Effects of Different Protein Energy Ratios on Fattening Performance,Slaughter Performance and Meat Quality of Pigs

[Objectives]Protein energy ratio refers to the proportional relationship between protein and energy levels in animal diets,i.e.,the grams of crude protein corresponding to every megacalorie of energy,which is generally expressed as CP:ME or CP:DE.This study was conducted to investigate the effects of different diets on fattening and slaughter performance and meat quality traits for"L(Large Yorkshire)×L(Landrace)"crossbred pigs.[Methods]Eighteen piglets of L×L crossbred with similar body weights about 51 kg were selected.The piglets were divided into 3 groups randomly and each group was assigned to 3 replicates with 2 piglets in a replicate.Group A was fed diet Ⅰ (control diet),group B was fed the same diet of group A in the first month of the trial but fed diet Ⅱ in second month,and group C consumed diet Ⅲ.All the pigs were fed in the same feeding condition for two months except the different diets during the trial.One pig in similar body weight from each replicate was slaughtered for the determination of slaughter performance and meat quality traits in the end of the trial.[Results]The average daily feed intake(ADFI)of pigs from group B was only(2.32±0.52)kg and significantly lower than those from group A and group C(P<0.05),but no difference was found in average daily gain(ADG) and feed/gain(P>0.05).Also,no differences occurred in the carcass length,back fat thickness,longissimus muscle (LM) area and dressing percentage(P>0.05).In addition,no differences were found in the meat quality traits of shear force,meat color,pH_(45 min),pH_(24 h) and cooking loss(P>0.05).However,the water-holding capacity of meat from group C was(2.58±0.02)ms and significantly lower than that of(2.80±0.20)ms from group A(P<0.05).Although the contents of glutamic acid and cystine in LM from group B was significantly lower than those from group A and group C(P<0.05),no differences occurred in the contents of other amino acids,the total amino acid and total flavor amino acid among the three groups(P>0.05).However,the inosine monophosphate content of LM from group C was only(331.80±11.53)mg/100 g and significantly lower than those of(361.00±6.36)and(366.37±4.80)mg/100 g from group A and B(P<0.05).Even though no differences were found in the contents of DM and CP in LM among the three groups of pigs,the content of intramuscular fat(IMF)in LM from group B and group C was increased by 45.6%and 46.58%respectively from that of group A(P<0.05),but no difference occurred between group B and C(P>0.05).[Conclusions]DietsⅡ and Ⅲ in this study caused no differences in fattening and slaughter performance of L×L crossbred pigs,but the effects on some meat traits were still significant,especially on the improvement of intramuscular fat in experimental pigs.Therefore,they could improve the meat quality of crossbred pigs to a certain extent.

Effects of dietary protein/energy ratio on growth performance,carcass trait,meat quality,and plasma metabolites in pigs of different genotypes

Background： The protein/energy ratio is important for the production performance and utilization of available feed resources by animals. Increased protein consumption by mammals leads to elevated feed costs and increased nitrogen release into the environment. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of dietary protein/energy ratio on the growth performance, carcass traits, meat quality, and plasma metabolites of pigs of different genotypes. Methods： Bama mini-pigs and Landrace pigs were randomly assigned to two dietary treatment groups （Chinese conventional diet with low protein/energy ratio or National Research Council diet with high protein/energy ratio; n = 24 per treatment） in a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement. Blood and muscle samples were collected at the end of the nursery, growing, and finishing phases. Results： We observed significant interactions （P 〈 0.05） between breed and diet for total fat percentage, intramuscular fat （IMF） content, protein content in biceps femoris （BF） muscle, and plasma urea nitrogen （UN） concentration in the nursery phase; for average daily gain （ADG）, average daily feed intake （ADFI）, dry matter, IMF content in psoas major （PM） muscle, and plasma total protein and albumin concentrations in the growing phase; and for drip loss and plasma UN concentration in the finishing phase. Breed influenced （P 〈 0.05） growth performance, carcass traits, and meat quality, but not plasma metabolites. Throughout the trial, Landrace pigs showed significantly higher （P 〈 0.0_5） ADG, ADFI, dressing percentage, lean mass rate, and loin-eye area than did Bama mini-pigs, but significantly lower （P 〈 0.0.5） feed/gain ratio, fat percentage, backfat thickness, and IMF content. Dietary protein/energy ratio influenced the pH value, chemical composition of BF and PM muscles, and plasma activities of glutamic-pyruvic transaminase and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, and plasma concentration of UN. Conclusions： Compared with Landrace pigs, Bama mini-pigs showed slower growth and lower carcass performance, but had better meat quality. Moreover, unlike Landrace pigs, the dietary protein/energy ratio did not affect the growth performance of Bama mini-pigs. These results suggest that, in swine production, low dietary protein/energy ratio may be useful for reducing feed costs and minimizing the adverse effects of ammonia release into the environment.

