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We describe an algorithm that helps to predict potential distributional areas for species using presence-only records. The Marble Algorithm is a density-based clustering program based on Hutchinson's concept of ecological niches as multidimensional hypervolumes in environmental space. The algorithm characterizes this niche space using the density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) algorithm. When MA is provided with a set of occurrence points in environmental space, the algorithm determines two parameters that allow the points to be grouped into several clusters. These clusters are used as reference sets describing the ecological niche, which can then be mapped onto geographic space and used as the potential distribution of the species. We used both virtual species and ten empirical datasets to compare MA with other distribution-modeling tools, including Bioclimate Analysis and Prediction System, Environmental Niche Factor Analysis, the Genetic Algorithm for Rule-set Production, Maximum Entropy Modeling, Artificial Neural Networks, Climate Space Models, Classification Tree Analysis, Generalised Additive Models, Generalised Boosted Models, Generalised Linear Models, Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines and Random Forests. Results indicate that MA predicts potential distributional areas with high accuracy, moderate robustness, and above-average transferability on all datasets, particularly when dealing with small numbers of occurrences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background CXXC-type zinc-finger protein CXXC5 has been reported to be associated with the development of cardiovascular disease. Recently, through signaling pathway screening we found that CXXC5 activated Tgfβ and myocardial differentiation signaling pathways simultaneously. Although the physiological and pathological function of CXXC5 in many organs has been well elucidated, its function in heart remains unclear. Methods and results Here, we found that zebrafish CXXC5 and SMAD were interacting through ZF-CXXC and MH1 domain. Over-expression of CXXC5 in cardiomyocyte increased the luciferase report activity of Tgfβ signaling pathway. Spatiotemporal expression profile of cxxc5 showed that it consistently expressed during cardiogenesis. Knockdown of cxxc5 in zebrafish displayed looping defects, cardiac dysplasia, pericardial edema, and decreased contraction ability, accompanied with down-regulation of members referring to cardiac looping downstream genes of Tgfβ signaling pathway, such as nkx2.5 , hand2 , and has2 . Co-injection of hand2 mRNA with cxxc5 morpholino rescued the cardiac looping detects. Conclusion Our study is the first to provide an in vivo evidence for cxxc5 regulating heart development and cardiac looping via Tgfβ related signaling pathway. This finding suggested that CXXC5 may serve as a possible marker that has potential diagnostic and prognostic value in fetus with congenital heart disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have demonstrated that Smyd1 plays a critical role in cardiomyocyte differentiation, cardiac morphogenesis and myofibril organization. In this study, we uncovered a novel function of Smyd1 in the regulation of endothelial cells (ECs). Our data showed that Smyd1 is expressed in vascular endothelial cells, and knockdown of SMYD1 in endothelial cells impairs EC migration and tube formation. Furthermore, Co-IP and GST pull-down assays demonstrated that SMYD1 is associated with the Serum Response Factor (SRF). EMSA assays further showed that SMYD1 forms a complex with SRF and enhances SRF DNA binding activity. Our studies indicate that SMYD1 serves as an SRF-interacting protein, enhances SRF DNA binding activity, and is required for EC migration and tube formation to regulate angiogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hermit crabs hide into shells when confronted with potential dangers, including images presented on a monitor. We do not know, however, what hermit crabs can see and how they perceive different objects. We examined the hiding response of the Caribbean hermit crab ( Coenobita clypeatus ) to various stimuli presented on a monitor in seven experiments to explore whether crabs could discriminate different properties of a threatening digital image, including color, brightness, contrast, shape and orientation. We found crabs responded differently to expanding circles presented in wavelengths of light corresponding to what humans see as red, blue, and green. “Blue” stimuli elicited the strongest hiding response (Experiments 1, 2, & 7). “Blue” was also more effective than a gray stimulus of similar brightness (Experiment 3). Hermit crabs were sensitive to the amount of contrast between a stimulus and its background rather than absolute brightness of the stimulus (Experiment 4). Moreover, we did not find evidence that crabs could discriminate orientation (Experiment 6), and mixed evidence that they could discriminate stimulus shape (Experiments 5 & 7). These results suggest that the Caribbean hermit crab is sensitive to color features, but not spatial features, of a threatening object presented on a computer screen. This is the first study to use the hiding response of the hermit crab to examine its visual ability, and demonstrates that the hiding response provides a useful behavioral approach with which to study learning and discrimination in the hermit crab. