Effects of Lactobacillus plantarum and fibrolytic enzyme on the fermentation quality and in vitro digestibility of total mixed rations silage including rape straw

The aim of the current study was to investigate the effects of a lactic acid bacteria inoculant（Lactobacillus plantarum, LP）, fibrolytic enzyme（EN）, combination of LP and EN（LP＋EN） on fermentation quality, nutritive characteristics and in vitro digestibility of total mixed ration（TMR） silages containing 0, 7.5 and 15.0%（on dry matter basis） of rape（Brassica campestris L.） straw（RS）（denoted as CTMR, LTMR and MTMR, respectively）. After ensiling for 60 days, TMR silages without additives were well preserved, but MTMR had higher p H than CTMR and LTMR. There were no differences in other parameters of fermentation quality, microbial composition, nutrition and in vitro digestibility between CTMR and LTMR except for yeast and mold number and crude protein（CP） content. CTMR and LTMR silage had higher CP content, in vitro neutral detergent fiber digestibility（IVNDFD） and in vitro acid detergent fiber digestibility（IVADFD）, lower acid detergent fiber（ADF） content than MTMR silage. LP and EN decreased p H and increased dry matter（DM） recovery of TMR silages. LP＋EN improved the fermentation quality, nutritive characteristics and in vitro digestibility of TMR silages, showed by lower p H, ADF content, higher lactic acid content, in vitro dry matter digestibility（IVDMD） and IVNDFD. Therefore, It was suggested that TMR silage contained 7.5% RS on a DM basis and treated with LP＋EN can be as a useful feed for ruminant.

Suction characteristics of a thick material pump at high concentrations of coal slime

A test system was designed to study the parameters affecting the volumetric efficiency of a thick-material pump for coal slime.The parameters studied included solid concentration,the slenderness ratio of the suction cylinder and the running speed of the hydraulic cylinder.In the experiment the concentrations of coal slime were 75.7%,76.3%,74.4%,73.5%,72.1%and 70.63%;the running speeds were 0.23,0.18,0.13,0.10 and 0.08 m/s;and the slenderness ratios of the suction cylinder were 1.63,2.26,2.88,3.50,4.13,4.78 and 5.38.The results show that the suction volumetric efficiency decreases gradually with an increase in material concentration.The critical concentration value is 72%;below 72%the suction volumetric efficiency is above 90%,otherwise it decreases rapidly.When the solid concentration reaches 76.3%,the suction volumetric efficiency is only 40%.When the running speed of the piston is less than or equal to 0.23 m/s,the suction volumetric efficiency increases with an increase in running speed.

Comparison of dietary intakes of Canadian Armed Forces personnel consuming field rations in acute hot, cold, and temperate conditions with standardized infantry

Background:Dietary Reference Intakes are used to guide the energy intake of the Canadian Armed Forces(CAF)field rations provided to military personnel deployed for training or operations.However,the high energy expenditures likely to occur under harsh environmental/metabolically challenging deployment conditions may not be adequately considered.This study examined the Ad libitum energy and nutrient intakes of CAF personnel(n=18)consuming field rations in a resting thermoneutral environment and during a day of standardized strenuous infantry activities at varying environmental temperatures.Methods:Dietary intake was assessed using a measured food intake/food waste method during the experimental treatment and for 6 h after treatment.Four treatments were administered in a randomized counterbalanced design:exercise(as standardized infantry activities)in the heat(30℃),exercise in the cold(–10℃),exercise in temperate thermoneutral(21℃)air temperatures and a resting(sedentary)trial(21℃).Results:The average Ad libitum consumption of field rations was 70%of the provided total energy(2776±99 kcal/8 h)during all treatments.Even with an acute challenge of increased energy expenditure and temperature stress in the simulated field conditions,participants’energy intakes(1985±747 kcal/8 h)under hot,cold and temperate treatments did not differ from energy intake during the sedentary condition(1920±640 kcal/8 h).Participants’energy intakes(1009±527 kcal/6 h)did not increase during the 6 h posttreatment period when the stresses of the strenuous physical activities and the harsh environmental temperatures had subsided.Conclusions:These results should be considered when planning the provision of field rations for CAF personnel expected to be engaged in strenuous physical activities with prolonged exposure to temperature extremes.

