data required for modeling or simulation works on urea‐SCR systems. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2009

BACKGROUND In preclinical models, infection of tumors by oncolytic strains of herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV‐1) resulted in the destruction of tumor cells by viral replication and release of progeny virion that infected and destroyed adjacent tumor cells. However, complete tumor regression was rarely observed. METHODS To augment the antitumor effect of viral oncolysis, a replication conditional HSV‐1 mutant (HSV‐Endo) was constructed in which the murine endostatin gene was incorporated into the HSV‐1 genome. RESULTS Replication of HSV‐Endo effectively destroyed several colon carcinoma cell lines in vitro. Secretion of endostatin by HSV‐Endo–infected HT29 human colon carcinoma cells was confirmed by Western blot analysis. The secreted endostatin was biologically active as assessed in a chick chorioallantoic membrane assay. Importantly, endostatin production at the site of viral replication did not inhibit viral replication. Direct injection of HSV‐Endo into flank tumors caused tumor destruction, and some of the HSV‐Endo–treated flank tumors completely sloughed. Immunohistochemical staining of the tumors revealed a decreased number of blood vessels in the HSV‐Endo–treated group versus the control group. CONCLUSIONS The oncolytic HSV‐1 mutant HSV‐Endo provided a two‐pronged therapy; namely, inhibition of angiogenesis and direct tumor cell destruction by viral replication. Cancer 2004. © 2004 American Cancer Society.