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving energy performance has been recognized as an effective measure to promote the energy saving and emission reduction and to realize the sustainable development. Methods of improving energy performance towards sustainable manufacturing are numerous and scattered, resulting in insufficiency from the perspective of overall strategies and system integration. After the intensive selection of advanced literatures, about 166 research papers directly related to energy performance improvement are analyzed. A comprehensive review and analysis from multi-perspectives of energy monitoring, evaluation, optimization and benchmarking are performed, which is conducive to understand the energy consumption pattern and take effective energy-saving measures. This paper establishes a framework of energy performance integrated method, and four energy management methods and their energy models in energy monitoring, evaluation, optimization and benchmarking phase are analyzed and summarized. Besides, the proposed framework analyzes potential applications and key advantages, and some challenges and potential opportunities for energy performance improvement methods are discussed. This study will provide a significant foundation for energy-efficient production through various methods application. • Performing a review on methods of improving energy performance. • Constructing a framework of methods of improving energy performance. • Summarizing advances in energy monitoring, evaluation, optimization and benchmarking. • Discussing challenges and opportunities of improving energy performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RC structures have been widely used in civil engineering, and are vulnerable under blast loading. Improved understanding of damage mechanism of RC components helps advances the damage evaluation of RC structures under blast loading. In this paper, damage mechanisms of RC beam under close-in blast loading are investigated numerically. The FE model is validated through the experimental data reported by other researchers. A comprehensive investigation is carried out to investigate the damage mechanisms of RC beam, including the propagation of the main cracks, spallation at the bottom and the exfoliation of the side-cover concrete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • NiCoP electrocatalyst was prepared by two-step hydrothermal phosphating process. • A simple and controllable method was used to construct layered porous plates to reduce the charge transfer resistance of NiCoP materials and showed the best catalytic performance. • NiCoP porous sheet has a large electrochemical active surface area and catalytic activity and the stability of the catalyst was investigated. Research on the stable and high-efficiency transition metal-based electrocatalyst to achieve hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) becomes one of the core solutions for water decomposition. Non-precious metals phosphide has the potential to become a non-noble metal electrocatalyst due to its good electronic structure effect, extremely low price, and expected durability in a larger pH range. In this paper, hexagonal NiCoP porous nanosheets were synthesized using a facile hydrothermal and post-phosphating method. We anticipate that bimetal doping can further enhance electrocatalyst activity as well as improve the capability of absorbing hydrogen from the materials by modifying the electronic structure. The obtained NiCoP electrocatalyst behaves outstanding catalytic performances for HER in alkaline media with 83 mV initial overpotential at 10 mA cm−2, as well as the low Tafel slopes of 41 mV dec−1. In addition, the current density showed almost no attenuation in the 10 h chronoamperometry experiment. The outstanding catalytic function can be attributed to the nanosheets with many orifices, which can expand the effective reaction specific surface area, promote mass transport and boost the water decomposition efficiency. And the collaboration of Ni and Co in NiCoP nanosheets can also improve the electrochemical function. Moreover, the current work offers a feasible approach for synthesizing a cheap and efficient NiCoP electrocatalyst for HER, which is especially appealing to practical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spring viremia of carp virus (SVCV) causes severe morbidity and mortality in grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus) in Europe, America and several Asian countries. We found that FKBP5 (FK506-binding protein 5) is an SVCV infection response factor; however, its role in the innate immune mechanism caused by SVCV infection remains unknown. This study cloned gcFKBP5 (grass carp FKBP5) and made its mimic protein structure for function discussion. We found that gcFKBP5 expression in the primary innate immune organs of grass carp, including intestine, liver and spleen, was highly upregulated by SVCV in 24 h, with a similar result in fish cells by poly(I:C) treatment. gcFKBP overexpression aggravates viral damage to cells and increases viral replication. Furthermore, SVCV engages gcFKBP5 interacting with TRAF2 (tumour necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 2) to promote host cell apoptosis for supporting viral replication. The enhanced viral replication seems not to be due to the repression of IFN and other antiviral factors as expected. For the first time, these data show the pivotal role of gcFKBP5 in the innate immune response of grass carp to SVCV infection. ●We cloned the gene sequence of grass carp FKBP5(gcFKBP5) for the first time and constructed the related expression vector. ●gcFKBP5 was activated in the immune organs of grass carp. ●Over-expression of gcFKBP5 aggravated the damage of virus infection and increased the replication of virus. ●gcFKBP5 interacted with TRAF2 during viral replication. ●gcFKBP5 did not inhibit IFN or other antiviral factors production during virus infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A total of 166 faecal specimens from diarrheic cattle were collected in China for detection of bovine kobuvirus (BKV) by reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) targeting the region a portion of the 3D nonstructural protein, with an amplicon size of 631 bp. The RNA corresponding to the BKV 3D region was detected in 34.9 % of faecal samples (58/166) in four major dairy-cattle-production areas in China, and sequence analysis based on the partial 3D sequences (35/58) indicated that the Chinese BKVs shared 88.9-96.2 % nucleotide sequence identity to BKV reference strains. Further phylogenetic analysis based on the complete VP1-encoding sequences (17/35) revealed that the Chinese BKVs shared 81-83.4 % nucleotide sequence identity to the U-1 strain, and these Chinese BKV strains, together