Degenerations of rational Bézier surface with weights in the form of exponential function

Rational Bezier surface is a widely used surface fitting tool in CAD. When all the weights of a rational B@zier surface go to infinity in the form of power function, the limit of surface is the regular control surface induced by some lifting function, which is called toric degenerations of rational Bezier surfaces. In this paper, we study on the degenerations of the rational Bezier surface with weights in the exponential function and indicate the difference of our result and the work of Garcia-Puente et al. Through the transformation of weights in the form of exponential function and power function, the regular control surface of rational Bezier surface with weights in the exponential function is defined, which is just the limit of the surface. Compared with the power function, the exponential function approaches infinity faster, which leads to surface with the weights in the form of exponential function degenerates faster.

Transcriptome Analysis Reveals New Insights into the Respiration Metabolism Mechanism of Different Feeding Rations of Sea Cucumber(Apostichopus japonicus)

Sea cucumber(Apostichopus japonicus)is an excellent model for investigating effects of bottom-dwellers on carbon mig-ration and transformation.However,the molecular mechanism of respiratory metabolism process variation caused by feeding rations is poorly understood.In this study,treatment groups set as 1%(about 0.63g),3%,and 7%of total body weight(named F1,F3 and F7 groups respectively).The potential molecular mechanisms behind the functions of respiratory tree and body wall were investigated by RNA-Seq.A total of 52411 expressed genes were identified from 89342 expressed transcripts.The results showed 759,254 and 334 genes were up-regulated,and 334,445 and 992 genes were down-regulated in respiratory tree of F1 vs.F3,F1 vs.F7 and F3 vs.F7,respectively.Meanwhile,2070,1601 and 896 genes were up-regulated,and 1303,1337 and 1144 genes were down-regulated in body wall between F1 vs.F3,F1 vs.F7 and F3 vs.F7,respectively.Differentially expressed genes were enriched in salivary secretion and ECM-receptor interaction pathways in respiratory tree,and in various types of N-glycan biosynthesis,ribosome and sphingolipid metabolism pathways in body wall.These results suggested respiratory tree and body wall were involved in activation of respiratory metabolisms in response to different feeding rations.Our research provided valuable knowledge for physiological differences in res-piratory metabolism.

Size structure of urban agglomerations in China:rationality evaluation,patterns, and implications

This paper establishes a diagnostic model for assessing the rationality of size structure of urban agglomerations(UAs) in China. The model is designed to determine from a three-dimensional index including size distribution index(SDI), size compactness index(SCI), and size efficiency index(SEI). The spatio-temporal pattern of size structure involving the studied 19 UAs and its implications are explored. The results indicate that size structure of China's UAs advanced from a low rationality development stage to a moderate rationality development stage in 1995-2015.Among them, the SDI and SEI were reasonably high, and the SCI was relatively low. Spatially, the high rationality UAs were distributed across eastern China, while the low rationality UAs were located in western China. UAs with positive size structure possessed typically a dual-or multicenter urban structure, while UAs with negative size structure usually presented as a single-center structure. The evolutionary trajectories of rationality of size structure of UAs can be summarized as four different stages. Our findings suggest that, in addition to consolidating the status of national-level UAs, the development of regional-level UAs should be promoted. Also, the fostering focus and direction should be oriented toward an UA with dual-or multicenter spatial structure.

