Ecological total-factor energy efficiency of China’s energy intensive industries

This paper uses a meta-frontier slack-based DEA model to measure the ecological total-factor energy efficiency as well as the energy conservation potential of China’s four energy intensive subsectors. We incorporate both desirable and undesirable output together in the period, 2000–2013. The conclusions are: firstly, under the meta-frontier, the four subsectors of energy intensive industries have low average level of ecological total-factor energy efficiencies. They are 0.137, 0.212, 0.238, and 0.307 in the non-metallic mineral products manufacturing industry, raw chemical materials and chemical products manufacturing industry, smelting and pressing of ferrous metals industry, and smelting and pressing of non-ferrous metals industry, respectively. Secondly, the ecological energy efficiency in East China is the highest among three regions. Central China and West China are behind, but they are extremely close to each other. Thirdly, East China almost has no technology gap pertaining to energy efficiency, while Central China and West China almost have the same gap. Finally, Sichuan is considered to be the best province in West China under group frontier due to its perform in the three energy intensive subsectors. For Central and East China, no province has higher ecological energy efficiency in more than two energy intensive subsectors.     

The use of environmental DNA of fishes as an efficient method of determining habitat connectivity

This study demonstrated the use of environmental DNA (eDNA) to determine habitat connectivity for migration of fishes between the sea and river. Environmental DNA is DNA fragments released by fishes in water, which can be used as a species-specific marker of the presence/absence of the target species. A year-round water sampling regime at 15 sites on the Yodo River, Japan, was conducted to determine whether three major man-made barriers on the river inhibited the migration of fishes using species-specific detection of DNA fragments from three target migrant species, temperate seabass, Lateolabrax japonicus, flathead grey mullet, Mugil cephalus, and ayu, Plecoglossus altivelis altivelis. The presence/absence of eDNA from target species was consistent with known patterns of species’ seasonal migration. The detection of the DNA of temperate seabass and flathead grey mullet at sites upstream of the dam closest to the river mouth indicated successful upstream migration of these species via a fish ladder bypassing the dam. On the other hand, DNA of these two species was not detected from the upstream side of the two remaining dams, which are not equipped with fish ladders. Ayu is the only species among the three target species with a land-locked population in Lake Biwa located at the headwater of Yodo River. Ayu DNA was detected at most of the sites in the freshwater area during the warm months; however, in the coldest month of February, eDNA was only detected in the uppermost site of Yodo River at the southern tip of Lake Biwa. The eDNA we detected at this site suggests that it was derived from juvenile ayu spending their winter months in the lake. These results suggest that the eDNA analysis presented here can accurately track the seasonal migration of fishes in a river, demonstrating its application as an indicator of habitat connectivity for fishes in association with man-made barriers in a river. The sampling of eDNA involves merely scooping a tank full of water; therefore, it is a simple, rapid, and cost-effective method for long-term monitoring of habitat connectivity associated with the construction of barriers in a river.     

Interspecific networks in ground beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) assemblages

Although changes to interspecific relationships can significantly alter the composition of insect assemblages, they are often ignored when assessing impacts of environmental change. Long-term ground beetle data were used in this study to analyse ecological networks from three habitats at two sites in Scotland. A Bayesian Network inference algorithm was used to reveal interspecific relationships. The significance and strength of relationships between species (nodes) were estimated along with other network properties. Links were identified as positive relationships if co-occurrences of beetles correlated positively, and as negatives relationships if there was a negative correlation between the occurrences of the species. Most of the species had few links and only 10% of the nodes were connected with several links. Calathus fuscipes, a common carabid in the samples, was the most connected, with nine links to other species. More interspecific relationships were found to be positive than negative, with 48 and 23 links, respectively. The modular structure of the network was assessed and eight separate sub-networks were found. Habitat preferences of the species were clearly represented in the structure of the sets of those five sub-networks containing more than one species and were in line with the findings of the indicator species analysis. In our study, we showed that generated Bayesian networks can model interspecific relationships between carabid species. Due to the relative ease of the collection of field data and the high information content of the results, this method could be incorporated into everyday ecological analysis.     

Stability,sensitivity and uncertainty rates in the flow equations of ecological models

In previous work by the authors about dynamic system modeling, basic ecosystems concepts and their application to ecological modeling theory were formalized. Measuring how a variable effects certain processes leads to improvements in dynamic systems modelling and facilitates the author’s study of system diversity in which model sensitivity is a key theme. Initially, some variables and their numeric data are used for modeling. Predictions from the constructed models depend on these data. Generic study of sensitivity aims to show to what degree model behavior is altered by modification of some specific data. If small variations cause important modifications in the model’s global behavior then the model is very sensitive in relation to the variables used. If uncertain systems are considered, then it is important to submit the system to extreme situations and analyze its behavior. In this article, some indexes of uncertainty will be defined in order to determine the variables' influence in the case of extreme changes. This will permit analysis of the system’s sensitivity in relation to several simulations.     