with the U-1 strain, are apparently divided into four lineages, representing four genotypes of BKV, designated as A, B, C and D. Our results show that BKV infection is widely distributed, with high genetic diversity in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphene nanoribbons will be essential components in future graphene nanoelectronics. However, in typical nanoribbons produced from lithographically patterned exfoliated graphene, the charge carriers travel only about ten nanometres between scattering events, resulting in minimum sheet resistances of about one kilohm per square. Here we show that 40-nanometre-wide graphene nanoribbons epitaxially grown on silicon carbide are single-channel room-temperature ballistic conductors on a length scale greater than ten micrometres, which is similar to the performance of metallic carbon nanotubes. This is equivalent to sheet resistances below 1 ohm per square, surpassing theoretical predictions for perfect graphene by at least an order of magnitude. In neutral graphene ribbons, we show that transport is dominated by two modes. One is ballistic and temperature independent; the other is thermally activated. Transport is protected from back-scattering, possibly reflecting ground-state properties of neutral graphene. At room temperature, the resistance of both modes is found to increase abruptly at a particular length-the ballistic mode at 16 micrometres and the other at 160 nanometres. Our epitaxial graphene nanoribbons will be important not only in fundamental science, but also-because they can be readily produced in thousands-in advanced nanoelectronics, which can make use of their room-temperature ballistic transport properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some studies have reported that angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) and angiotensinogen (AGT) genes have been associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). However, there have been inconsonant results among different studies. To clarify the influence of ACE and AGT on HCM, a systemic review and meta-analysis of case-control studies were performed. The following databases were searched to indentify related studies: PubMed database, the Embase database, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials database, China National Knowledge Information database, and Chinese Scientific and Technological Journal database. Search terms included “hypertrophic cardiomyopathy”, “angiotensin converting enzyme” (ACE) or “ACE” and “polymorphism or mutation”. For the association of AGT M235T polymorphism and HCM, “angiotensin converting enzyme” or “ACE” was replaced with “angiotensinogen”. A total of seventeen studies were included in our review. For the association of ACE I/D polymorphism and HCM, eleven literatures were included in the meta-analysis on association of penetrance and genotype. Similarly, six case-control studies were included in the meta-analysis for AGT M235T. For ACE I/D polymorphism, the comparison of DI/II genotype vs DD genotype was performed in the present meta-analysis. The OR was 0.73 (95% CI: 0.527, 0.998, P = 0.049, power = 94%, alpha = 0.05) after the study which deviated from Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium was excluded, indicating that the ACE I/D gene polymorphism might be associated with HCM. The AGT M235T polymorphism did not significantly affect the risk of HCM. In addition, ACE I/D gene polymorphism did not significantly influence the interventricular septal thickness in HCM patients. In conclusion, the ACE I/D polymorphism might be associated with the risk of HCM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epitaxial graphene mesas and ribbons are investigated using terahertz (THz) near-field microscopy to probe surface plasmon excitation and THz transmission properties on the sub-wavelength scale. The THz near-field images show variation of graphene properties on a scale smaller than the wavelength, and excitation of THz surface waves occurring at graphene edges, similar to that observed at metallic edges. The Fresnel reflection at the substrate SiC/air interface is also found to be altered by the presence of graphene ribbon arrays, leading to either reduced or enhanced transmission of the THz wave depending on the wave polarization and the ribbon width. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of technology and innovation has made the performance of the new-generation machinery generally better than that of retired machinery. Simply using remanufacturing technology to bring retired machinery back into specifications of previous life will lead to reduced demands from consumers because of the out-of-date functioning remanufactured products. This technology gap (TG) is rarely considered in existing researches. This paper proposes an emergy based sustainability assessment model for retired machinery to solve this problem. Firstly, the TG between retired and new-generation machinery is quantified as functional devaluation from the perspectives of energy, environment and society through emergy theory. Secondly, the added value of retired machinery is derived from the evaluation of remanufacturing cost. Among them, the remanufacturing cost is predicted based on the BP Neural Networks. Then, this paper combines the functional devaluation and added value of retired mechanery to calculate the sustainability indicator. Finally, the feasibility of this study was verified by the sustainability evaluation of the WD615.50 diesel engine, and the results show that the WD615.50 diesel engine has no potential for re-service. • The functional devaluation of retired machinery is proposed by emergy theory. • The added value and sustainability of retired machinery are analyzed. • The intrinsic connection between technological progress and remanufacturing behavior is revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Badgers were hypothesized as an earthworm specialist predator. We reviewed spatial patterns and food habits of the Eurasian badger ( Meles spp.) in relation to geographical variables like latitude, elevation, aspects, and environmental