Effects of Partial Mixed Rations on Production, Composition and Nutritional Value of Milk in Lactating Dairy Cows in Temperate Region of Argentina

The aim of the study was to determine the effect of supplementing an oat winter pasture with a total mixed ration (TMR) on lactation performance of dairy cows. Nine multiparous Holstein cows were used in a 3 × 3 Latin square design with three TMR: pasture ratios at 79:21 (T1), 58:42 (T2) and 33:67 (T3) on a dry matter (DM) basis. The response to the 100% TMR diet (TMR-100) was tested using an extra period of 14 days inmediately after finishing the Latin square schedule using the nine experimental cows. Total DM intake resulted higher in TMR-100 (28.2 (kg/cow·day) and decreased by 2.64 kg/cow·day in T1, 5.02 kg in T2 and 6.68 kg in T3. Yields of milk (31.2 kg/cow·day) and fat corrected milk (26.8 kg/cow·day) was similar between T1, T2 and T3. Milk yield resulted higher in TMR-100 (32.1 kg/cow·day) compared to T2 (30.7 kg/cow·day). Milk fat concentration (g/100 g) was higher in T2 (3.13) and T3 (3.20) compared to T1 (2.96) and TMR-100 (2.85) and milk fat yield did not differ. Milk protein content resulted higher in TMR-100 and T2 averaging 3.37 g/100 g compared to T1 (3.32 g/100 g). The lowest milk protein concentration was observed in T3 (3.29 g/100 g) that resulted only different to T2. Milk protein yield did not differ between T1, T2 and T3 averaging 1.03 kg/cow·day. A lower protein yield was detected in T2 (1.03) and T3 (1.00) when compared to TMR-100 (1.07). Efficiency of milk production (kg milk/kg DM intake) resulted higher in T3 (1.42) compared to T1 (1.25). Treatments that included pasture yielded a higher efficiency of milk production when compared to TMR-100 (1.13). Plasma urea concentration resulted lower in TMR-100 (33.8 mg/dl) with no significant differences for this parameter between the other treatments. Glucose plasma levels did not differ between T1, T2 and T3 but plasma non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) gradually increased as the proportion of pasture was enhanced according to the lower energy intake. Plasma insulin levels were higher in TMR-100 and T2 whereas concentration of somatomedins (IGF-1) remained unaffected. Grouth hormone (GH) levels and the GH/insulin ratio were highly variable and not affected by treatments. Concentration of vaccenic and conjugated linoleic acids gradually increased with the inclusion of pasture in the diet. Supplementing a winter oat pasture with TMR may be a suitable strategy to maintain milk production with a high conversion efficiency but part of the produced milk could be sustained at the expense of endogenous energy mobilization. The conditions of replacing pasture for TMR in high yielding dairy cows should be defined taking into account the depressing effect of pasture on total DM and energy intake when fresh forage is included in high proportion in the diet.

REVIEW Behavioral Operations Management: A Review of the Field

Behavioral operations management(BOM)is one of the new areas in operations management.In the past 12 years,the field has made huge progress and researchers have become interested in this new perspective to solving operational problems.BOM is now one of the major subfields of operations management.In this paper,we examine and categorize areas of BOM based on the mainstream literature.Key areas include behavioral issues in new product development and project management,quality management,production management,inventory management,service operations,and forecasting.Studies in each area are divided into three subcategories,including OM context,individual attributes,heuristics,and biases,and individual differences.In OM context category,feedback and reward,training,work monitoring,teamwork and group decision making,goal setting,task assignment,and flexibility are among the main topics.In individual attributes,heuristics,and biases category,sunk cost effect and escalation of commitment,endowment effect,overprecision bias,planning fallacy,pullto-center effect,anchoring and insufficient adjustment,and misperceptions of feedback are mainly discussed.In individual differences,analytic thinking and system thinking are mainly studied.New areas for research are suggested in each related section and are summarized in future directions and conclusion sections.In contexts such as new product development,project management,and inventory management,a shift to finding solution to performance improvement is beneficial instead of focusing on heuristics and biases and considering them as a deficiency in human decision making.Regarding individual differences category,a shift toward attributes other than cognitive abilities,such as global processing,creative thinking,and design thinking are recommended.