Effects of pulse energy ratios on plasma characteristics of dual-pulse fiber-optic laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

Laser-induced plasmas of dual-pulse fiber-optic laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy with different pulse energy ratios are studied by using the optical emission spectroscopy(OES)and fast imaging.The energy of the two laser pulses is independently adjusted within 0–30 m J with the total energy fixed at 30 m J.The inter-pulse delay remains 450 ns constantly.As the energy share of the first pulse increases,a similar bimodal variation trend of line intensities is observed.The two peaks are obtained at the point where the first pulse is half or twice of the second one,and the maximum spectral enhancement is at the first peak.The bimodal variation trend is induced by the change in the dominated mechanism of dual-pulse excitation with the trough between the two peaks caused by the weak coupling between the two mechanisms.By increasing the first pulse energy,there is a transition from the ablation enhancement dominance near the first peak to the plasma reheating dominance near the second peak.The calculations of plasma temperature and electron number density are consistent with the bimodal trend,which have the values of 17024.47 K,2.75×10^(17)cm;and 12215.93 K,1.17×10^(17)cm;at a time delay of 550 ns.In addition,the difference between the two peaks decreases with time delay.With the increase in the first pulse energy share,the plasma morphology undergoes a transformation from hemispherical to shiny-dot and to oblate-cylinder structure during the second laser irradiation from the recorded images by using an intensified charge-coupled device(ICCD)camera.Correspondingly,the peak expansion distance of the plasma front first decreases significantly from 1.99 mm in the single-pulse case to 1.34 mm at 12/18(dominated by ablation enhancement)and then increases slightly with increasing the plasma reheating effect.The variations in plasma dynamics verify that the change of pulse energy ratios leads to a transformation in the dual-pulse excitation mechanism.

ADAPTIVE EIGENFREQUENCY ANALYSIS BY IMPROVED r-AND h-ADAPTIVE FINITE ELEMENT METHOD BASED ON PERTURBATION AND ELEMENT ENERGY RATIO

A new adaptive technique of r-and h-version for vibration problemsutilizing the matrix per- turbation theory and element energy ratiois proposed. In structural vibration analysis, through the r-conver-gence adaptvie finite element process, mesh optimization can berealized. In the light of the judgement on the changes in themagnitude of the element energy ratio, local refinement can beachieved in the process of h- convergence adaptive finite element sothat more accurate finite element solutions can be obtained with asfew meshes as possible. Many numerical examples are given and theproposed approach is shown to be feasible and effective.

Zonal flow energy ratio evolution during L-H and H-L transitions in EAST plasmas

The essential role of zonal flow in the L-H transition and the suppression of turbulence have been studied with a long range correlation technique using Langmuir probe arrays in EAST tokamak.Two toroidally localized probe arrays are used to measure the zonal flow during L-H transition and H-L back transition.The energy ratio of the low frequency zonal flow to the total drift wave turbulence is calculated.During ELM-free H mode,the energy ratio is higher than that in L mode,which reveals the important role of zonal flows in regulating turbulence amplitude in L-H transition.