variables, such as temperature, snow cover depth, precipitation, primary productivity, and human influence. The relative frequencies of occurrence of food items in the diets of badgers in 19 studies across 22 localities worldwide were included in the analysis plus the data from our study on the badger diet on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to extract the main components of dietary composition. Multiple regression analysis was applied to reveal the relationship between trophic diversity and the main PCA factors and biogeographical variables. We found a clear latitudinal gradient in the dietary composition of badgers, which was characterized by a greater consumption of insects and reptile in southern area and a higher intake of earthworm in northern regions. Nevertheless, badgers are not an earthworm specialist predator. Furthermore, trophic diversity of badger diets was significantly positively correlated with latitude and human activity. Abundance and availability of foods appear to determine badger foraging tactics. Badgers are adept in exploiting local resources and our results confirm that badgers are generalist predators with opportunistic foraging behavior across their entire distribution range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether prey retains antipredator behavior after a long period of predator relaxation is an important question in predatorprey evolution. Pe`re David's deer have been raised in enclosures for more than 1200 years and this isolation provides an opportunity to study whether Pe`re David's deer still respond to the cues of their ancestral predators or to novel predators. We played back the sounds of crows (familiar sound) and domestic dogs (familiar non-predators), of tigers and wolves (ancestral predators), and of lions (potential nai&vuml;e predator) to Pe`re David's deer in paddocks, and blank sounds to the control group, and videoed the behavior of the deer during the experiment. We also showed life-size photo models of dog, leopard, bear, tiger, wolf, and lion to the deer and video taped their responses after seeing these models. Pe`re David's deer stared at and approached the hidden loudspeaker when they heard the roars of tiger or lion. The deer listened to tiger roars longer, approached to tiger roars more and spent more time staring at the tiger model. The stags were also found to forage less in the trials of tiger roars than that of other sound playbacks. Additionally, it took longer for the deer to restore their normal behavior after they heard tiger roars, which was longer than that after the trial of other sound playbacks. Moreover, the deer were only found to walk away after hearing the sounds of tiger and wolf. Therefore, the tiger was probably the main predator for Pe`re David's deer in ancient time. Our study implies that Pe`re David's deer still retain the memories of the acoustic and visual cues of their ancestral predators in spite of the long term isolation from natural habitat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a hybrid automatic test pattern generation (ATPG) technique using the staggered launch-on-capture (LOC) scheme followed by the one-hot LOC scheme for testing delay faults in a scan design containing asynchronous clock domains. Typically, the staggered scheme produces small test sets but needs long ATPG runtime, whereas the one-hot scheme takes short ATPG runtime but yields large test sets. The proposed hybrid technique is intended to reduce test pattern count with acceptable ATPG runtime for multi-million-gate scan designs. In case the scan design contains multiple synchronous clock domains, each group of synchronous clock domains is treated as a clock group and tested using a launch aligned or a capture aligned LOC scheme. By combining these schemes together, we found the pattern counts for two large industrial designs were reduced by approximately 1.7X to 2.1X, while the ATPG runtime was increased by 10% to 50%, when compared to the one-hot clocking scheme alone. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Human disturbance may differentially affect the behavior of wild animals and such behavioral perturbations may have fitness consequences. To understand the effects of specific types of human disturbance on antipredator behavior, a behavior whose performance enhances survival, we studied yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris). We quantified both antipredator vigilance and the flight initiation distance of the marmots to an approaching human in six different colony sites where we also quantified the frequency and type of human visitation. We developed an analysis framework, using linear mixed models, and found that: (1) when the presence of motorized vehicles and bicycles was high, marmots increased the proportion of time spent vigilant (pseudo R 2 =0.33 and 0.31 for motorized vehicles and bicycles, P <0.05) and decreased the time spent foraging (pseudo R 2 =0.29 and 0.23 for motorized vehicles and bicycles, P <0.05), (2) there was no significant effect of the presence of pedestrians on the time allocated to vigilance and foraging (pseudo R 2 =0.25 and 0.19, P >0.05), (3) marmots decreased the flight initiation distance as disturbance of motorized vehicles (pseudo R 2 =0.85) and pedestrians (pseudo R 2 =0.84) increased (P <0.05), and (4) when we considered bicycles as the disturbance, juveniles tolerated closer approaches than adults or yearlings (P <0.001). Marmots thus responded to some human disturbance by adjusting time spent in foraging and shortening the tolerance distance. Since these behavioral responses could have significant implications for survival and reproduction, we should generally view human disturbance as something that can influence natural antipredator behavior. Importantly, based on an understanding of the differential effects of human activities on wildlife, reducing human disturbance should be taken into account for wildlife management. In addition, our approach will be useful to quantify differential effects of humans on wildlife and to enhance our ability to manage those impacts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Vigilance