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Pygopus (Pygo) has been identified as a specific nuclear co-activator of the canonical Wingless (Wg)/Wnt signaling pathway in Drosophila melanogaster. Pygo proteins consist of two conserved domains: an N-terminal homologous domain (NHD) and a C-terminal plant homologous domain (PHD). The PHD's ability to bind to di- and trimethylated lysine 4 of histone H3 (H3K4me2/3) appears to be independent of Wnt signaling. There is ongoing debate regarding the significance of Pygo's histone-binding capacity. Drosophila Pygo orthologs have a tryptophan (W) > phenylalanine (F) substitution in their histone pocket-divider compared to vertebrates, leading to reduced histone affinity. In this research, we utilized CRISPR/Cas9 technology to introduce the Pygo-F773W point mutation in Drosophila, successfully establishing a viable homozygous Pygo mutant line for the first time. Adult mutant flies displayed noticeable abnormalities in reproduction, locomotion, heart function, and lifespan. RNA-seq and cluster analysis indicated that the mutation primarily affected pathways related to immunity, metabolism, and posttranslational modification in adult flies rather than the Wnt signaling pathway. Additionally, a reduction in H3K9 acetylation levels during the embryonic stage was observed in the mutant strains. These findings support the notion that Pygo plays a wider role in chromatin remodeling, with its involvement in Wnt signaling representing only a specific aspect of its chromatin-related functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effective identification of remanufacturing design requirements is crucial to ensure that remanufactured products meet the required standards and demands. However, in addition to considering the performance demands of customers for products, remanufactured products should also take into account the various types and degrees of failure across diverse parts. To this end, under the dual demands, a knowledge graph – based requirement identification model is proposed to intelligently transform complex remanufacturing demands into standardised design requirements. Firstly, excavation of design information from representative cases is conducted, including failure characteristics, customer demands and design requirements (FCDR). A FCDR ontology model is proposed by establishing the mapping relationship between demands and design requirements. Secondly, the triplet of design information is integrated into the BERT-BiLSTM-CRF model to obtain the accurate entity, and the ALBERT-BiLSTM-Attention model is used to extract the FCDR relationship, so that a knowledge graph can be constructed. Thirdly, by using coupling weighting technique to consider the relevance of the dual demands, normalised failure characteristics and customer demands are accurately extracted and mapped to similar design requirement nodes in knowledge graph. Finally, a machine tool remanufacturing design is used as an example to verify the effectiveness of the proposed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the catalyst for water splitting, low overpotential and longer stability is very important. Here, we developed a simple strategy to prepare an efficient catalyst for oxygen evolution by partially phosphating NiFe-LDH and then etching and growing Prussian blue analogues on it. Benefiting from its unique hierarchical structure, the synthesized NiFeCo PBA-NiFeP catalyst showed excellent electrocatalytic performance in 1 M KOH. At 100 mA/cm2, the overpotential of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is only 245 mV and exhibits stability for over 50 h. This is superior to most of the OER catalysts reported so far. Its excellent performance is due to its unique hierarchical structure and the synergistic effect between polymetals, which enables it to have abundant active sites and efficient electron transfer. This controllable and universal strategy will provide a new idea for developing interfacial composites and preparing high efficiency electrocatalysts. • A new NiFeCo-PBA-NiFeP composite was prepared by hydrothermal-phosphating-etching process. • The unique hierarchical structure facilitates gas release and contact between the active site and the solution. • The synergistic effect between multiple metals improves the OER properties of the materials. • The combination of NiFeP and NiFeCo PBA improves the OER performance of the material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the intricate mechanism of Abbe error's impact on spatial accuracy, the accumulated Abbe error in the traditional spatial accuracy model is difficult to identify and eliminate, resulting in reduced modeling accuracy and limiting accuracy improvement. This paper proposes a data-driven spatial accuracy modeling approach for machine tools under the influence of Abbe error, using a three-axis coupling measurement optical path to directly measure the comprehensive spatial accuracy data of the machine tool containing Abbe error. Firstly, to effectively identify Abbe error in the comprehensive spatial accuracy, an Abbe error quantization function is established, which analyzes its formation mechanism in the measurement process to eliminate Abbe error in the machine tool's spatial accuracy data. Furthermore, to address the issue of limited data samples after eliminating Abbe error, data samples are extended based on the degradation mechanism of machine tool spatial accuracy at different coordinate positions, resulting in a high-precision spatial error model for machine tools. Finally, the experiment is conducted on a three-axis CNC machine tool, with a model accuracy of over 95%. The example application verification demonstrates that the developed model scheme is feasible and effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the necessary ways to achieve the efficient, clean utilization of coal resources is to reduce the amount of coal gangue in raw coal to ensure the development of clean, low-carbon, and green energy in China. The application of conventional coal gangue separation equipment is severely limited due to the large investment in early construction, high production costs, and large water consumption and waste in production. Intelligent coal gangue separation equipment has the advantages of fast speed, high precision, strong modularity, and integration scalability. It also has the advantages of low operation cost and energy consumption, convenient operation and maintenance, and no water use. All of that could effectively improve the utilization rate of coal resources and expand the economic benefits of enterprises. The application of high-speed, high-precision, and anti-interference online element rapid analysis technology in intelligent coal gangue separation equipment will become an inevitable trend of equipment development in the future with the continuous improvement of coal product demand. Online rapid element analysis technology includes laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, dual-energy X-ray, and transient neutron activation analysis. Improving and applying more high-speed, high-precision algorithms such as partial least squares and Monte Carlo library least squares in the future are important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remaining useful life (RUL) prediction is the core link with prognostic and health management (PHM). Compared with the stable service environment, the degradation trend of key parts of electromechanical equipment under dynamic service environment has greater uncertainty. Dynamic changes of the service environment in the subsequent work tasks can result in inaccurate or even invalid current prediction results. To this end, considering that tasks can be known in advance and affect the service environment, a novel RUL prediction method is proposed which updates the predicting results as the tasks change based on dynamic correlation of planned tasks, service environment, degradation characteristics, and RUL. Firstly, the influence of the changes in service environment on the RUL of key parts is analyzed, and a task-driven classification and matching method of dynamic service environment is presented. Secondly, the key service environment variables affecting RUL of parts are screened employing grey relation analysis (GRA) and Pearson correlation coefficient. Thirdly, a task-driven deep long-short time memory (DLSTM) neural network prediction model under dynamic service environment is established, and a regularization method for optimizing the DLSTM model is given to improve the prediction accuracy. Finally, the RUL prediction of a machine tool spindle is taken as an example to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The Przewalski's horse (Equus ferus przewalskii), the only extant species of wild horse, was extinct in the wild in 1960s. The wild horse has been successfully saved from extinction by captive breeding projects outside the historic range. Although multiple studies were conducted, the main