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Examines how China's biggest cities are struggling to balance modern design with their historical structures. How many areas of both Beijing and Shanghai have changed beyond recognition; Global talents who have been drawn to China; Building effort of Beijing officials; How exposure to global architecture and ideas is creating a more sophisticated design culture in China; Asian architects; Disputes over planning and historical preservation; Outlook for future planning and redevelopment.

This article reports that twenty-five miles northwest of skyscraper-congested downtown, Shanghai's suburban district of Qingpu is like the often-ignored older cousin of the metropolis's more glamorous and wealthier districts. Qingpu is more famous for its natural waterways, which have been used as a mode of transportation for centuries. But city planners and architects are moving beyond developing China's population-heavy metropolises and looking outward as development enters a new phase, driven by the country's economic boom. Qingpu differs from the run-of-the-mill Chinese suburb, which usually consists of shoddy buildings with white-tile exteriors and utilitarian cement homes, thanks to its natural beauty, its proximity to the heart of China's wealthiest city, and its vice district chief, Jiwei Sun. INSET: A CONVERSATION WITH JIWEI SUN.

In a city that has looked to the West for architectural inspiration during the past decade, not to mention during its colonial heyday, architect Benjamin Wood, did something that many people thought was impossible, he sold the idea of Shanghai back to its own residents. Wood has transformed two city blocks of forlorn residential buildings from the 1920s and '30s into a lively entertainment and retail quarter with chic fusion restaurants and some of China's favorite American brands, such as Hä agen-Dazs and Starbucks. By day, professionals lunch and make deals at tables lining walkways, while at night they chug pints of lager and tap their feet to sounds of live music.

Chinese architect Chen Zhuyun had once claimed he wasn't sad at all, despite knowing that his neighborhood, the old town square, and some of his favorite trees had been destroyed to make way for the Three Gorges dam project. Chen shrugged, apparently unmoved by changes brought about by the largest dam project in the world. In Wushan, located along the banks of the Yangtze River, 400 miles from Beijing, with a population of 580,000, many resettled residents like Chen aren't looking back. Officials optimistically project that once the dam project is completed, an annual 20 million tourists will flock to the largest man-made lake in the world.

We report a mechanism and a realizable approach for the coherent control of the generation of an isolated and ultrashort attosecond (as) laser pulse from atoms by optimizing the two-color laser fields with a proper time delay. Optimizing the laser pulse shape allows the control of the electron quantum paths and enables high-harmonic generation from the long- and short-trajectory electrons to be enhanced and split near the cutoff region. In addition, it delays the long-trajectory electron emission time and allows the production of extremely short attosecond pulses in a relatively narrow time duration. As a case study, we show that an isolated 30 as pulse with a bandwidth of 127 eV can be generated directly from the contribution of long-trajectory electrons alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract-The consensus problem for multi-agent systems with input and communication delays is studied based on the frequency-domain analysis. Two decentralized consensus conditions are obtained, one of which is given for the systems based on undirected graphs with diverse input delays and the other is for the systems based on directed graphs with diverse communication delays and input delays. For the systems with both communication delays and input delays, the consensus condition is dependent on input delays but independent of communication delays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ELSHOLTZIA RUGULOSA (Lamiaceae), a common Chinese herb, is widely used in the treatment of cold and fever. In order to elucidate the action mechanism and the active principles from the plant against anti-influenza virus, the influenza virus neuraminidase (NA) activity assay and IN VITRO antiviral activity assay were established, and the isolation of the active principles was guided by NA activity. Finally, 5 active constituents were obtained, namely apigenin ( 1), luteolin ( 2), apiin ( 3), galuteolin ( 4) and luteolin 3'-glucuronyl acid methyl ester ( 5), respectively. They all belong to the flavonoids. The IN VITRO antiviral assay using a cytopathic effect (CPE) reduction method showed that they all possessed anti-influenza virus activity. Among them, apigenin and luteolin exhibited the highest activities against influenza virus (H3N2) with IC 50values of 1.43??g/mL and 2.06??g/mL, respectively. The structure-activity relationship (SAR) of these flavonoids with different chemical structures and their anti-influenza virus activities was addressed in this study. CC 50:median cytotoxic concentration CPE:cytopathic effect DMEM:Dulbecco's minimum essential medium FBS:fetal bovine serum MDCK:Madin-Darby canine kidney MES:2- N-morpholino-ethanesulfonic acid MNCC:maximal non-cytotoxic concentration MUNANA:2'-(4-methylumbelliferyl)-?- D-acetylneuraminic acid Na:neuraminidase SI:selective index TCID 50:50?% tissue culture infective dose [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Six constituents with neuraminidase (NA) inhibitory activity, namely brazilein, brazilin, protosappanin A, 3-deoxysappanchalcone, sappanchalcone and rhamnetin, were isolated from the hearthwood of CAESALPINIA SAPPAN (Leguminosae). Their IN VITRO anti-influenza virus activities were evaluated with the cytopathic effect (CPE) reduction method. The results showed that 3-deoxysappanchalcone and sappanchalcone exhibited the highest activity against influenza virus (H3N2) with IC 50values of 1.06 and 2.06??g/mL, respectively, in comparison to the positive control oseltamivir acid and ribavirin with IC 50values of 0.065 and 9.17??g/mL, respectively. CPE:cytopathic effect NA:neuraminidase [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The finite volume effect on the QCD phase diagram is investigated via the two-flavor Polyakov-loop-modified Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model in the presence of the chiral chemical potential within the mean-field approximation. Our calculations concentrate on the quark condensate, chiral number density and its derivative, namely, QCD susceptibilities. We find the chiral number density decreases as the system size gets smaller. It is also confirmed that the volume of the strongly interacting matter has an influence on the phase diagram, in particular on the crossover region and the location of a chiral transition line. Therefore, the critical end point (CEP) also shifts with system size. On this basis it follows that study of the finite volume effect as well as the chiral chemical potential dedicated to the chiral phase transition and probing the location of the CEP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article probes into the energy crisis in China and its effect on factories. As more factories open and others expand in China, the country's power grids are seriously straining and power outages are becoming more common. The official government position is that power outages are a temporary problem that will eventually be solved. But foreign-owned companies note that the outages are occurring at a regular basis. One factor singled out for the energy crisis is the growing use of electricity by residential customers.