is used to detect predators and monitor rivals. We studied red-crowned cranes (Grus japonensis) in Yancheng Biosphere Reserve, China, to examine changes in the allocation of time to vigilance as a function of flock size in areas with different levels of human disturbance. There was low level of human activity in the core area of the reserve whereas more human activity occurred in the buffer zone. Vigilance decreased linearly with flock size but to significantly different extent in the two areas, with a more pronounced decrease in the more disturbed area. In smaller crane flocks, vigilance was higher in the more disturbed area. Vigilance also varied in a non-linear fashion with flock size first decreasing and then increasing in larger flocks. Increase in vigilance in larger flocks was accompanied by an increase in fighting suggesting that vigilance in large flocks was aimed partly at monitoring rivals. The effect of human disturbance on vigilance suggests that less time is available for foraging in more disturbed areas. Nevertheless, moving to less disturbed areas may not be an option for the cranes given the increase in vigilance that would probably occur in areas with more cranes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A rapid and sensitive liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (LC–ESI-MS/MS) method to quantify thiamphenicol (TAP), florfenicol (FF), and florfenicol amine (FFA) in swine muscle is described. An immunoaffinity chromatography (IAC) column based on polyclonal antibodies and protein A-sepharose CL 4B was used to clean-up extracted samples. IAC optimized conditions were found that allowed the IAC to be reused for selective binding of TAP, FF, and FFA. The dynamic column capacity was more than 512ng/mL of gel after being used for 15 cycles. From fortified swine muscle samples at levels of 0.4–50ng/g, the average recoveries were 85.2–98.9% with intra- and inter-day variations less than 9.8% and 12.4%, respectively. The limit of quantitation ranged from 0.4 to 4.0μg/kg. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Two surveys of opinions about wildlife conservation were carried out in Hunan Province, China, before and after the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic. Hunan is the northern neighbor of Guangdong Province, where the first SARS case was reported. The custom of consuming wild meat was not common in Hunan 30 years ago. However, in recent years, consumption of wildlife such as snakes has spread to northern China. We handed out 1300 questionnaires between 22 February and 10 May 2002, before the SARS epidemic. Survey sites included the provincial capital, major cities, towns, and villages in Hunan. Another 1300 questionnaires were distributed between 10 March and 10 May 2004, after the SARS epidemic. The 2004 survey covered the same sites as the 2002 survey. Questionnaire recovery rates for the 2002 and 2004 surveys were 81.2% and 84.6%, respectively. The valid return rate was 73.0%. Frog, snake, hare, and pheasant were the wild meats most frequently eaten by local people. At the time of the first survey, more than 80% of interviewees claimed to have eaten frogs. That number had reduced to 60% by the time of the second survey. Monkey, Chinese pangolin, and bear paw were the wild meats least frequently eaten. Although palm civet was suspected to be the carrier of SARS, it was interesting to note that, after the SARS epidemic, the proportion of people surveyed who ate palm civets had declined only slightly. The results of the surveys indicate a low level of conservation consciousness; however, after the SARS and bird flu epidemics, there were obvious changes in the conservation consciousness of people in Hunan Province. We recommend some measures that could be taken to change the habits of people who consume wildlife. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, a novel direct current glow discharge plasma chemical vapor deposition (DC-PCVD) process, i.e., hot cathode DC-PCVD, is employed to deposit diamond films on molybdenum substrate. Compared with the conventional DC-PCVD method, the hot cathode DC-PCVD process is distinctive for its hot cathode with the temperature ranging from 700 to 1600 °C. Detailed experiments and analyses showed that the cathode temperature plays a key role in the stabilization of gas discharge and growth of diamond films. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: On the basis of a conventional direct-current glow discharge plasma chemical vapor deposition (DC-PCVD), we succeeded in raising the deposition rate of diamond films to a large extent by increasing its discharge power. The maximum deposition rate reached about 20μm/h. The quality of diamond films was also much improved. The maximum thermal conductivity of diamond films prepared by our process was 15.1W/Kcm. Diamond films with such high thermal conductivity can meet the need of many thermal management applications. In this paper, the influences of the deposition techniques on the characteristics of diamond films were studied experimentally from the viewpoint of discharge current. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Required for meiotic nuclear division 5 homolog A (RMND5A) functions as an E3 ubiquitin ligase. To date, few studies have investigated the role of RMND5A in cancer. In the present study, the expression levels of RMND5A in multiple types of cancer were analyzed using the Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis platform. The results revealed that RMND5A was highly expressed and associated with overall survival in patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD). A wound-healing assay revealed that RMND5A overexpression significantly increased cell migration in the PAAD cell lines AsPC-1 and PANC-1. In silico analysis predicted that RMND5A was a potential target of microRNA(miR)-590-5p. Further in vitro experiments demonstrated that overexpression of miR-590-5p downregulated the expression levels of RMND5A and decreased the migratory ability of the AsPC-1 and PANC-1 cell lines. In addition, overexpression of miR-590-5p