problems such as loss of founder genes, inbreeding depression, hybridization with domestic horses, high morbidity and mortality, and a lack of reliable prevention strategies and treatment limitations of these problems are still unresolved and require further scientific effort. This review aims to increase understanding of the scientific attributes that make the survival of the species possible and how these attributes can be useful for appropriate design of conservation and management strategies oriented to improve the viability of the existing population of the species. This review summarizes studies on Przewalski's horse since its extinction in the wild in the 1960s, with a focus on the reintroduction projects in Mongolia and China, with current population status. Historical and present distribution, population trends, ecology and habitats, genetics, behaviors, conservation measures, actual and potential threats are also reviewed. Captive breeding and reintroduction projects have already been implemented, but many others are still under considerations. The review may help to understand the complexity of problem and show the directions for effective practice in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social awareness of the environment has promoted the vigorous development of remanufacturing. Traditional product design does not consider the remanufacturability, which leads to improper disposal at the end of the product's life, resulting in environmental pollution and resource waste. In this paper, a method for the generation and optimization of product design schemes was established, in which remanufacturability was included at the early design stage of the product. Firstly, based on axiomatic design, the Z-shaped mapping was upgraded to the tree topology mapping, which was then incorporated into the scheme generation model, and seven remanufacturability design constraint criteria were used as constraints to obtain a product design set of scenarios. Secondly, the entropy weight method and analytic hierarchy process were combined to calculate the weights of the four evaluation indicators: functionality, economy, stability, and environment; and a differential evolution algorithm was used to optimize the scheme. Finally, a lathe was taken as a case to illustrate the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed methodology. The results showed that the method could successfully generate product design schemes that improved remanufacturability and met the needs of users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design for remanufacturing process (DFRP) plays a key role in implementing remanufacturing because it directly affects the performance recovery of the End-of-Life (EoL) products. Since the used parts of EoL products have various failure forms and defects, which make it hard to rapidly generate remanufacturing process scheme to satisfy the performance demand of the remanufactured products. Moreover, remanufacturing process parameters are prone to conflicts during remanufacturing processes, often leading to unsatisfactory remanufacturing processes. To accurately generate remanufacturing process scheme and solve the conflicts, an integrated design method for remanufacturing processes based on performance demand is proposed, which reuses the historical remanufacturing process data to generate the remanufacturing process scheme. Firstly, the Kansei Engineering (KE) and Quality Functional Development (QFD) are applied to analyze the performance demand data and map the demands to the engineering features. Then, Back Propagation Neural Network (BPNN) is applied to inversely generate the remanufacturing process scheme rapidly to satisfy the performance demands by reusing the historical remanufacturing process data. Meanwhile, Theory of Constraint (TOC) and TRIZ are used to identify and solve the conflicts of the remanufacturing process for the remanufacturing process scheme optimization. Finally, the DFRP of an EoL guide rail is taken as an example to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, the result of which shows the design method can quickly and efficiently generate the remanufacturing process scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A position‐sensitive thermal neutron detector module based on multi‐layer boron‐lined tubes has been developed. It is designed for the CPHS (compact pulsed hadron source) SANS (small‐angle neutron scattering) instrument [Loong et al. (2012). Phys. Procedia, 26, 8–18]. The detector module consists of 64 boron‐lined tubes, arranged into an eight row by eight column structure. Several key aspects of the development of the detector prototype are briefly covered, including the detector module structure design, the readout electronic system and the digital filter of neutron waveforms. Preliminary characterization reveals that the detector module could achieve an average axial spatial resolution of 5.62 mm and a good position linearity. The detection efficiency measurement shows that more than 30% efficiency can be achieved for thermal neutrons on the CPHS. A virtual experiment was conducted to evaluate the performance of the multi‐layer boron‐lined tubes in SANS measurement; the effect of inside detector scattering of the multi‐layer detector was simulated. The result shows that, by implementing proper data reduction, the impact of inside detector scattering on the Q (momentum transfer) value and Q resolution is negligible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Aromatic amino acid residue at position 71 is a determinant of Etx toxicity in vivo. • Etx-Y71A confers strong protection to mice against activated Etx challenge. • Etx-Y71A induces protective immune responses against Etx in sheep. • Vaccination of the ewes with Etx-Y71A confers passive immunity for lambs against Etx. Epsilon toxin (Etx) is an extremely potent toxin produced by Clostridium perfringens toxinotypes B and D, which cause fatal enterotoxemia in many livestock species, mainly sheep and goats. Our previous study demonstrated that the aromatic amino acid (AA) residue at position 71 in domain III of Etx is needed for its cytotoxic activity toward MDCK cells. Here, we first determined that Etx mutants with non-aromatic AA substitutions at Tyr71 lost lethality in mice, indicating that the aromatic AA residue at position 71 is a toxicity determinant of Etx in vivo. After intravenous injection with a high dose of the trypsin-activated Etx-Y71A mutant, mice did not show any histopathological lesions, and confocal microscopy observations further showed that Etx-Y71A lost the ability to cross the blood–brain barrier of the mice. These results suggested that the Etx-Y71A mutant is sufficiently safe in vivo to be a vaccine candidate. Furthermore, the immune efficacy of Etx-Y71A was evaluated in model and host animals. Mice inoculated with this mutant produced high levels of neutralizing antibodies and were completely protected from a 100 LD 50 of trypsin-activated Etx challenge. Sheep immunized with Etx-Y71A produced high levels of neutralizing antibodies that provided protection in mice against an activated Etx challenge, and lambs could receive passive immunity through immunization of pregnant ewes. Additionally, homology modeling and circular dichroism analysis showed that Etx-Y71A has structural similarity to Etx, which provides a structural basis for Etx-Y71A retaining the immunogenicity of Etx. Taken together, these results suggest that Etx-Y71A is a potential vaccine candidate against Etx-inducing enterotoxemia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco-efficiency has been proved as one of the powerful indicators in link with environment management and economic output. As a core procedure of remanufacturing activities, upgrading the eco-efficiency of remanufacturing process planning is of great significance for maximizing the circular economic advantages of remanufacturing. With the increasing of individual differences in used parts, the remanufacturing process planning is becoming more complicated. In this paper, a knowledge-based method for remanufacturing process planning is proposed as part of the efforts in upgrading eco-efficiency which also aims to improve the efficiency of process planning and realize the inheritance and evolvability of the process planning knowledge. Based on the identification of basic attribute characteristics and damage characteristics of used parts, a similarity calculation method is presented to match the most relevant historical remanufacturing process planning knowledge from the existing knowledge base, so as to design the feasible initial process plan set. For eco-efficiency upgrading, a remanufacturing process planning model is proposed to obtain the process plan with the optimal economic and environmental performance, and then the knowledge base can be updated and expanded. Finally, a case study of remanufacturing a used worm gear is demonstrated to validate the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Platinum