The non-canonical functions of p27Kip1 in normal and tumor biology

p27^Kip1 was first discovered as a key regulator of cell proliferation. The canonical function of p27^Kip1 is inhibition of cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) activity. In addition to its initial identification as a CDK inhibitor, p27^Kip1 has also emerged as an intrinsically unstructured, multifunctional protein with numerous non-canonical, CDK-independent functions that exert influence on key processes such as cell cycle regulation, cytoskeletal dynamics and cellular plasticity, cell migration, and stem-cell proliferation and differentiation. Many of these non-canonical functions, depending on the cell-specific contexts such as oncogenic activation of signaling pathways, have the ability to turn pro-oncogenic in nature and even contribute to tumor-aggressiveness and metastasis. This review discusses the various non-canonical, CDK-independent mechanisms by which p27^Kip1 functions either as a tumor-suppressor or tumor-promoter.     

Detecting the native ligand orientation by interfacial rigidity: SiteInterlock

Understanding the physical attributes of protein‐ligand interfaces, the source of most biological activity, is a fundamental problem in biophysics. Knowing the characteristic features of interfaces also enables the design of molecules with potent and selective interactions. Prediction of native protein‐ligand interactions has traditionally focused on the development of physics‐based potential energy functions, empirical scoring functions that are fit to binding data, and knowledge‐based potentials that assess the likelihood of pairwise interactions. Here we explore a new approach, testing the hypothesis that protein‐ligand binding results in computationally detectable rigidification of the protein‐ligand interface. Our SiteInterlock approach uses rigidity theory to efficiently measure the relative interfacial rigidity of a series of small‐molecule ligand orientations and conformations for a number of protein complexes. In the majority of cases, SiteInterlock detects a near‐native binding mode as being the most rigid, with particularly robust performance relative to other methods when the ligand‐free conformation of the protein is provided. The interfacial rigidification of both the protein and ligand prove to be important characteristics of the native binding mode. This measure of rigidity is also sensitive to the spatial coupling of interactions and bond‐rotational degrees of freedom in the interface. While the predictive performance of SiteInterlock is competitive with the best of the five other scoring functions tested, its measure of rigidity encompasses cooperative rather than just additive binding interactions, providing novel information for detecting native‐like complexes. SiteInterlock shows special strength in enhancing the prediction of native complexes by ruling out inaccurate poses. Proteins 2016; 84:1888–1901. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Circadian variations in self-monitoring,a component of executive functions

The objective of this study was to identify circadian rhythms in self-monitoring, a component of executive functions. Participants were 10 undergraduate students, age: 18.5 ± 2.68 years, two male and eight female. They were recorded on a 30-h constant routine protocol; rectal temperature was recorded every minute and performance on a tracking task was assessed every 100 min. Self-monitoring indicators were adjustments of responses to random changes of speed and trajectory of a circle moving on the computer screen. Participants showed better accuracy during the afternoon, with decreases in the morning (06:20 and 08:00 h). These variations showed a phase delay of 2:29 ± 2:19 h with respect to the circadian rhythm of body temperature. In conclusion, there are circadian variations in self-monitoring. The decline in this component of executive functions could cause serious accidents among people working or studying during a morning shift, as well as commuting to and from work or school.     

Population Dynamics and Damage Potential of Meloidogyne hapla to Rose Rootstock Species

The relationship between initial population densities (Pi) of Meloidogyne hapla on growth of three rose rootstocks (Rosa corymbifera ‘Laxa’, R. multiflora and R. canina ‘Inermis’) and nematode population development was studied. Each plant species was inoculated with ranges of nematode densities of 0, 0.062, 0.125, 0.25, 0.50, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 and 128 second‐stage juvenile/g soil and were allowed to grow for 9 weeks. Seinhorst yield model was fitted to total fresh biomass data of the rootstocks. The tolerance limits (T) were 0.04, 0.09 and 0.01 J2/g soil and the minimum yield (m) 0.65, 0.47 and 0.43 for R. corymbifera ‘Laxa’, R. multiflora and R. canina ‘Inermis’, respectively. The reproductive factor (Pf/Pi) was highest at low initial nematode densities for all rootstocks and then decreased to below maintenance level with increasing initial population densities. Root gall severity consistently increased with initial nematode population density. Furthermore, number of root galling showed a strong positive relationship with final nematode population per gram root fresh weight. The relation between Pi and Pf was also fitted to the Seinhorst population model (Pf = (M*Pi)/Pi + M/a). Rosa multiflora supported the population of M. hapla to a maximum population density (M) of 27.53 J2/g soil with an estimated average maximum multiplication rate (a) of 24.39. For R. corymbifera ‘Laxa’ and R. canina, the maximum multiplication rate was 4.34 and 3.62 and the maximum population density 6.08 and 4.78 J2/g dry soil, respectively. Hence, it was demonstrated that all three rootstocks were susceptible to even low initial nematode densities and therefore are considered good hosts for M. hapla.     

基于文献计量分析的生态修复现状研究

以中国知网学术期刊网络出版总库和WEB OF SCIENCE中1997—2015年的期刊论文为数据源,以"生态修复(ecological remediation和ecological restoration)"为关键词进行检索,利用共词分析方法,同时结合Bibexcel软件对检索结果进行分析,利用Ucinet和Netdraw软件绘制出共词网络可视图,并通过SPSS软件进行多维尺度分析,以此来研究高频关键词之间的内在联系,探讨国内外生态修复领域中的研究热点以及研究现状。以文献计量学的分析方法客观的评价国内外生态修复的研究概况及研究热点,明确生态修复技术研究探索的方向,从而为加强生态修复技术的研究提供理论依据。