Community perspectives on the effectiveness of watershed management institutions in the Himalayas

The sustainability of environmental management initiatives,such as watershed management programs,relies on the presence of effective institutions at the watershed level.However,there needs to be more empirical evidence from evaluating the effectiveness of watershed-level institutions.Therefore,this study presents a pioneering effort to evaluate the effectiveness of Nepal’s first watershed conservation committee at the watershed scale,focusing on the case of the Khageri Khola watershed in Central Nepal.The study involved conducting a household survey,key informant interviews,focus group discussions,and field observations to collect and analyze the data.Descriptive analysis,index value calculation,and chi-square statistics were then employed to summarize the results regarding local respondents’perceptions of twelve institutional characteristics,their rationalities,and their association with socio-demographic variables.The results reveal that the watershed conservation committee was perceived as performing well in managing the watershed.Specifically,good interaction,appropriate scale,technical,environmental,social,organizational,and government rationality were perceived as highly effective,with an average index value of less than 0.36.In contrast,clarity of objectives and economic rationality showed moderate effectiveness,with an average index value ranging from 0.36 to 0.65.However,the results suggested that adaptiveness,compliance capacity,and financial rationality merit increased attention,intending to improve their performance.Further,the results showed the association of socio-demographics with respondents’perceptions of various indicators of institutional characteristics and their rationalities.Therefore,the study provides valuable insights for policymakers,researchers,and development practitioners charged with designing sustainable and effective programs and institutions.To enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of watershed management programs,we recommend establishing a policy-guided institutional mechanism at the watershed scale.This mechanism should be based on various institutional characteristics and rationalities and should consider the extant variability in the socio-demographic and topographic characteristics of the watershed.

Rational Engineering of Secondary Metabolic Pathways in a Heterologous Host to Enable the Biosynthesis of Hibarimicin Derivatives with Enhanced Anti-Melanomic Activity

A 61-kb biosynthetic gene cluster(BGC),which is accountable for the biosynthesis of hibarimicin(HBM)B from Microbispora rosea subsp.hibaria TP-A0121,was heterologously expressed in Streptomyces coelicolor M1154,which generated a trace of the target products but accumulated a large amount of shunt products.Based on rational analysis of the relevant secondary metabolism,directed engineering of the biosynthetic pathways resulted in the high production of HBM B,as well as new HBM derivates with improved antitumor activity.These results not only establish a biosynthetic system to effectively synthesize HBMs-a class of the largest and most complex Type-Ⅱpolyketides,with a unique pseudo-dimeric structure-but also set the stage for further engineering and deep investigation of this complex biosynthetic pathway toward potent anticancer drugs.

Gate Tunable Labyrinth Domain Structures in a van der Waals Itinerant Ferromagnet Cr_(7)Te_(8)

Manipulating magnetic domain structure plays a key role in advanced spintronics devices.Theoretical rationale is that the labyrinthine domain structure,normally appearing in ferromagnetic thin films with strong magnetic anisotropy,shows a great potential to increase data storage density for designing magnetic nonvolatile memory and logic devices.However,an electrical control of labyrinthine domain structure remains elusive.Here,we demonstrate the gate-driven evolution of labyrinthine domain structures in an itinerant ferromagnet Cr_(7)Te_(8).By combining electric transport measurements and micromagnetic finite difference simulations,we find that the hysteresis loop of anomalous Hall effect in Cr_(7)Te_(8)samples shows distinct features corresponding to the generation of labyrinthine domain structures.The labyrinthine domain structures are found to be electrically tunable via Li-electrolyte gating,and such gate-driven evolution in Cr_(7)Te_(8)originates from the reduction of the magnetic anisotropic energy with gating,revealed by our micromagnetic simulations.Our results on the gate control of anomalous Hall effect in an itinerant magnetic material provide an opportunity to understand the formation and evolution of labyrinthine domain structures,paving a new route towards electric-field driven spintronics.