attenuated the promoting effects of RMND5A on the migration of AsPC-1 and PANC-1 cells. The results of the present study may further elucidate the mechanisms underlying PAAD progression and provide novel targets for the treatment of PAAD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remanufacturing has been regarded as an environmentally friendly way to dispose of End-of-Life (EOL) products to like-new condition, which can effectively save resources, energy and greatly prolong the service life of products. After entering the remanufacturing system, EOL products are disassembled into individual parts that may have different failure types and degrees, thus not all of them are suitable for remanufacturing. Remanufacturability needs to be conducted to determine the feasibility of remanufacturing. Due to the products' structural complexity and customer demand uncertainty, many factors need to be considered when evaluating the remanufacturing feasibility of waste products. In this article, we take three pillars of sustainable development as decision factors and make a comprehensive literature review on the technical performance indicator (TPI), economic cost indicator (ECI) and environmental benefits indicator (EBI) of remanufacturability to emphasize the importance of remanufacturability. The purpose of this literature review is to conduct critical review on the current literature and establish a contemporary understanding of the status of remanufacturability study by assessing the advantages and disadvantages of existing methods in this field. The research results demonstrated that there was relatively a lack of research on technical feasibility assessment, more on economic and environmental assessments. Most of remanufacturability assessment approaches are comprehensive, considering multiple factors. This article summarizes the limitations of previous evaluation methods, proposes the challenges and future development trends. It is concluded that design for remanufacturing, finding it will be one of the hot topics in the future remanufacturing research, which will provide valuable insights for academia and industry. Unlabelled Image • Remanufacturability evaluation is the premise and theory of remanufacturing. • We systematically reviewed remanufacturing evaluation studies for end of life products. • We found technical evaluation of remanufacturability requires more research. • Design for remanufacturing is a hot topic in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Austenitic stainless steel, the most commonly used stainless steel, provides a good combination of corrosion resistance, weldability, forming and fabrication properties, and has broad application prospects in engineering structures. Engineering structures using austenitic stainless steel are at risk of seismic, impact or blast loading throughout their life-cycle. In this paper, the dynamic mechanical properties of two kinds of austenitic stainless steels (S30408 and S31608, known as 1.4301 and 1.4401 in EN10088:1, 304 and 316 in ASTM standard) were experimentally studied. Firstly, the quasi-static and dynamic stress–strain curves of S30408 and S31608 at low, medium (100–102 s−1) and high strain rates (102–104 s−1) were obtained by universal electromechanical testing machine, servo-hydraulic high-speed tensile testing machine and split Hopkinson tensile bars (SHTB), respectively. And then, based on the obtained quasi-static and dynamic stress–strain curves, the strain rate effect of strength and plasticity for S30408 and S31608 was analyzed and compared. The test results indicate that the strength of both two austenitic stainless steels shows strain rate effect, and the strain rate effect of strength for S30408 is more significant than that of S31608; however, the plasticity indexes of S31608 is better than that of S30408. Finally, the constitutive models parameters for the commonly used Cowper-Symonds and Johnson-Cook models were identified by curve-fitted method, and the corresponding material strain rate enhancement coefficient was also revised. Dynamic mechanical properties of two kinds of austenitic stainless steels (S30408 and S31608 were experimentally studied. Firstly, the quasi-static and dynamic stress–strain curves of austenitic stainless steel at low, medium (100–102 s−1) and high strain rates (102–104 s−1) were obtained by universal electromechanical testing machine, servo-hydraulic high-speed tensile testing machine and split Hopkinson tensile bars (SHTB), respectively. And then, based on the obtained quasi-static and dynamic stress–strain curves, the strain rate effect of strength and plasticity for S30408 and S31608 were analyzed and compared. Finally, the constitutive models parameters for the commonly used Cowper-Symonds and Johnson-cook models were identified by curve-fitted method, and the corresponding material strain rate enhancement coefficient was also revised Unlabelled Image • Dynamic mechanical properties of austenitic stainless steel were tested. • Strain rate effect of strength and plasticity for S30408 and S31608 were analyzed and compared. • Constitutive models parameters for Cowper-Symonds and Johnson-Cook models were identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remanufacturing has been recognized as a burgeoning technology with high economic benefits and low resource consumption. Remanufacturing process scheme planning is a key part of remanufacturing systems. However, the evaluation of the remanufacturing scheme involves many factors that are difficult to quantify, and the traditional Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) method mainly relies on setting subjective weights between criteria to complete the assessment, which reduces the objectivity and accuracy of the results. Therefore, a novel emergy based intelligent decision-making model is established to deal with these problems. Firstly, the goal, framework, and boundary of the intelligent decision-making model are defined and constructed. Then, an emergy mathematical model considering material, social cost, quality loss, time loss, waste treatment cost, and industrial waste is