The electronic trash that most Americans deposit at centers for recycling toxic materials often ends up polluting a town in China. In Guiyu, China's southeastern Guandong province, where thousands of tons of old motherboards, printers, and monitors from the U.S. end up each year. China has become the favored destination for the world's discarded computers and peripherals and the main source of used computer parts. According to James Puckett, coordinator of the Basel Action Network, an environmental watchdog group in Seattle, the residues such as lead, mercury, and other toxic materials all end up in China. This article shows how China and other developing countries benefit from electronic trash coming from the U.S.

Reports on the decision of NIIT Ltd. to expand its operation in China. Terms and conditions agreed upon with China; Challenges experienced in pursuing with the project; Advantages of the project for parties involved.

Reports on the case filed Cisco Systems Inc. against China-based Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. for alleged violation its intellectual property rights. Background of the case; Details of the charges filed; Potential impact on the software industry.

Reports on the competition for licenses among American and European telecommunication firms for third-generation wireless Internet technology in China. Conflicting versions of code division multiple access proposed for the country; Market potential of third-generation mobile telephone.

The author describes the anti-war movement in China in opposition to the Iraq War. She claims that China is passive yet paradoxically vigilant toward the Iraq War. She comments on the news coverage of the war, despite the country's censored media. She explains why the Chinese have not been more blatant in launching their peace movement.

The article reviews the design of the Terminal 3 airport in Beijing, China by the companies Foster and Partners and Arup Associates.

The article reviews the design of the building called Digital Beijing in Beijing, China designed by the architects Zhu Pei and Wu Tong.

This article reports that the Association of Tennis Professionals, tennis's governing body, has announced that the Qi Zhong Stadium, the first phase of a new $200 million tennis facility in Shanghai, will be completed in September 2005. The project is being designed and built by a Chinese team, including the Xian Dai Architectural Design Company, the China Construction Third Bureau, Jiangnan Heavy Industry Co., and the Shanghai Mechanical Construction Company, which is responsible for the roof.

The article reports that in the aftermath of the December 26 tsunami in Southeast Asia, the Sri Lankan government has banned constructing or repairing buildings within 100 meters of the shoreline, sparking complaints from civic organizations and citizens. Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga announced a plan on January 19 to build 15 new townships located several miles away from beaches across the island, though details have not been released. The new policy requires those still residing within 100 meters of the coast to move, and police have been ordered to remove citizens who do not comply.