is the most active and commonly used electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, its expensive price and scarce supply limit its world-wide use for mass production of H2 by water electrolysis. Promising candidates for high-performance hydrogen evolution reaction with exceptionally low Pt loading are urgently required to obtain clean and sustainable chemical fuels. Herein, yolk–shell Pt-CoP polyhedra were prepared to realize low Pt loading on low-cost CoP polyhedral substrates via low-temperature calcination and phosphorization of ZIF-67 combined with a subsequent microwave-assisted platinum reduction process. Owing to the unique yolk–shell structure, large surface area, numerous active sites, trace Pt modification and improved conductivity, the resultant catalyst exhibits highly efficient electrocatalytic activities for the HER with the low overpotentials of only 48 mV and 88 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and excellent stability in the 1 M KOH and 1 M PBS solution, superior to most of the newly reported noble metal-based or transition metal-based catalysts, even the state-of-art Pt/C catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Recovering valuable components from End-of-Life (EOL) product is regarded as a means to extend remaining useful life and reduce production cost of used components in the context of remanufacturing. There are three value recovery options for each component including new, reuse, and reconditioning, making the value recovery of EOL product a complex combinatorial optimization problem. To obtain the optimal value recovery options portfolio of used components and improve the economic benefits from remanufacturing, a multi-objective optimization method of value recovery is applied to the remanufacturing of EOL product. Firstly, an evaluation criterion in terms of quantified damage level and remaining life of used components is established, which aims to identify value recovery options for each used component. Then, the concept of Life Span Equilibrium (LSE) is proposed and a multi-objective optimization model is established, in which LSE, value recovery efficiency, and cost are taken as the objectives. An adaptive Epsilon-dominance based Strength Pareto Evolution Algorithm (AE-SPEA2) is employed to obtain an optimal value recovery portfolio, and its results are compared with an Elitist-based Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II) and a Pareto Envelope based Selection Algorithm (PESA-II). Finally, a used lathe (model C6132) is taken as an example to verify the practicality and effectiveness of the proposed method, the results of which indicate that the proposed method is effective in optimizing the value recovery of EOL product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Reverse logistics (RL) has been regarded as a key driving force for remanufacturing. However, there are great uncertainties in terms of quality and quantity of used components for RL. There are also complexities in suppliers and operations. These make decision-making of RL very complex. In order to identify the best collection mode for used components, a demand-matching oriented Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) method is established. In this method, the damage level and remaining service life are firstly incorporated into the evaluation criteria of reuse modes, then a hybrid method (AHP-EW) that integrates Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Entropy Weight (EW) method is applied to derive criteria weights and the grey Multi-Attributive Border Approximation Area Comparison (MABAC) is adopted to rank the collection modes. Finally, sensitivity analysis is implemented to test the stability of the proposed method, and a demands-matching method is proposed to validate and evaluate the feasibility of the optimal alternative. The collection of used pressurizers is taken as case study to validate the applicability of the proposed model. The results showed the effectiveness of the proposed method in MCDM of RL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Well-dispersed Y 2 O 3 powders were synthesized by a precipitation method from yttrium nitrate solution using (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 and PEG4000 as the composite surfactant, and the dispersion mechanism of the composite surfactant was investigated in detail. Furthermore, the grain size, densification, mechanical and optical quality of as-prepared ceramics were also discussed. The dispersion state of both precursors and Y 2 O 3 powders could be remarkably effected by the mass ratio of (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 and PEG4000 during the liquid phase reaction process. When the function of electrostatic repulsion and the steric hindrance were combined properly, the aggregation state of powders could be effectively inhibited. With the addition of the mass ratio of 3:2 ((NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 to PEG4000), fine powders (130 nm) with high dispersion state were obtained. Meanwhile the Y 2 O 3 ceramics with an average grain size of 3.65 µm were fabricated by sintering at 1750 °C for 8 h. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Body coloration is a functional adaptation that increases reproductive success or decreases the predation risk in animals. To understand the effect of light and substrate on coloration, we investigated the dorsal gray change in Phrynocephalus helioscopus and Phrynocephalus grumgrzimailoi maintained in habitats with a different light intensity and different substrate. We measured their gray gradient under different light and substrate conditions to establish the functional meaning of color change. We found that (1) in these two species, the gray level of dorsal gray decreased when they were housed on a light substrate with a high light intensity, (2) they increased their dorsal gray color when they were housed on a dark substrate with a low light intensity, and (3) P . helioscopus became darker than P . grumgrzimailoi with increasing light intensity but became brighter as the substrate darkened. These results imply that light intensity and substrate treatments induced strong color change responses. Phrynocephalus helioscopus used light and P . grumgrzimailoi used substrate as their main color change cues. Phrynocephalus grumgrzimailoi was likely to actively avoid predation while P . helioscopus has a thermoregulatory adaptation. We suggested that both light and substrate are important for color changing and camouflage capability in these lizards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scheduling can have significant impacts on energy saving in manufacturing systems. The complex process constraints and dynamic manufacturing tasks in flexible manufacturing system make the scheduling a complicated nonlinear programming problem. To this end, this paper proposes a two-stage energy-saving optimization method for Flexible Job-Shop Scheduling Problems (FJSP). In this method, an operation-based integrated chart is firstly proposed to reveal the dynamic characteristics of the operations, enabling the energy-saving scheduling optimization. Then the optimization is conducted at two stages: the machine tool stage and the operation sequence stage. A Modified Genetic Algorithm (MGA) is applied at the first stage and a hybrid method that integrates Genetic Algorithm (GA) with Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is adopted at the second stage. Finally, a case study is employed to illustrate the applicability and validity of the proposed method. The results revealed that the proposed method can effectively optimize FJSP. This may provide a basis for decision makers to utilize a manufacturing scheduling that is optimized regarding its energy saving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of a hair hormone concentration assay is increasingly recognized as a useful and noninvasive technique for monitoring the endocrinological status of animals. However, few studies have focused on reproductive and stress hormones together. We used a chemiluminescent immunoassay to determine whether the progesterone, estradiol, and cortisol concentrations could be measured from hair and whether these hormone concentrations varied in different hair segments of captive Père David deer hinds. We found that progesterone, estradiol, and cortisol could be measured in the hair samples and that the progesterone concentration varied but the estradiol and cortisol concentrations did not among different hair segments. Contrary to the segmental decline in hair cortisol found in many studies, we found that progesterone concentration was higher near the tip than at the base of hair in Père David deer. This suggests that the variation in segmental hair steroid hormone concentration in seasonal molting animals may be mainly due to internal reproductive cycles and that hair steroid hormones may reflect long-term physiological changes and can thus be used for the conservation and management of wildlife. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Y 2 O 3 transparent ceramics were fabricated from precipitated powders prepared at different stirring speeds during the precipitation process. The influence of the stirring speed on the phase component of precursors, morphology of Y 2 O 3 powders and properties of fabricated ceramics were systematically investigated. Crystalline phase precursors of (NH 4 ) a Y(OH) b (CO 3 ) c ·H 2 O were prepared from 110 rpm, 220 rpm and 550 rpm respectively. But amorphous precursors of Y(CO 3 )(OH)·nH 2 O (n = 1–1.5) were observed when stirring speeds were 330 rpm and 440 rpm. Y 2 O 3 powders prepared from 440 rpm exhibited the lowest agglomeration and the smallest grain size, and the ceramics with the optimal transmittance was accordingly obtained. The results of computational fluid dynamics software CFX showed that a more homogeneous flow field distribution without local circulations could be produced at 440 rpm, which would be benefit for the optical quality of transparent ceramics. The study would provide a considerable reference for the controllable fabrication of well-dispersibility Y 2 O 3 powders and Y 2 O 3 transparent ceramics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Y 2 O 3 powders were synthesized by adopting four different agitators during co-precipitation. The effect of the homogeneity of co-precipitation reaction process under different agitators on the phase compositions and morphology of precursors and Y 2 O 3 powders were studied. Crystalline phase precursors were prepared from the 2-straight-blade turbine impeller and the 4-straight-blade turbine impeller, identified as (NH 4 ) a Y(OH) b (CO 3 ) c ·H 2 O. However, amorphous phase of Y(CO 3 )(OH)·nH 2 O (n = 1–1.5) were found from the 3-blade propeller type impeller and the 4-pitched-blade turbine impeller. The results showed that a better uniform mixture without layered and local circulations could be produced by the 4-pitched-blade turbine impeller. The prepared Y 2 O 3 powders exhibited a high dispersibility, weak agglomeration and less sintering neck. This study was the first attempt to improve the co-precipitation reaction homogeneity to enhance the dispersion of powders, which was benefit to the controllable and repeatable synthesis of Y 2 O 3 powders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, we report a template-engaged strategy to fabricate urchin-like ternary metal phosphide (Ni 0.5 Co 0.5 P-300) as catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction. The morphology and microstructure of Ni 0.5 Co 0.5 P-300 and its precursors were examined by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and micropore and chemisorption analyzer. Electrochemical properties were characterized by typical electrochemical methods, such as linear sweep voltammetry, cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry, chronopotentiometry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy on a standard three-electrode system. Results show that the developed porous hierarchical 3D Ni 0.5 Co 0.5 P-300 catalyst has excellent electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution in alkaline aqueous solution with onset overpotential of 26 mV and Tafel slope of 58 mV at the loading mass of 0.28 mg cm −2 . It only needs 87 mV to reach the current density of 10 mA cm −2 and can hold the nearly unchanged current density for 25 h amperometric test. Meanwhile, the Ni 0.5 Co 0.5 P-300 catalyst also exhibits good electrocatalytic properties for hydrogen evolution in 1 M PBS solution (pH = 7). These indicate that the Ni 0.5 Co 0.5 P-300 catalyst with urchin-like structure, bimetallic merit, and low cost may be a good candidate as electrocatalyst in practical application of hydrogen evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remanufacturing process planning plays a key role in implementing remanufacturing because it directly affects the remanufacturing cost as well as energy consumption and quality. Due to the uncertainty of the quality of returned used components, which are the raw materials for remanufacturing, remanufacturing process planning is far more complex than that for mass production of virgin products. In order to generate the optimal process planning, an optimization method is presented to characterize fault features for remanufacturing process planning. In this method, Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) and Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation (FCE) are applied to identify fault features and quantify damage degrees respectively, and Rule Reasoning (RR) and Operation Digraph (OD) methods are utilized to generate remanufacturing process plan alternatives, and then Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) are integrated to the optimal alternative selection. Finally, a used worm gear is taken as an example to illustrate the validity and practicality of the proposed method of remanufacturing process planning, the results of which showed the proposed method is effective in optimization of remanufacturing process planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bear bile is a traditional Chinese medicine that has been used for millennia. Several arguments support and oppose the use of bear farming in terms of conservation and nonhuman animal welfare. This study involved designing a questionnaire and surveying a random sample of general citizens and college students in Beijing to elicit their attitudes on bile extraction from living bears. Older people and people with lower education levels used more bear bile medicines. In total, 29.47% (n= 204) of citizens and 23.14% (n= 81) of students surveyed used bear bile medicine since 1990. Students were less willing to use bear bile medicines than citizens (p< .05). The level the respondents agreed with the blue side (against the extraction of bile from living bears; anti for short) was significantly higher than that for the red side (support the extraction of bile from living bears; pro for short;p< .05). Additionally, college students had a more distinct attitude toward the opposing views, which indicates they were more inclined to oppose bile extraction from living bears. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low carbon manufacturing (LCM) is increasingly being regarded as the direction for technological innovation and implementation in industry. The manufacturing process chain plays a critical role in LCM to consider and define the whole production process, thus the analysis and evaluation method for its decision-making is urgently needed. Although interest in addressing carbon emission reduction in manufacturing is rising, the study of incorporating carbon emission reduction and economic improvement into the process chain is still considerably deficient. This work proposes a novel method to identify a process chain with the optimal carbon efficiency, where the carbon efficiency of process chain (CEpc) regarded as an effective indicator is evaluated by manufacturing value and carbon emissions defined based on eco-efficiency. In addition, the estimation models of manufacturing value and carbon emission are proposed, based on which, a decision-making model is established to solve the process chain decision-making issues with objective to maximize CEpc. An illustrative example of the sleeve part manufacturing process is conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of this method. And the outcome can help decision makers to select the process chain with optimal carbon efficiency based on the dynamic change of production and different processing conditions. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis on material utilization rate, recycling rate as well as processing efficiency is presented to reveal the impacts of relevant improvement measures in CEpc for manufacturers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding how roads affect connectivity of wildlife populations is one of the challenges in road ecology. Road avoidance behavior in animals may fragment populations, whereas lacking of road avoidance behavior in animals presumably result in high mortality due to wildlife-vehicle collisions. Small mammals are of great interest on account of their value as indicators of environmental impacts and their key role in ecosystems. Applying mark-recapture method, we conducted trapping experiment and artificial translocation to assess how different types of roads affect the small mammals in Mt. Kalamaili Nature Reserve in northern Xinjiang, China. The results show that of the two small mammal species that were most commonly trapped, the abundance of great gerbils ( Rhombomys opimus ) increased near unpaved road and decreased at paved road sites, as opposed to Mongolian five-toed jerboas ( Allactaga sibirica ); road crossing events of great gerbils were primarily influenced by the paved road, rather than the unpaved road, in contrast to Mongolian five-toed jerboas were unaffected by road types (no matter paved- or unpaved roads). Therefore, our results indicated that great gerbils avoided paved road, while paved road had no influence on Mongolian five-toed jerboas. The interspecific difference implied that microhabitat use preferences, life-history strategies and road substrate help to predict how species responses to barrier of different road types, but traffic volume may have little effect. However, since higher traffic levels were not coincided with the peak periods for activity of the nocturnal species, further investigations are needed to be continued. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remanufacturing is a practice of growing importance as it returns the end of life products back to conditions that is as good as or better than new ones. The increasingly stringent environmental legislation and economic demands has led to the rapid development of remanufacturing industry in the world. Remanufacturing is still at its infantry. One of the major challenges faced by remanufacturing is to guarantee the reliability of remanufactured products since they came from cores with varying condition. Process planning plays a critical role in realizing a successful remanufacturing strategy since it directly affects the success rate of remanufacturing as well as reliability and cost. To do so, this work presents an optimization method for remanufacturing process planning in which reliability and cost are taken into consideration. In this method, reliability is represented by failure rate of remanufacturing operations which is influenced by the quality of returned used products (cores), whilst process cost includes machine cost and tool cost. The multi-objective optimization problem is solved by a genetic algorithm. To assess the usefulness and practicality of the proposed method, an illustrative example is given to illustrate the proposed models and the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. The results showed that the proposed method is effective for improving reliability and reducing cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concrete is widely used in protective structures. Strength and toughness are two key factors for its anti-impact performance. Imposing constraint on concrete is an effective way to improve the anti-impact performance of concrete protective structures. In this paper, penetration tests of steel-tube-confined concrete (STCC) targets impacted by 12.7 mm armor piercing projectile (APP) at velocity around 820 m/s were conducted and different diameters and wall thicknesses of confining steel tube were considered. The typical damage modes of the tested STCC targets were obtained and influences of impact location, diameter and thickness of confining steel tube on the anti-penetration performance of STCC targets were also analyzed. The results show that the anti-penetration performance of STCC targets is obviously superior to that of semi-infinite concrete targets in restraint of the damage area and reduction of depth of penetration (DOP). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extreme weather events are likely to increase in the coming decades which may have severe consequences on biodiversity. As conservation funding is limited, identifying priority areas for conservation of species prone to climatic impacts may improve the benefit of conservation investments. As part of its Biodiversity Action Plan, China is carrying out an initiative to evaluate new threats from climatic impacts by 2030 in Priority Areas for Biodiversity Conservation (PABCs). Focusing on floods, which are exhibiting an increasing trend in recent decades in the country, we generated information for such an initiative. We investigated contemporary flood exposure and species internal refugia for all amphibians, birds, and mammals within the 32 terrestrial PABCs of China. Amphibians comprised the greatest number of species at significant flood exposure followed by mammals and birds (~ 90%, ~ 81%, ~ 52% of the total species richness in the country, respectively). However, availability of flood-free internal refugia > 10% and ≤ 25% was found for ~ 15% mammals, ~ 29% birds and ~ 1% amphibians. Large areas within PABCs are highly exposed to floods. Species in these areas possessing traits that contribute sensitivity and low adaptability to flood disturbance are the ones expected to face negative delayed effects from past exposure, or to possess less resilience to future impacts, including human activities. In the face of multiple threats we call for implementation of cost-effective strategies that strengthen ongoing conservation actions in flood-prone areas and refugia (e.g., landscape connectivity, habitat restoration, afforestation) to better assist in the allocation of limited resources for protecting vulnerable species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wide array of wildlife species, including many animals, are used in traditional medicines across many medicinal systems, including in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Due to over-exploitation and habitat loss, the populations of many animals commonly used in TCM have declined and are unable to meet market demand. A number of measures have been taken to try to reduce the impact that this large and growing market for TCM may have on wild animal species. Consumer preferences and behavior are known to play an important role in the consumption and protection of wild animals used in traditional medicine, and thus are likely to be an important factor in the success of many of these mechanisms—particularly given the significant percentage of TCMs that are over-the-counter products (access to which is not mediated by practitioners). In this study we conducted questionnaires and designed stated preference experiments embodying different simulation scenarios using a random sample of the population in Beijing to elicit individuals’ knowledge, perceptions and preferences toward wild or farmed animal materials and their substitutes used in traditional Chinese medicine. We found that respondents had a stated preference for wild materials over farm-raised and other alternatives because they believe that the effectiveness of wild-sourced materials is more credible than that of other sources. However, we also found that, although respondents used TCM products, they had a poor understanding of the function or composition of either traditional Chinese medicines or proprietary Chinese medicines (PCM), and paid little attention to the composition of products when making purchasing decisions. Furthermore, awareness of the need for species protection, or “conservation consciousness” was found to play an important role in willingness to accept substitutions for wild animal materials, while traditional animal medicinal materials (TAMs) derived from well-known endangered species, such as bear bile and tiger bone, show relatively higher substitutability. These results suggest that there is still hope for conservation measures which seek to promote a transition to farmed animal, plant and synthetic ingredients and provide clear directions for future social marketing, education and engagement efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dry or near dry machining is often regarded as an effective strategy for reducing ecological impacts of the cutting processes. However, due to the application limitations of dry or near dry machining, reduction of cutting fluid supply through machining parameter optimization offers a cost effective alternative. To this end, an optimization model of machining parameters considering minimum cutting fluid consumption and cost is proposed. Process cost and cutting fluid consumption are treated as the two objectives in the optimization model, which are affected by four variables, namely cutting depth, feed rate, cutting speed, and cutting fluid flow. In the model, process cost includes production operation cost and cutting tool cost, whilst cutting fluid consumption by a machining process, which consists of reusable cutting fluid and non-reusable cutting fluid, ie., the remaining cutting fluid deposited on the workpiece and chips as well as that diffused into the environment. The multi-objective optimization problem is solved by a hybrid genetic algorithm programmed in Matlab 7. An illustrative case study was implemented to verify the effectiveness of the multi-objective optimization model, and the simulation results showed 17% reduction of fluid consumption compared to that without optimization. This indicates that the proposed optimization is effective and has great potential to be adopted by industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In early 2020, 16 wild Asian elephants I Elephas maximus i , an iconic species of the tropical forest of South-east Asia and a First Category Key Protected Wild Animal Species in China, left the tropical forests of Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve in Yunnan Province, on the China-Laos-Myanmar border, and headed northwards through a heavily modified anthropogenic landscape (see map below). In addition to investigating why elephants are leaving Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve and to considering a new action plan for Asian elephant conservation in the country, we need to ensure the safety of people in the areas through which the elephants pass, and that of these roaming elephants. [Extracted from the article]