Approximate solution of Volterra-Fredholm integral equations using generalized barycentric rational interpolant

It is well-known that interpolation by rational functions results in a more accurate approximation than the polynomials interpolation.However,classical rational interpolation has some deficiencies such as uncontrollable poles and low convergence order.In contrast with the classical rational interpolants,the generalized barycentric rational interpolants which depend linearly on the interpolated values,yield infinite smooth approximation with no poles in real numbers.In this paper,a numerical collocation approach,based on the generalized barycentric rational interpolation and Gaussian quadrature formula,was introduced to approximate the solution of Volterra-Fredholm integral equations.Three types of points in the solution domain are used as interpolation nodes.The obtained numerical results confirm that the barycentric rational interpolants are efficient tools for solving Volterra-Fredholm integral equations.Moreover,integral equations with Runge’s function as an exact solution,no oscillation occurrs in the obtained approximate solutions so that the Runge’s phenomenon is avoided.

Blockchain-Based Key Management Scheme Using Rational Secret Sharing

Traditional blockchain key management schemes store private keys in the same location,which can easily lead to security issues such as a single point of failure.Therefore,decentralized threshold key management schemes have become a research focus for blockchain private key protection.The security of private keys for blockchain user wallet is highly related to user identity authentication and digital asset security.The threshold blockchain private key management schemes based on verifiable secret sharing have made some progress,but these schemes do not consider participants’self-interested behavior,and require trusted nodes to keep private key fragments,resulting in a narrow application scope and low deployment efficiency,which cannot meet the needs of personal wallet private key escrow and recovery in public blockchains.We design a private key management scheme based on rational secret sharing that considers the self-interest of participants in secret sharing protocols,and constrains the behavior of rational participants through reasonable mechanism design,making it more suitable in distributed scenarios such as the public blockchain.The proposed scheme achieves the escrow and recovery of personal wallet private keys without the participation of trusted nodes,and simulate its implementation on smart contracts.Compared to other existing threshold wallet solutions and keymanagement schemes based on password-protected secret sharing(PPSS),the proposed scheme has a wide range of applications,verifiable private key recovery,low communication overhead,higher computational efficiency when users perform one-time multi-key escrow,no need for trusted nodes,and personal rational constraints and anti-collusion attack capabilities.

Smoking of Carica papaya in Nigeria:The rationale,the public health effects and policies for intervention

Psychoactive substance use is characterized by the habitual use of substances that have significant effects in altering the activities of neurotransmitters in certain regions of the brain.Consequently,these alterations manifest as cognitive,emotional,perceptual and behavioural changes in affected individuals[1].

Scientific principles for accelerating the Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs)are significantly off-course as we reach the midpoint of their 2030 deadline.From a scientific perspective,the critical challenge in achieving the SDGs lies in the need for more scientific principles to understand the complex socio-ecological systems(SES)and their interactions influencing the 17 SDGs.Here,we propose a scientific framework to clarify the common scientific principles and the rational treatment of diversity under these principles.The framework’s core is revealing the complex mechanisms underlying the achievement of each Sustainable Development Goal(SDG)and SDG interactions.Building upon the identified mechanisms,complex SES models can be established,and the implementation of SDGs can be formulated as a multi-objective optimization problem,seeking a compromise in competition between essential costs and desired benefits.Our framework can assist countries,and even the world in accelerating progress towards the SDGs.

