The impact of boldness on demographic rates and life-history outcomes in the wandering albatross.

Differences among individuals within a population are ubiquitous. Those differences are known to affect the entire life cycle with important consequences for all demographic rates and outcomes. One source of among-individual phenotypic variation that has received little attention from a demographic perspective is animal personality, which is defined as consistent and heritable behavioural differences between individuals. While many studies have shown that individual variation in individual personality can generate individual differences in survival and reproductive rates, the impact of personality on all demographic rates and outcomes remains to be assessed empirically. Here, we used a unique, long-term, dataset coupling demography and personality of wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans) in the Crozet Archipelago and a comprehensive analysis based on a suite of approaches (capture-mark-recapture statistical models, Markov chains models and structured matrix population models). We assessed the effect of boldness on annual demographic rates (survival, breeding probability, breeding success), life-history outcomes (life expectancy, lifetime reproductive outcome, occupancy times), and an integrative demographic outcome (population growth rate). We found that boldness had little impact on female demographic rates, but was very likely associated with lower breeding probabilities in males. By integrating the effects of boldness over the entire life cycle, we found that bolder males had slightly lower lifetime reproductive success compared to shyer males. Indeed, bolder males spent a greater proportion of their lifetime as non-breeders, which suggests longer inter-breeding intervals due to higher reproductive allocation. Our results reveal that the link between boldness and demography is more complex than anticipated by the pace-of-life literature and highlight the importance of considering the entire life cycle with a comprehensive approach when assessing the role of personality on individual performance and demography.

Causes and consequences of pair-bond disruption in a sex-skewed population of a long-lived monogamous seabird.

Many animals form long-term monogamous pair bonds, and the disruption of a pair bond (through either divorce or widowhood) can have significant consequences for individual vital rates (survival, breeding, and breeding success probabilities) and life-history outcomes (lifetime reproductive success [LRS], life expectancy). Here, we investigated the causes and consequences of pair-bond disruption in wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans). State-of-the-art statistical and mathematical approaches were developed to estimate divorce and widowhood rates and their impacts on vital rates and life-history outcomes. In this population, females incur a higher mortality rate due to incidental fishery bycatch, so the population is male-skewed. Therefore, we first posited that males would show higher widowhood rates negatively correlated with fishing effort and females would have higher divorce rates because they have more mating opportunities. Furthermore, we expected that divorce could be an adaptive strategy, whereby individuals improved breeding success by breeding with a new partner of better quality. Finally, we posited that pair-bond disruptions could reduce survival and breeding probabilities owing to the cost of remating processes, with important consequences for life-history outcomes. As expected, we showed that males had higher widowhood rates than females and females had higher divorce rates in this male-skewed population. However, no correlation was found between fishing effort and male widowhood. Secondly, contrary to our expectation, we found that divorce was likely nonadaptive in this population. We propose that divorce in this population is caused by an intruder who outcompetes the original partner in line with the so-called forced divorce hypothesis. Furthermore, we found a 16.7% and 18.0% reduction in LRS only for divorced and widowed males, respectively, owing to missing breeding seasons after a pair-bond disruption. Finally, we found that divorced individuals were more likely to divorce again, but whether this is related to specific individual characteristics remains an important area of investigation.

Boldness predicts divorce rates in wandering albatrosses (Diomedea exulans).

Personality predicts divorce rates in humans, yet how personality traits affect divorce in wild animals remains largely unknown. In a male-skewed population of wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans), we showed that personality predicts divorce; shyer males exhibited higher divorce rates than bolder males but no such relationship was found in females. We propose that divorce may be caused by the intrusion of male competitors and shyer males divorce more often because of their avoidance of territorial aggression, while females have easier access to mates regardless of their personality. Thus, personality may have important implications for the dynamics of social relationships.

Innovation Network Reconfiguration Makes Infrastructure Megaprojects More Resilient.

Innovation management of infrastructure megaprojects is a challenging task. There are many risks in the process of innovation in engineering technology, such as shortage of funds, policy fluctuations, and difficulties in the transformation of achievements. Meanwhile, innovation organizations involve multiple participants, which makes cooperation complicated. Therefore, resilient innovation is proposed and considered as a tool that can optimize innovation management. The resilience of innovation depends largely on partnerships at the organizational level, which is rarely explored in current studies. This research aims to examine the relationship between organizational resilience and innovation network characteristics. Based on a survey of 164 participants in infrastructure innovation projects, the structural equation model (SEM) is used to explore the factors that influence organizational resilience. The findings show that there is a positive correlation between network characteristics and organizational resilience. Furthermore, the strength of network connections has a direct impact on the preventive and resistance ability of resilience. Network heterogeneity has an impact on the dual ability of resilience. Finally, a case study of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway innovation network shows that based on the above influence paths, we can find a strategy to reconstruct the network to improve resilience.

Blockchain Information Sharing Mechanism Based on Embedded System in Project Management System.