constructed, and the mechanism of emergy transfer and conversion is revealed. Besides, several evaluation indicators are proposed to comprehensively estimate the economic and environmental performance of the remanufacturing process scheme, which comprised Ecological Performance Indicator (E P I), Economic Benefit Indicator (E B I), and Environmentally Friendly Indicator (E F I). Finally, the feasibility and the effectiveness of the emergy based intelligent decision-making model are proved by the assessment of the case analysis of machine tool remanufacturing. The research results can provide suggestions for policymakers and enterprises to formulate management strategies and development plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BVES is a transmembrane protein, our previous work demonstrated that single nucleotide mutations of BVES in tetralogy of fallot (TOF) patients cause a downregulation of BVES transcription. However, the relationship between BVES and the pathogenesis of TOF has not been determined. Here we reported our research results about the relationship between BVES and the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) stenosis. BVES expression was significantly downregulated in most TOF samples compared with controls. The expression of the second heart field (SHF) regulatory network genes, including NKX2.5, GATA4 and HAND2, was also decreased in the TOF samples. In zebrafish, bves knockdown resulted in looping defects and ventricular outflow tract (VOT) stenosis, which was mostly rescued by injecting bves mRNA. bves knockdown in zebrafish also decreased the expression of SHF genes, such as nkx2.5, gata4 and hand2, consistent with the TOF samples' results. The dual-fluorescence reporter system analysis showed that BVES positively regulated the transcriptional activity of GATA4, NKX2.5 and HAND2 promoters. In zebrafish, nkx2.5 mRNA partially rescued VOT stenosis caused by bves knockdown. These results indicate that BVES downregulation may be associated with RVOT stenosis of non-syndromic TOF, and bves is probably involved in the development of VOT in zebrafish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shortage of resources and environmental pollution have become the social issues of world concern, they have seriously affected the sustainable development. Remanufacturing has been recognized as an effective technology helps to improve the energy and materials utilization, and reduce environmental emissions with a low cost. we performed a comprehensive literature review of assessing energy, environment, and economy in remanufacturing based on life cycle assessment method to summarize the development of remanufacturing technologies, conclude new progress of remanufacturing in energy, environment and economy and review the remanufacturing trend. Firstly, we reviewed the life cycle assessment (LCA) method and its application in remanufacturing assessment. Some remanufacturing assessment methods based on LCA were analyzed here. Secondly, a framework of assessing energy, environment, and economy in remanufacturing based on LCA was built. Corresponding assessment methods in remanufacturing were studied and summarized in dimensions of energy, environment and economy respectively. Then following the integrated studies of energy-environment-economic assessment in remanufacturing was also described. In this paper, the remanufacturing and assessment about energy, environment, economy based on LCA were described systematically, so as to better understand and apply LCA and promote remanufacturing. Finally, the limitations of the LCA method were discussed, furthermore, in order to catch up with the trend of the manufacturing industry, the integration of remanufacturing and emerging technologies was proposed at the end of the paper, which will be conducive to the continuous innovation of remanufacturing. • Reviewing the life cycle assessment method and its application in remanufacturing assessment. • Illustrating energy, environment and economic assessment methods in remanufacturing. • Performing integrated studies of energy-environment-economic assessment in remanufacturing. • Discussing the emerging technologies or methods of remanufacturing from the energy, environment and economic perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selecting a set of reasonable milling parameters of computerized numerical control (CNC) machines is of great importance in decreasing energy consumption and enhancing processing productivity. However, existing works pay little attention to the optimization of energy-conscious milling parameters. This work establishes a dual-objective optimization model for the selection of milling parameters such that power consumption and process time are minimized. With multiple constraints of milling processing conditions, an improved artificial bee colony (ABC) intelligent algorithm is used to handle the proposed dual-objective optimization model. Compared with the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II), our improved algorithm has good performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The additive manufacturing (AM) process is characterised as a high energy-consuming process, which has a significant impact on the environment and sustainability. The topic of AM energy consumption modelling, prediction, and optimisation has then become a research focus in both industry and academia. This issue involves many relevant features, such as material condition, process operation, part and process design, working environment, and so on. While existing studies reveal that AM energy consumption modelling largely depends on the design-relevant features in practice, it has not been given sufficient attention. Therefore, in this study, design-relevant features are firstly examined with respect to energy modelling. These features are typically determined by part designers and process operators before production. The AM energy consumption knowledge, hidden in the design-relevant features, is exploited for prediction modelling through a design-relevant data analytics approach. Based on the new modelling approach, a novel