As human population increase, human-wildlife conflicts have reached unprecedented levels, often resulting in negative attitudes toward regional conservation initiatives, and thus are of concern for conservation communities. From April to May 2011, we carried out a survey to quantify carnivore-induced livestock losses perceived by local pastoralists in the Qinghai Lake region on the pastoral Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and examined the ecological and socio-economic dimensions in the conflict. We finished 286 in-person interviews using a semi-structured questionnaire with mixed closed- and open-ended questions. Our results showed that 93.7% of the respondents reported livestock depredations by carnivores from March 2010 to March 2011. The perceived losses represented 3.7% of total standing value of livestock in the region. The losses were positively correlated with livestock number in each household and showed significant seasonal and diurnal difference. Adult sheep and goats were the mostly killed (54.9%), followed by lambs (21.0%), adult yaks and cattle (19.1%), calves (4.9%) and horses (0.1%). More than 80% of the respondents reported that they could not tolerate the contemporaneous depredations and nearly two thirds expected compensations for their losses. Wolf Canis lupus was blamed for most of the killings (76.0%) and was perceived most negative followed by brown bear Ursus arctos, Tibetan fox Vulpes ferrilata, red fox Vulpes vulpes and raptors. Attitudes toward the problem carnivores were positively correlated with livestock size but negatively with magnitudes of the depredations. The attitudes also varied among the three survey sites, which may be attributed to the different extent of openness and livelihood dependence on animal husbandry. In the light of our results, we suggested possible measures to mitigate the conflict and maintain coexistence between human and wild carnivores on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Horns of Saiga antelope ( Saiga tatarica) have always been an ingredient of 'Lingyangjiao', a traditional Chinese medicine ( TCM). Persistent hunting for Saiga antelope has already threatened the survival of critical endangered populations in wild. To control the growing pressure, CITES and Chinese government have legislated for monitoring the trade of Saiga horns. However, similar ungulate horns are difficult to identify by their morphological characteristics, which has impeded the law enforcement. Besides Saiga antelope, other seven ungulate species which have similar horns are also sold and marked as 'Lingyangjiao' in TCM markets to offset shortage of Saiga antelope horns. Such species are Gazella subgutturosa, Pantholops hodgsonii, Procapra picticaudata, Procapra gutturosa, Procapra przewalskii, Capra hircus, and Ovis aries. Our study aimed at implementing DNA barcoding technology to diagnose Saiga horns and the substitutes. We successfully extracted genomic DNA from horn samples. We recovered COI sequences of 644 bp with specific primers and 349 bp with nested PCR primers designed for degraded horn samples. The mean interspecific genetic distance of data set of the 644-bp full barcodes and the 349-bp mini-barcodes was 14.96% and 15.38%, respectively, and the mean intraspecific distance was 0.24% and 0.20%, respectively. Each species formed independent clades in neighbor-joining ( NJ) phylogenetic tree of the two data sets with >99% supporting values, except P. gutturosa and P. przewalskii. The deep genetic distances gap and clear species clades in NJ tree of either full barcodes or mini-barcodes suggest that barcoding technology is an effective tool to diagnose Saiga horns and their substitutes. Barcoding diagnosis protocol developed here will simplify diagnosis of 'Lingyangjiao' species and will facilitate conservation of endangered ungulates involved in TCM 'Lingyangjiao' markets, especially the Saiga antelope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With rapid changes in technology and customer preferences, functional obsolescence of used products poses serious challenges to resumed remanufacturing. Upgrade remanufacturing is a potential solution for dealing with the problems of functional obsolescence. The multi-attribute remaining life and customized life of the functional unit are critical elements of decision-making for upgrade remanufacturing solution, yet there are many possible scenarios for the multi-attribute remaining life and the customized life. The optimal solution varies with the various scenarios, which makes the decision-making for choosing the optimal solution of Functional Upgrade Remanufacturing (FUR) very individual and complicated. To this end, the paper proposes a Data-Driven Decision-Making (DDDM) method for FUR of used products based on Multi-Life Customization Scenarios (MLCS). MLCS describes the relationship between the remaining physical, technical, economic life and customized life. Firstly, the used product is decomposed into several functional units that are taken as the objects for upgrade remanufacturing, and the mapping between MLCS and decision-making for FUR is established through data mining. Then the DDDM method of Bayesian network is employed to inference, which is constructed based on historical data, and the solution with the largest posteriori probability is taken as the optimal solution. Finally, a case study on decision-making for FUR of a used mechanical hydraulic power steering system is demonstrated to validate the proposed method. • Describe the value of Functional Upgrade Remanufacturing (FUR) to overcoming obsolescence. • Take the remaining life and customized life as elements of decision-making for FUR. • The concept of Multi-Life Customization Scenarios (MLCS) is proposed for FUR. • The mapping between MLCS and decision-making for FUR is established by data-mining. • The DDDM method of Bayesian network is employed to choose the optimal solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remanufacturing represents an activity that often offers significant profit opportunities and can provide substantial environmental benefits. Process plan selection is one of the most important operational decisions in remanufacturing because it directly affects the success rate of remanufacturing as well as cost and quality. There is a need for a decision-making aid which can optimize process plan selection in the presence of wide-ranging alternatives. In response to this need, a decision method has been developed that combines the strengths of quality function deployment (QFD) and fuzzy linear regression. In this method, quality function deployment is employed to not only frame the problem but also to establish relationships between remanufacturing performance and process quality characteristics of interest. Fuzzy linear regression is used to determine the functional relationships between remanufacturing performance and process quality characteristics and obtain the optimal solution. If desired, the most suitable process plan alternative may be determined. To assess the usefulness and practicality of the proposed method, an illustrative example is given and the results are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commercial trade of wild birds may devastate wild bird populations. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) controls the trade of wild species listed in its appendices to avoid these species being threatened by international trade. China used to be one of the major trading countries with significant bird trade with foreign countries; on the other hand, China is a country with unique avian fauna, many Important Bird Areas and critically endangered bird species. What is the role of the country in world wild bird trade? What kind of insights can we extract from trade records for improving future management of wild bird trade in the country? We retrieved and analyzed international trade records of the CITES listed bird species of China from 1981 to 2010 from the CITES Trade Database maintained by United Nations Environment Program and World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC). We found that: (1) International trade of live birds in China peaked during the late 1990s, then decreased to the level before the surge of trade in a few years, the trade dynamics of wild birds may be affected by governmental policy and the outbreak of avian influenza during the period. (2) Most frequently traded CITES Appendix listed birds in China were parrots, most of which were exotic species to the country. (3) Birds were mainly traded for commercial purpose. Exotic birds in trade were mainly captive-bred while the most Chinese birds traded internationally were captured from the wild. Since many bird species in international trade are threatened to extinction, China should take stricter measures on importing of wild-captured birds and should collaborate with the countries of original in the international bird trade to avoid unsustainable harvesting of wild birds. It is urgent for China to carry out population surveys on those domestic bird species once in significant international trade and to make better conservation decisions based on population status of those birds. In addition, more scientific researchers should be encouraged to participate in the wildlife trade management to avoid misreporting trade data or biased analyses of the trade records. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] We simulate viability for an endangered ungulate on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau. [•] We first integrate genetic data into viability analysis for Przewalski’s gazelle. [•] The effect of changes in carrying capacity on vital rates was incorporated. [•] Our findings provide useful insights for conservation planning under human impacts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The trend of fencing grassland as livestock paddocks is spreading on the Eurasian steppe, however, its impacts on grassland wildlife are little known. In order to explore such impacts, we carried out a field study on how grassland fencing impacts Przewalski's gazelle ( Procapra przewalskii), a species listed as EN (Endangered) by SSC/IUCN, on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The results revealed that (1) in the fenced areas, daily movement distance of Przewalski's gazelle was 5081±1187 m (Hudong-Ketu) and 4110±912 m (Yuanzhe), which was much shorter than the 7223±546 m recorded in an unfenced area (Kuaierma); (2) the feeding bout duration of Przewalski's gazelle was much shorter in the fenced habitat; (3) the frequency of walking along both high or low fence lines reached about 81%; while the frequency of jumping across the low fence line was only about 1.2% and frequency of crawling through the bottom of the high fence lines was about 17.8%; (4) the size of post-fencing habitat decreased to about 20% and 6% of the sizes of pre-fencing habitat in Hudong-Ketu and Yuanzhe areas respectively, but no clear change in the size of habitat area was found in the unfenced Kuaierma area; and (5) the fence lines impaired the possibility of gazelles to escape from predators and occasionally trapped the Przewalski's gazelle which failed to jump over the fence lines. Death occurrence of Przewalski's gazelle in the intensively fenced area, including gazelles strangled by fence lines and predated by wolves, reached 5% of the population size in Yuanzhe and up to 15%-20% in Hudong-Ketu. This study highlights the negative impacts of grassland fencing on Przewalski's gazelle and proposes measures for integrating conservation of this gazelle with livestock management practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Przewalski's gazelle Procapra przewalskii is an endangered species endemic to China. A question remains about subspecific variation in this species. Skulls of Przewalski's gazelle collected from its current remnant ranges around the Qinghai Lake in combination with those collected prior to the 20th century were measured and analyzed using Hierarchical Cluster Analysis in order to clarify the question. Unexpectedly, P. p. diversicornis, extirpated from its historic range, has spread to the Qinghai Lake region where it has replaced nominotypical P. p. przewalskii and is now restricted to a few small isolated populations around the lake. We discuss the causes of this unexpected replacement. In this study, we discuss the possibility of a new form, possibly a new subspecies, in the Guide Basin, adjacent to Qinghai Lake; it is unclear whether the new form has long existed and was only discovered in recent years, or whether it evolved in recent times due to the geographical isolation and anthropogenic landscape features. The study sheds light on the processes of microevolution and subspeciation in Procapra przewalskii, and based on the findings, we propose measures for conservation strategies for Przewalski's gazelle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extent to which a species responds to environmental changes is mediated not only by extrinsic processes such as time and space, but also by species-specific ecology. The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau uplifted approximately 3000 m and experienced at least four major glaciations during the Pleistocene epoch in the Quaternary Period. Consequently, the area experienced concurrent changes in geomorphological structure and climate. Two species, the Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsonii, chiru) and Tibetan gazelle (Procapra picticaudata), both are endemic on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, where their habitats overlap, but have different migratory behaviors: the chiru is inclined to have female-biased dispersal with a breeding migration during the calving season; in contrast, Tibetan gazelles are year-round residents and never migrate distantly. By using coalescence methods we compared mitochondrial control region DNA sequences and variation at nine microsatellite loci in these two species. Coalescent simulations indicate that the chiru and Tibetan gazelle do not share concordant patterns in their genealogies. The non-migratory Tibetan gazelle, that is more vulnerable to the impact of drastic geographic changes such as the elevation of the plateau, glaciations and so on, appears to have a strong population genetic structure with complicated demographic history. Specifically, the Tibetan gazelle population appears to have experienced isolation and divergence with population fluctuations since the Middle Pleistocene (0.781 Ma). However, it showed continued decline since the Upper Pleistocene (0.126 Ma), which may be attributed to the irreversible impact of increased human activities on the plateau. In contrast, the migratory chiru appears to have simply experienced population expansion. With substantial gene flow among regional populations, this species shows no historical population isolation and divergence. Thus, this study adds to many empirical studies that show historical and contemporary extrinsic and intrinsic processes shape the recent evolutionary history and population genetic structure of species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, based on the microorganism batch fermentation of glycerol to 1,3-propanediol, we study a kind of nonlinear multi-stage dynamic system for the batch fermentation and its properties. Since it is difficult to measure the concentration of intracellular substance so far, we quantitatively describe robustness according to the basic features of biological systems. Taking experimental data of the concentration of extracellular substance and robustness as the performance index, we establish identification model of dynamic system for the batch fermentation. Then, its identifiability, the existence and continuity with respect to the parameters of the solution have been discussed. We decompose the identification problem into bilevel multi-stage optimal control subproblem, and both of them are equivalent. This work is a theoretical foundation of further numerical calculation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The operating environment and using conditions of mechanical products are complex and diverse, which has caused a large number of mechanical products to be unable to be remanufactured or have low-remanufacturability. Such products are often ignored by remanufacturing companies and society, which aggravates environmental pollution and waste of resources. Therefore, this article provides a decision-making model for two strategies of complete machine remanufacturing (CMR) and part remanufacturing (PR) for used products with low-remanufacturability. Firstly, from the perspective of the remanufacturing process under the existing technical conditions, the economic, environmental, and social benefits of different remanufacturing solutions are analyzed. Secondly, the entropy method is used to weigh the economic, environmental, and social benefits to reduce the model error, and the linear regression method is used to find the comprehensive benefits of its different remanufacturing strategies. Finally, through the decision-making research on the remanufacturing strategies of the used machine tool CA6180, the results show that the tested machine tool should choose the remanufacturing strategy of PR and put it on the market. Moreover, the decision-making strategy proposed in this paper helps to realize a resource-saving and environment-friendly manufacturing ecology and provides a new perspective for remanufacturing research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental impacts of the manufacturing stage