As a new force for online reconstruction, blockchain will bring major changes to resource-sharing activities and information service organizations. The research introduces blockchain and related technologies, provides two basic ways of sharing data sources, and conducts two extensive information source sharing based on blockchain. The article analyzes the various challenges that need to be overcome to implement a blockchain-based information sharing system and suggests that project information service organizations should actively deal with the challenges brought about by blockchain. Experimental research is being conducted on a blockchain-based control system, and a blockchain-based blockchain management system is being developed. On the basis of system analysis and design, the most important functional components of the software system are developed. They include functions such as recording customers, logging in, storing information, printing device information, invoking server-side smart contracts, and conducting audit management. It uses decentralized payments and statistical aggregation of data. The experimental results show that the efficiency of using the blockchain information sharing mechanism in the management system is 35% higher than that of the traditional method, which can more effectively deal with the problem of information delay during the project management process.

Upconverting nanoparticles based nanodevice for DNAzymes amplified miRNAs detection and artificially controlled chemo-gene therapy.

Despite the great promise of cancer theranostic platforms, accurate diagnosis and effective treatment are still highly challenging. In this work, nanodevice for intracellular miRNAs detection and artificially controlled drug releasement was developed based on upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs). For analysis aspect, DNAzymes amplified miRNA-21 detection was carried out, giving excellent sensitivity with detection limits of 1.8 × 10-11 M. Moreover, intracellular fluorescence imaging permitted in situ diagnoses of miRNA-21 expression in living cells. Once the test identifies tumor markers, treatment can be performed. Here, artificially controlled chemo-gene synergetic therapy nanodevice was obtained by integrating UCNPs with photocleavable linkers (PC-linkers). In vitro and in vivo experiments verified the potential application of prepared nanodevice in cancer theranostics.

Multimodal high-resolution embryonic imaging with light sheet fluorescence microscopy and optical coherence tomography.

A high-resolution imaging system combining optical coherence tomography (OCT) and light sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) was developed. LSFM confined the excitation to only the focal plane, removing the out of plane fluorescence. This enabled imaging a murine embryo with higher speed and specificity than traditional fluorescence microscopy. OCT gives information about the structure of the embryo from the same plane illuminated by LSFM. The co-planar OCT and LSFM instrument was capable of performing co-registered functional and structural imaging of mouse embryos simultaneously.

Ultrasensitive Detection of Exosomes by Target-Triggered Three-Dimensional DNA Walking Machine and Exonuclease III-Assisted Electrochemical Ratiometric Biosensing.

Exosomes are membrane-enclosed phospholipid extracellular vesicles. In spite of their great promise as noninvasive biomarkers for cancer diagnosis, sensitive detection of exosomes is still challenging. Herein, the detection of exosomes was changed to the detection of DNA after recognition of exosomes with its aptamers. CD63 aptamer and EpCAM aptamer were used for the detection of MCF-7 cell-secreted exosome. The recognition process was amplified through the movements of a three-dimensional DNA walker. And then, Exonuclease III- assisted electrochemical ratiometric sensor was applied for further signal amplification. Under optimal conditions, the detection limit of 1.3 × 104 particles/mL was obtained with excellent selectivity. Furthermore, clinical application test for the detection of exosomes in human serum was also verified.

Effect of vitamin D3 on immunity and antioxidant capacity of pearl oyster Pinctada fucata martensii after transplantation: Insights from LC-MS-based metabolomics analysis.

Postoperative care is a critical step of pearl culture that ultimately determines culture success. To determine the effect of dietary vitamin D3 (VD3) levels on immunity and antioxidant capacity of pearl oyster Pinctada fucata martensii during postoperative care and explore the mechanisms behind this phenomenon, five isonitrogenous and isolipidic experimental diets were formulated by adding different levels of dietary VD3 (0, 500, 1000, 3000, and 10000 IU/kg), and the diets were fed to five experimental groups (EG1, EG2, EG3, EG4, and EG5) in turn and cultured indoors. The control group (CG) was cultured in the natural sea. Pearl oysters that were 1.5 years old were subjected to nucleus insertion. After culturing for 30 days, EG3 exhibited significantly higher survival rates than those in CG and EG5 (P < 0.05). Moreover, EG3 exhibited the highest activities of alkaline phosphatase, acid phosphatase, catalase, superoxide dismutase, and lysozyme. However, EG5 achieved the highest activities of glutathione peroxidase. Metabolomics-based profiling of pearl oysters fed with high levels of dietary VD3 (EG5) and optimum levels of dietary VD3 (EG3) revealed 76 significantly differential metabolites (SDMs) (VIP > 1 and P < 0.05). Pathway analysis indicated that SDMs were involved in 21 pathways. Furthermore, integrated key metabolic pathway analysis suggested that pearl oysters in EG5 regulated the pentose phosphate pathway, glutathione metabolism, sphingolipid metabolism, and arachidonic acid metabolism in response to stress generated from excessive VD3. These findings had significant implications on strengthening the future development and application of VD3 in aquaculture of pearl oyster P. f. martensii.

Response to different dietary carbohydrate and protein levels of pearl oysters (Pinctada fucata martensii) as revealed by GC-TOF/MS-based metabolomics.