Economic feasibility and efficiency enhancement approaches for in situ upgrading of low-maturity organic-rich shale from an energy consumption ratio perspective

The technical feasibility of in situ upgrading technology to develop the enormous oil and gas resource potential in low-maturity shale is widely acknowledged.However,because of the large quantities of energy required to heat shale,its economic feasibility is still a matter of debate and has yet to be convincingly demonstrated quantitatively.Based on the energy conservation law,the energy acquisition of oil and gas generation and the energy consumption of organic matter cracking,shale heat-absorption,and surrounding rock heat dissipation during in situ heating were evaluated in this study.The energy consumption ratios for different conditions were determined,and the factors that influence them were analyzed.The results show that the energy consumption ratio increases rapidly with increasing total organic carbon(TOC)content.For oil-prone shales,the TOC content corresponding to an energy consumption ratio of 3 is approximately 4.2%.This indicates that shale with a high TOC content can be expected to reduce the project cost through large-scale operation,making the energy consumption ratio after consideration of the project cost greater than 1.In situ heating and upgrading technology can achieve economic benefits.The main methods for improving the economic feasibility by analyzing factors that influence the energy consumption ratio include the following:(1)exploring technologies that efficiently heat shale but reduce the heat dissipation of surrounding rocks,(2)exploring technologies for efficient transformation of organic matter into oil and gas,i.e.,exploring technologies with catalytic effects,or the capability to reduce in situ heating time,and(3)establishing a horizontal well deployment technology that comprehensively considers the energy consumption ratio,time cost,and engineering cost.

An Energy Ratio Feature Extraction Method for Optical Fiber Vibration Signal

The intrusion events in the optical fiber pre-warning system （OFPS） are divided into two types which are harmful intrusion event and harmless interference event. At present, the signal feature extraction methods of these two types of events are usually designed from the view of the time domain. However, the differences of time-domain characteristics for different harmful intrusion events are not obvious, which cannot reflect the diversity of them in detail. We find that the spectrum distribution of different intrusion signals has obvious differences. For this reason, the intrusion signal is transformed into the frequency domain. In this paper, an energy ratio feature extraction method of harmful intrusion event is drawn on. Firstly, the intrusion signals are pre-processed and the power spectral density （PSD） is calculated. Then, the energy ratio of different frequency bands is calculated, and the corresponding feature vector of each type of intrusion event is further formed. The linear discriminant analysis （LDA） classifier is used to identify the harmful intrusion events in the paper. Experimental results show that the algorithm improves the recognition rate of the intrusion signal, and further verifies the feasibility and validity of the algorithm.

Relative energy zero ratio-based approach for identifying pulse-like ground motions

Pulse-like ground motions are capable of inflicting significant damage to structures. Efficient classification of pulse-like ground motion is of great importance when performing the seismic assessment in near-fault regions. In this study, a new method for identifying the velocity pulses is proposed, based on different trends of two parameters: the short-time energy and the short-time zero crossing rate of a ground motion record. A new pulse indicator, the relative energy zero ratio(REZR), is defined to qualitatively identify pulse-like features. The threshold for pulse-like ground motions is derived and compared with two other identification methods through statistical analysis. The proposed procedure not only shows good accuracy and efficiency when identifying pulse-like ground motions but also exhibits good performance for classifying records with high-frequency noise and discontinuous pulses. The REZR method does not require a waveform formula to express and fit the potential velocity pulses;it is a purely signal-based classification method. Finally, the proposed procedure is used to evaluate the contribution of pulse-like motions to the total input energy of a seismic record, which dramatically increases the seismic damage potential.