Experimental study of core MHD behavior and a novel algorithm for rational surface detection based on profile reflectometry in EAST

Microwave reflectometry is a powerful diagnostic that can measure the density profile and localized turbulence with high spatial and temporal resolution and will be used in ITER,so understanding the influence of plasma perturbations on the reflect signal is important.The characteristics of the reflect signal from profile reflectometry,the time-of-flight(TOF)signal associated with the MHD instabilities,are investigated in EAST.Using a 1D full-wave simulation code by the Finite-DifferenceTime-Domain(FDTD)method,it is well validated that the local density flattening could induce the discontinuity of the simulated TOF signal and an obvious change of reflect amplitude.Experimental TOF signals under different types of MHD instabilities(sawtooth,sawtooth precursors and tearing mode)are studied in detail and show agreement with the simulation.Two new improved algorithms for detecting and localizing the radial positions of the low-order rational surface,the cross-correlation and gradient threshold(CGT)method and the 2D convolutional neural network approach(CNN)are presented for the first time.It is concluded that TOF signal analysis from profile reflectometry can provide a straightforward and localized measurement of the plasma perturbation from the edge to the core simultaneously and may be a complement or correction to the q-profile control,which will be beneficial for the advanced tokamak operation.

Assessing the Efficacy of Wheat-Soybean Based Intercropping System at Different Plant Densities in Bambili, Cameroon

Wheat is one of the most important cereals in the world, serving as a staple for millions globally. In the wake of the geopolitical crisis between Russia and Ukraine, it has become incumbent for many countries to invest in wheat production. Improving cropping systems for wheat production is paramount. Intercropping cereals with legumes has tremendous advantages. Therefore, this study was designed to optimize wheat production by intercropping it with soybean at different densities. Between March and August 2023, a randomized complete block design trial was conducted in Bambili, North West of Cameroon with treatments T1 (wheat monocrop at 200,000 plants ha−1), T2 (soybean monocrop at 250,000 plants ha−1), T3 (200,000 wheat and 125,000 soybean ha−1), T4 (100,000 wheat and 250,000 soybean ha−1), T5 (200,000 wheat and 250,000 soybean ha−1) and T6 (100,000 wheat and 125,000 soybean ha−1). Results revealed that growth parameters of wheat were not significantly influenced by monocrop or intercrop. The yield of wheat was significantly higher in the monocrop than the intercrop treatments, with slight variation amongst the intercrop treatments. Soybean yield was higher in the monocrop than in the intercrop, with no variations amongst the intercrop treatments. Only the land equivalence ratio (LER) for T5 was greater than 1.0. The competitive ratio for T5 was 0.54 for wheat and 1.90 for soybean, comparatively lower than the other monocrop treatments. Intercropping wheat and soybean at 200,000:250,000 ratio is recommended.

Erratum regarding Declaration of Competing Interest statements in previously published articles

Declaration of Competing Interest statements were incorrectly included in the published version of the following articles that appeared in previous issues of Materials Reports:Energy.The appropriate Declaration of Competing Interest statements,provided by the authors,are included below.

Practice of Perioperative Rational Use of Antibacterial Drugs Based on Drug Pathway

[Objectives]To establish a new management model for rational use of perioperative antibacterial drugs in surgical departments.[Methods]Based on evidence-based medicine,the department s drug pathway was formulated,and the new mode of rational drug use control was established by using fine pharmaceutical technology intervention,and the intervention effect was evaluated by the intensity of antibacterial drug use,per capita drug costs and the proportion of drugs.[Results]After adopting drug pathway in departments,the intensity of antibacterial drug use,per capita drug costs and the proportion of drugs decreased significantly,and the effect of rational drug use control was remarkable.[Conclusions]The drug pathway provides a new management and control mode for the rational use of perioperative antibacterial drugs in surgical departments of hospitals.Thus,it is worthy of popularization and application.

Exact controllability of rational expectations model with multiplicative noise and input delay

This paper considers the rational expectations model with multiplicative noise and input delay,where the system dynamics rely on the conditional expectations of future states.The main contribution is to obtain a sufficient condition for the exact controllability of the rational expectations model.In particular,we derive a sufficient Gramian matrix condition and a rank condition for the delay-free case.The key is the solvability of the backward stochastic difference equations with input delay which is derived from the forward and backward stochastic system.