Chinese developer Beijing North Star has awarded Great Britain-based RMJM, the commission to design the Beijing Olympic Green Convention Center, one of the 2008 Olympic Games' key venues. RMJM beat out competitors that included OMA, Philip Cox Architects, and KMD with a design that straddles several different sites of the games and includes elevated piazzas and pedestrian bridges. The biggest challenge of the project, says Gordon Affleck, an associate director for RMJM based in Hong Kong, China, is that the convention center is supposed to include historic themes from the Qin Dynasty because it sits midway on the games' main boulevard. The convention center, just under 3 million square feet, will be located near many other key sites, including the main sports stadium, the swimming complex, and the Olympic Park.

A setback for advocates of Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour, in China, occurred on March 9 when a Hong Kong court ruled that the region's government can proceed on a landfill project that will reduce the size of the harbor to ease traffic congestion. The Hong Kong skyline is known for its picturesque harbor, a natural symbol of the city's beauty, and in stark contrast to its crowded urban grid of skyscrapers and elevated roadways. In recent years, harbor protectionists and city planners have had an acrimonious relationship. The harbor has slowly been reduced to about half of its original size as the government continues to fill in the waterway for public works and lucrative developments, claims the Society for the Protection of the Harbour, a nonprofit organization, which was the plaintiff in the lawsuit.

The article reports on the conversion of television transmission into a digital cable television in Qingdao, China. The experiment was intended to complete Qingdao's government-supported project which is to provide cable-subscriptions to its six hundred thousand residents. Through the experiment, Qingdao has been identified as one of the first areas in China to cease delivering cable television in analog format. In addition, the Qingdao trial is partly a significant stepping-stone for the Chinese government's promotion of cable conversion because the digital transition is easier to execute in cable systems than in over-the-air systems.

This article reports that China's fledgling encryption standard for wireless local-area networking was delivered a setback and perhaps even a mortal blow on April 21, 2004, when the country agreed to indefinitely postpone a requirement that all Wireless Fidelity chips sold in China adhere to the homegrown standard. Besides setting a contentious issue that had prompted diplomatic intervention by top U.S. officials has defused trade tensions over electronics that have been growing in the past few months. In exchange for indefinitely postponing the deadline for using its Wired Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure standard and for pledging to crack down on intellectual property violations, China got the U.S. to agree that it will ease restrictions on the export of some high-technology U.S. products to China.

Focuses on the admission by North Korea in October 2002 that it had been developing nuclear weapons. Implications for North Korea's diplomatic relations with the U.S., Japan, South Korea and China; Improvement in relations between China and the U.S.

Analyzes the investments by offshore companies in wafer fabrication lines in China. Advantages of basing plants in China; Potential to break into the international market; Impact of the Chinese population on the multi-billion sales projection; Need of China to upgrade the technology and scale of semiconductors; Difficulties in setting up manufacturing lines in China.

The article focuses on the treatment for Internet addiction in China. It offers information about the action taken by the government to address the problem on Internet addiction. Tao Ran, the head of the center's addiction ward, blames the country's crowded urban environment, with its dearth of outdoor space for sports and recreation. He added that Internet addiction is much easier to cure than a smoking or drinking addiction. It also offers information about the career and educational background of Tao.

Rapid expansion of international higher education in China brought concerns about the quality of education. Therefore, the government began inviting foreign schools to set up educational programs in the country. There are now 800 such cooperative efforts, the majority run by U.S. schools. One of the schools, Stevens Institute of Technology, offers similar curriculum to the one it provides in Hoboken, New Jersey. Two-thirds of the teaching was on campus, and for the rest, the students logged onto Web-based tutorials. This article focuses on the way Stevens Institute of Technology, a U.S. university, teaches western business to Chinese students.

Reports on actions taken by the Chinese government to break Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft Corp.'s dominance in the computer software business in the country. Decision of the Chinese government to require its ministries to purchase domestically produced Linux-based software in its next upgrade cycle; Implications of the government's decision to replace Microsoft operating systems and applications with domestic alternatives; Effect of the government's proposal to discuss the development of an alternative to Microsoft Windows with Japan and South Korea; Reason behind the move to gain independence from foreign multinational companies in the software business.

Reports on the development of a system based on a lexicon by engineers at Hitachi Ltd. in Tokyo, Japan. Features of the system; Use of the beam search strategy; Plan of the designers to improve the system.