deep learning-driven particle swarm optimisation (DLD-PSO) method is proposed to optimise the energy utility. Deep learning is introduced to address several issues, in terms of increasing the search speed and enhancing the global best of PSO. Finally, using the design-relevant data collected from a real-world AM system in production, a case study is presented to validate the proposed modelling approach, and the results reveal its merits. Meanwhile, optimisation has also been carried out to guide part designers and process operators to revise their designs and decisions in order to reduce the energy consumption of the designated AM system under study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy, economic and environmental performance of remanufacturing process are complex and diverse. In order to improve the comprehensive benefits, a sustainability evaluation method for multi-objective remanufacturing system synthesis based on energy, economy and environment is proposed in this paper. Starting from the remanufacturing process, the prediction model of each evaluation index is established and verified, and the technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) based on entropy weight is used for analysis and calculation. The established quantitative prediction model is of high accuracy and innovative and practical application value. The example analysis shows that this method can be successfully applied to the remanufacturing of lathe spindle, and the optimal remanufacturing scheme with comprehensive energy, economic and environmental benefits is selected. This study is not only conducive to enterprises to obtain greater comprehensive benefits of remanufacturing, but also can provide a reference for the government to formulate more perfect laws and policies. Image 10109 • Evaluation of remanufacturing sustainability considering energy, economic and environmental benefits. • The analysis and calculation models of energy consumption, cost and carbon emissions are established. • Using TOPSIS based on entropy weight to make comprehensive decision, eliminating the interference of human factors. • It is of positive significance for the development of enterprises and the formulation of government policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Musk deer Moschus spp. are endemic to the high mountain forests of central Asia. The taxonomic status of musk deer in the central and western Himalayas is poorly understood. We investigated the phylogenetic relationship of musk deer from the central and western Himalayas based on mitochondrial genomic data of Cytochrome b (380 bps) and D-loop (1000 bps). Our results distinguished two divergent lineages using higher bootstrap support (bs) values from the Maximum likelihood and Bayesian posterior probabilities (bpp). Both the Manang and Kaski lineages from central Nepal are confirmed as Himalayan musk deer Moschus leucogaster and represent a species complex widespread throughout the central and eastern Himalayan region. The musk deer Mustang lineage was confirmed as Kashmir musk deer Moschus cupreus and has wide distribution in the western Himalayas (from central Nepal to Afghanistan). Our analysis validates that Kashmir musk deer is a genetically distinct species and it clarifies that Himalayan musk deer and Kashmir musk deer are confirmed instead of Alpine musk deer Moschus chrysogaster which has been previously described from the southern parts of Himalayas of Nepal, India and Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An assessment of historical distribution patterns and potential reintroduction sites is important for reducing the risk of reintroduction failure of endangered species. The saiga antelope, Saiga tatarica, was extirpated in the mid-20th century in China. A captive population was established in the Wuwei Endangered Wildlife Breeding Centre (WEWBC) in the 1980s. Reintroduction is planned, but so far, no action has been taken. In this study, we delineated the historical distribution and potential reintroduction areas of saigas in China, using a literature review, interviews and predictive modelling. Results suggest that most of the seasonally suitable areas are non-overlapping, and China may have been a peripheral part of the main saiga range. WEWBC is not an ideal reintroduction site due to its low habitat suitability. Furthermore, we infer that two different movement patterns existed historically (regular migration and nomadic wandering). Our results demonstrate the challenges of restoring a free-ranging, self-sustaining saiga population in China. We recommend the setting up of additional breeding centres in protected areas within the potential saiga range in Xinjiang, and the development of a national action plan to provide a framework for the future recovery of the species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has been counted on for conserving threatened marine fish since it regulates the commercial international trade of these species. Implementation of the international treaty for Mantas included on CITES Appendix II is challenging due to insufficient information on species identification and markets management. To fill the gap in such aspects, we identified five species of Mobulid rays (Mobula spps. and Manta spp) by using COI and NADH2 mtDNA markers in dried ray gill rakers from Chinese markets, namely, Mobula japonica (representing 54.8% of the sample set), M. tarapacana (14.4%), M. kuhlii (13.3%), M. thurstoni (6.4%), along with Manta birostris (11.2%; CITES Appendix II). The utilization and conservation statuses of these species were discussed. Based on combination of DNA barcodes and key morphological characters, we developed a three-step process for identifying the gill rakers of Mobulid rays which has been adopted by frontline enforcement in China. We hope that our work can serve as a foundation and basis to reinforce objectives of international treaties, regulation of consumer-driven markets, regional cooperation, and national fishery management on endangered elasmobranchs in China as well as related countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]