Research on Energy-Saving Performance of Intermittent Heating for Rooms in Hot Summer&ColdWinter Zone

In the hot summer&cold winter zone in China,intermittent heating space for rooms is widely used.However,in comparison with continuous space heating,the energy-saving performance of intermittent space heating has not been sufficiently investigated.This paper studied the factors influencing the energy performance of intermittent heating for the representativeoffice inhot summer&coldwinter zone.Basedon theheatbalancemethod,adynamic thermalmodel of the intermittent heating roomwas built and tested by experiments.And then,it analyzed the total space heating load,the amount of energy saving and energy saving ratio of the intermittent heating under different preheating hours,occupation hours,required roomtemperatures,air change rates,overall heat transfer coefficients(U-value)of windows and wall materials.If the adjacent rooms were not heated,for a typical room occupied about 10 h a day,the energy-saving ratio of intermittent heating was about 30%compared with continuous heating.But the preheating power was higher than two times of continuous heating.The results also indicated that the occupation hours had a significant effect on energy saving amount and ratio,it should be noted that the energy saving ratio by intermittent heating was much lower than the unoccupied period ratio.Relative to other factors,the heating temperatures,room air change rates and U-value of windows,and room envelope materials had little effect on energy efficiency.If the adjacent rooms were heated in the same manner as the roomin question,the energy-saving ratio of the total load of intermittent heating was heavily reduced to 8.46%.

On the Ratios Dark Matter (Energy)/Ordinary Matter ≈5.4(13.6) in the Universe

An upper limit of the average ratio dark matter/ordinary matter in galaxies is estimated to be 8.4, in agreement with the observed ratio 5.4. Upper limit of the average ratio dark energy/ordinary matter for slowly moving protons in the outer parts of the universe is estimated to be 8.4, much less than the observed ratio 13.6. The discrepancy is tentatively attributed to that the bulk of the protons in these outer parts of the universe moves fastly and their contribution to dark energy has not been estimated. The positive and negative relative energies between the diquark and quark in the proton play the roles of dark energy and dark matter, respectively.

Net energy yield and carbon footprint of summer corn under different N fertilizer rates in the North China Plain

Excessive use of N fertilizer in intensive agriculture can increase crop yield and at the same time cause high carbon（C） emissions.This study was conducted to determine optimized N fertilizer application for high grain yield and lower C emissions in summer corn（Zea mays L.）.A field experiment, including 0（N0）, 75（N75）, 150（N150）, 225（N225）, and 300（N300） kg N ha–1 treatments, was carried out during 2010–2012 in the North China Plain（NCP）.The results showed that grain yield, input energy, greenhouse gas（GHG） emissions, and carbon footprint（CF） were all increased with the increase of N rate, except net energy yield（NEY）.The treatment of N225 had the highest grain yield（10 364.7 kg ha–1） and NEY（6.8%）, but the CF（0.25） was lower than that of N300, which indicates that a rate of 225 kg N ha–1 can be optimal for summer corn in NCP.Comparing GHG emision compontents, N fertilizer（0–51.1%） was the highest and followed by electricity for irrigation（19.73–49.35%）.We conclude that optimazing N fertilizer application rate and reducing electricity for irrigation are the two key measures to increase crop yield, improve energy efficiency and decrease GHG emissions in corn production.

Experimental Analysis of the Performances of Unit Refrigeration Systems Based on Parallel Compressors with Consideration of the Volumetric and Isentropic Efficiency

The performances of a refrigeration unit relying on compressors working in parallel have been investigated considering the influence of the compressor volumetric efficiency and isentropic efficiency on the compression ratio.Moreover,the following influential factors have been taken into account:evaporation temperature,condensation temperature and compressor suction-exhaust pressure ratio for different opening conditions of the compressor.The following quantities have been selected as the unit performance measurement indicators:refrigeration capacity,energy efficiency ratio(COP),compressor power consumption,and refrigerant flow rate.The experimental results indicate that the system refrigeration capacity and COP decrease with a decrease in evaporation temperature,increase of condensation temperature,and increase in pressure ratio.The refrigerant flow rate increases with the increase in evaporation temperature,decrease in condensing temperature and increase in pressure ratio.The compressor power consumption increases with the increase in condensing temperature and increase in pressure ratio,but is not significantly affected by the evaporation temperature.