By numerical and analytical methods, we study in detail the effects of the Lifshitz dynamical exponent z on the vector condensate induced by an applied magnetic field in the probe limit. Concretely, in the presence of the magnetic field, we obtain the Landau level independent of z, and we also find the critical value by coupling a Maxwell complex vector field and an SU(2) field into a (3 + 1 )-dimensional Lifshitz black hole, respectively. The research results show that for the two models with the lowest Landau level, the increasing z improves the response of the critical temperature to the applied magnetic field even without the charge density, and the analytical results uphold the numerical results. In addition, we find that, even in the Lifshitz black hole, the Maxwell complex vector model is still a generalization of the SU(2) Yang-Mills model. Furthermore, we construct the square vortex lattice and discuss the implications of these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce a general optical system for synthesis of partially coherent vector beams with a variety of correlation functions. In particular we employ it for generation of the family of beams, termed the specially correlated radially polarized (SCRP) beams and examine their free-space propagation both theoretically and experimentally. Our results clearly show that a SCRP beam exhibits unique features on propagation in comparison with those of beams with conventional correlation functions. The technique for modulation of the correlation functions and, hence, the coherence state of a SCRP beam in the source plane leads to efficient control of its intensity distribution and its degree of polarization on propagation, which is of importance in particle trapping and material thermal processing applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Influenza virus is one of the most important causes of acute respiratory disease. Viral infection and viral replication activate multiple cell signalling pathways. Apoptosis of infected cells and immune response against viral replication, which are generally considered to be protective mechanisms, are also probably mediated by viruses, which lead to severe health problems. We previously reported that 3-deoxysappanchalcone (3-DSC), a compound that is isolated from Caesalpinia sappan, exhibited in vitro anti-influenza activity. In the present study, we further identified that 3-DSC inhibited viral genomic replication and transcription only at a relatively high concentration. We then evaluated the effect of 3-DSC on the regulation of virus-induced cellular apoptosis. 3-DSC ameliorated virus-induced DNA fragmentation in a concentration-dependent manner, which tends to be a consequence of its inhibition of upstream caspase activation. 3-DSC also protected host cells against influenza-induced inflammation by suppressing CCL5 and CXCL10 secretions in endothelial cells and reducing the production of IL-6 and IL-1β in monocytes/macrophages. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that anti-influenza virus mechanisms of 3-DSC involved anti-apoptosis and anti-inflammation activities in vitro. Moreover, 3-DSC could be a promising drug candidate for influenza treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paraxial WKB code TORBEAM (Poli, 2001) is widely used for the description of electron-cyclotron waves in fusion plasmas, retaining diffraction effects through the solution of a set of ordinary differential equations. With respect to its original form, the code has undergone significant transformations and extensions, in terms of both the physical model and the spectrum of applications. The code has been rewritten in Fortran 90 and transformed into a library, which can be called from within different (not necessarily Fortran-based) workflows. The models for both absorption and current drive have been extended, including e.g. fully-relativistic calculation of the absorption coefficient, momentum conservation in electron–electron collisions and the contribution of more than one harmonic to current drive. The code can be run also for reflectometry applications, with relativistic corrections for the electron mass. Formulas that provide the coupling between the reflected beam and the receiver have been developed. Accelerated versions of the code are available, with the reduced physics goal of inferring the location of maximum absorption (including or not the total driven current) for a given setting of the launcher mirrors. Optionally, plasma volumes within given flux surfaces and corresponding values of minimum and maximum magnetic field can be provided externally to speed up the calculation of full driven-current profiles. These can be employed in real-time control algorithms or for fast data analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel quarter substrate integrated waveguide resonator (QSIWR) with an etched elliptic defected structure (EDS) to reduce its resonant frequency employs electric coupling in the main path and magnetic coupling in the cross-coupled path to realize a miniature cross-coupled bandpass filter (BPF) with a size reduction greater than 88 percent. The filter possesses a transmission zero (TZ) in the upper stopband, which improves selectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the use of quarter substrate integrated waveguide resonator (QSIWR) and a fractal shaped defected structure (FDS) in designing substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) bandpass filters. It states that QSIWR and FDS are used because of various benefits including simple structure, extra transmission zero and compact size. It further presents various figures explaining the working of QSIWR.