Land-based culturing can avoid the effects of environmental pollution and natural disasters, thus ensuring food safety for shellfish. However, food availability, in this case, is limited. To achieve the optimum balance of dietary carbohydrates and proteins and explore the mechanisms behind the phenomenon, we formulated five isoenergetic and isolipidic diets (C30P40, C35P35, C40P30, C45P25, and C50P20) with different levels of carbohydrates (C) and proteins (P). There were five experimental groups (C30P40, C35P35, C40P30, C45P25, and C50P20) and two control groups (CG1 and CG2). CG1 was fed with mixed powders of yeast and Chlorella sp., and CG2 was cultured in natural sea. After 60-day feeding, the highest rates of survival and absolute growth appeared in C45P25. C45P25 exhibited significantly higher activities of amylase, protease, alkaline phosphatase, acid phosphatase, superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and phenoloxidase and significantly lower malondialdehyde content than C30P40, C35P35, C40P30, C50P20, and CG1. No significant differences were observed between C45P25 and CG2. Furthermore, the total antioxidant capacity of the pearl oysters in C45P25 was significantly higher than that in C30P40, C35P35, C40P30, and C50P20. On the basis of these results, the optimal balance of proteins and carbohydrates for pearl oysters was the C45P25 diet. Metabolomics-based profiling of the pearl oysters fed with high-carbohydrate/low-protein diet (C45P25) and low-carbohydrate/high-protein diet (C30P40) revealed 80 significantly different metabolites (VIP > 1 and P < 0.05). Furthermore, integrated key metabolic pathway analysis showed that C45P25 regulated starch and sucrose metabolism, alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism and glycine, serine and threonine metabolism to meet the energy demand and increase the glucogenic amino acid, thereby promoting protein synthesis and reducing fatty acid ß-oxidation in comparison with C30P40. This finding helps elucidate the underlying mechanisms leading to the high-carbohydrate/low-protein diet characteristic of the optimal dietary carbohydrate and protein levels of P. f. martensii.

Metabolomics Responses of Pearl Oysters (Pinctada fucata martensii) Fed a Formulated Diet Indoors and Cultured With Natural Diet Outdoors.

Natural disasters and environmental pollution are the main problems in traditional offshore cultivation. While culturing pearl oysters through industrial farming can avoid these problems, food availability in this case is limited. This study compares the metabolomics responses of pearl oysters, Pinctada fucata martensii, fed a formulated diet indoors with those of oysters cultured with natural diet outdoors by using a gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOF/MS)-based metabolomics approach. The animals were divided into two groups as follows: the experimental group (EG) was fed a formulated diet indoors and the control group (CG) was cultured with natural diet outdoors. After 45 days of feeding, the survival rate of EG was significantly higher than that of CG. The absolute growth rate (AGR) of the total weight of EG did not significantly differ from that of CG, but the AGRs of the shell length, shell height, and shell width of CG were significantly higher than those of EG. EG showed significantly higher amylase activities than CG, and the hexokinase and glucose-6-phosphate isomerase concentrations of the former were significantly lower than those of the latter. Metabolomics revealed 125 metabolites via mass spectrum matching with a spectral similarity value > 700 in the hepatopancreas, and 48 metabolites were considered to be significantly different between groups (VIP > 1 and P < 0.05). Pathway analysis results indicated that these significantly different metabolites were involved in 34 pathways. Further integrated key metabolic pathway analysis showed that, compared with CG, EG had lower capabilities for cysteine and methionine metabolism, sulfur metabolism, and starch and sucrose metabolism. This study demonstrated that the formulated diet could be an excellent substitute for natural diet; however, its nutrients were insufficient. Effective strategies should be developed to enhance the utilization of formulated diets.

Effects of protein sources on growth, immunity and antioxidant capacity of juvenile pearl oyster Pinctada fucata martensii.

In this study, we formulated five diets, namely, P1, P2, P3, P4 and P5, with Chlorella sp. powder, Spirulina platensis powder, yeast powder, soybean meal and corn gluten, respectively, as major protein sources. A feeding experiment was designed to evaluate the effects of formulated diets on the growth performance, immunity and antioxidant and biomineralization capacity of juvenile pearl oyster (Pinctada fucata martensii). In the experiments, the five groups were separately fed with P1, P2, P3, P4 and P5 diets. After 45 days of feeding, pearl oysters fed on P1, P2, P3 and P4 diets showed significantly higher absolute growth rate and protease and amylase activities than those fed on P5 diet (P < 0.05). Moreover, pearl oysters fed on P1, P2, P3 and P4 diets exhibited significantly higher activities of alkaline phosphatase (AKP), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) (P < 0.05). Significantly higher expression levels of SOD, GPx, CAT, heat shock protein (HSP) 70, HSP90, nacrein, pif177 and pearlin mRNA were observed in pearl oysters fed on P1, P2, P3 and P4 diets relative to those fed on P5 (P < 0.05). Results suggested the suitability of Chlorella sp. powder, S. platensis powder, yeast powder and soybean meal as protein sources for development of formulated diets for pearl oyster P. f. martensii.