of the product life cycle are resource consumption and waste emissions. The development of an appropriate assessment method for evaluating the environmental performance of a manufacturing process, or an entire process plan, is one of the keys to realize a successful sustainable manufacturing strategy. This paper describes a new method for the environmental evaluation of a manufacturing process plan, where actual values for various environmental measures for the different operations in the plan are used to form an impact matrix. If desired, scores for each process, each environmental measure, and for the entire plan may be obtained by applying weights obtained from the analytical hierarchy process. The method has been encoded in software (Manufacturing Environmental Performance Evaluation), which provides insights into how manufacturing decisions affect the environment. A case study is used to illustrate how the assessment method may be applied and to demonstrate its applicability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2008 Przewalski's gazelle Procapra przewalskii, endemic to the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau, China, was recategorized from Critically Endangered to Endangered on the IUCN Red List. The species is still, however, threatened, and the human population and accompanying domestic livestock are increasing around Qinghai Lake. Here we provide up-to-date information on the distribution and population size of the species, evaluate its current conservation status and discuss the difficulties of protecting this gazelle species. We used both distance sampling and total counts to survey 16 sites where the species has been reported and found it at 13 of these, occupying a total area of c. 250 km2. Population size estimated from distance sampling (1,635) and total counts (1,544) was similar. About 20% of the gazelles located were in newly discovered areas for the species. The results indicate an overall growth in the population of Przewalski's gazelle since 2003, although some subpopulations have declined or been extirpated. In spite of conservation efforts Przewalski's gazelle is still threatened by habitat degradation and loss, habitat fragmentation, fencing, intensified competition with domestic livestock and predation. Further growth of this gazelle population is constrained by limited habitat availability and human–gazelle conflict. We recommend that management and conservation strategies need to incorporate comprehensive knowledge of the gazelle, long-term monitoring, and captive breeding of injured and orphaned gazelles to form a potential pool of individuals for future reintroductions to the historical range of the species outside the Qinghai Lake basin. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Remanufacturing represents a business opportunity and in many cases a means to promote environmental sustainability. To help enterprises economically and effectively implement remanufacturing, a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) model for selecting remanufacturing technology is developed. The model considers remanufacturing technology portfolios. The enterprise benefits associated with each portfolio, including economic and environmental benefits, are evaluated using six main criteria: cost, quality, time, service, resource consumption, and environmental impact. In addition, the synergies among the different types of technologies for each remanufacturing technology portfolio are also considered. The pair-wise comparison approach of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is employed for remanufacturing technology portfolio selection. An illustrative example is provided to lend insights into the application of this methodology. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Wetlands are critical habitats for birds. However, wetlands are being degraded at an accelerating rate due to global human activity, and a disproportionate fraction of wetland-dependent bird species are in decline. We evaluated the conservation value of a new Ramsar site, Guangdong Haifeng Wetlands, China, for birds, by comparing bird communities (using line transect data) in 3 different districts: Gongping, Dongguan Lian'anwei and Dahu. We recorded 139 species of birds, including 26 species that are protected at a national level. Dahu had the highest species richness and diversity, whereas Dongguan Lian'anwei had the highest abundance of birds and the lowest species diversity. Finally, Gongping had both the lowest species richness and the lowest abundance. The endemism of constituent species differed among districts, and the bird communities were complementary. There were significant seasonal differences in the species richness and the number of individuals. Spring had the highest species richness and diversity. The present study identifies the high conservation value of Haifeng Wetlands for both waterbirds and terrestrial birds. Our findings suggest that conservation efforts in Haifeng Wetlands and other wetlands should focus not only on wintering migratory birds, but also on resident birds. To accomplish effective conservation, we should consider the reserve and surrounding wetlands as a whole, incorporating ecological research, education and local economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Qinghai–Tibet region is a unique geographic zone due to its average altitude of over 4000m, sparse human population and prevalent pastoral system. However, little is known about the energy consumption in the region. We reviewed current situation of energy consumption and its ecological impacts, outlined future energy prospects in the region. Per capita household energy consumption was about two and three times of the national average in Qinghai and Tibet. Per urban household consumed more energy than rural household in the region. Moreover, the urban households and rural households used different energy resources, natural gas and electricity accounted for 57.57% and 42.29%, respectively in household energy consumption in urban areas while biomass accounted for 79.13% and 94.19% in household energy consumption in rural areas in Qinghai and Tibet in 2007. This region was abundant in renewable energy resources and was among the richest in hydro-power and solar energy resources in China. Hydro-power accounted for 67.88% and 92.04% in total electricity in Qinghai and Tibet in 2007. Population density was rather low in this region (4.35 versus 137.63 persons per 100hm2 in Qinghai–Tibet region and China in 2007), thus small photovoltaic power stations and hydro-power plants were more cost-effective than the electricity grid. The overuse of biotic energy resources in rural areas caused decline in soil fertility and desertification. Whereas the low utilization of fossil energy in this region released less waste gas which was beneficial to the local, national and global carbon budgets. Accelerating economic growth and booming tourism have increased energy demand and posed a challenge to the unique ecosystem in the Qinghai–Tibet region. It was estimated that energy consumption of tourism accounted for 6.06% and 14.18% of the total energy consumption in Qinghai and Tibet in 2007. Thus, exploitation of renewable energy resources like solar energy, wind energy and biomass briquette is crucial in striving for a balance among economic development, booming tourism, and environmental protection in this region. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Collection of fuelwood by local residents in or around nature reserves of China has caused problems such as disturbance of habitat for wildlife and deforestation. Thus, it is important to study the energy consumption patterns by those local residents live in or around nature reserves to find solutions to reduce the amount of fuelwood consumption. We chose four nature reserves: Longxi-Hongkou National Nature Reserve, Sichuan Province, Taohongling National Nature Reserve, Jiangxi Province, Qingmuchuan Nature Reserve, Shaanxi Province, and Laoxiancheng Nature Reserve, Shaanxi Province in the subtropical zone of China to study this problem. We found no significant difference of total energy consumption per household per year in the four nature reserves, which was about 2ton of standard coal per year. But the energy consumption patterns in different reserves were different. People who live in deep mountains more relied on collecting fuelwoods from surrounding forests whereas those live in areas with relatively developed economy and better transportation condition consumed more coals, liquidinized petroleum gas and electricity. Such a pattern also reflects the changing energy spectrum during the process of modernization in China. We concluded that economic status of household and the transportation condition are two important factors affecting the energy consumption patterns in households in the nature reserves in China, which reflect the general energy consumption in rural China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]