Regulation characteristics of oxide generation and formaldehyde removal by using volume DBD reactor

Discharge plasmas in air can be accompanied by ultraviolet（UV） radiation and electron impact,which can produce large numbers of reactive species such as hydroxyl radical（OH·）,oxygen radical（O·）,ozone（O3）,and nitrogen oxides（NOx）,etc.The composition and dosage of reactive species usually play an important role in the case of volatile organic compounds（VOCs） treatment with the discharge plasmas.In this paper,we propose a volume discharge setup used to purify formaldehyde in air,which is configured by a plate-to-plate dielectric barrier discharge（DBD） channel and excited by an AC high voltage source.The results show that the relative spectral-intensity from DBD cell without formaldehyde is stronger than the case with formaldehyde.The energy efficiency ratios（EERs） of both oxides yield and formaldehyde removal can be regulated by the gas flow velocity in DBD channel,and the most desirable processing effect is the gas flow velocity within the range from2.50 to 3.33 m s^-1.Moreover,the EERs of both the generated dosages of oxides（O3 and NO2） and the amount of removed formaldehyde can also be regulated by both of the applied voltage and power density loaded on the DBD cell.Additionally,the EERs of both oxides generation and formaldehyde removal present as a function of normal distribution with increasing the applied power density,and the peak of the function is appeared in the range from 273.5 to 400.0 W l-1.This work clearly demonstrates the regulation characteristic of both the formaldehyde removal and oxides yield by using volume DBD,and it is helpful in the applications of VOCs removal by using discharge plasma.

Channel Slope Effect on Energy Dissipation of Flow over Broad Crested Weirs

The main purpose of broad crested weir used in open channels is to raise and control upstream (U/S) water level. In this study, a new performance was added to this weir, by making a step at downstream (D/S) of weir. The energy dissipation, the height of the weir/the upstream water height ratio and Froude number relationships (E% – P/h – Fr) for three range of flume slop S = 0.0, 0.002 and 0.004 were simulated. The experiments were performed in a laboratory horizontal channel of 4.6 m length, 0.3 m width and 0.3 m depth for a wide range of discharge. The D/S step height of the weir was 7.5 cm. FLUENT software was used as numerical model which represent a type of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model in order to simulate flow over weirs. The Volume of Fluid (VOF) method with the Standard k – ε turbulence model was used to estimate the free surface profile and the structured mesh with high concentration near the wall regions. The experimental results of the water surface profile gave a high agreement with the results of the numerical models. The maximum value 28.78 of E% was obtained in single step broad crested weir in the experimental result and 27.35 in numerical result at S = 0.004. Finally, the range of the relative error of the energy dissipation between experimental and numerical results was achieved and the maximum was 6.76 in all runs.

Analysis of a Water-Cooled Unit under Different Loads

In order to ensure the safe operation of the compressors used in water chillers,in the present study some interlock protections have been added to the related design.These include a low pressure protection,a high pressure protection,an exhaust temperature protection and a differential pressure protection.Some tests have been conducted by tuning the saturation suction and exhaust temperatures of the compressor through adjustment of the cold source outlet temperature and the ambient temperature.The results show that the ambient temperature increases with decreasing device load and increasing fan speed under the same saturated suction temperature;the device refrigerating capacity steps up with augmenting load and dropping saturation exhaust temperature,while it is not greatly affected by the fan speed.Moreover,the Energy efficiency ratio(COP)decreases with the rise of the saturation exhaust temperature.This parameter is not affected much by the device load and fan speed at high saturation exhaust temperature,while it improves on increasing the device load and decreasing the fan speed at low saturation exhaust temperature.

Broadband and wide-angle plane focal surface Luneburg lens

The energy crisis has aroused widespread concern, and the reform of energy structure is imminent. In the future,the energy structure will be dominated by the solar energy and other renewable energy sources. The solar concentrating technology as a promising method has been widely studied for collecting solar energy. However, the previous solar concentrating technologies suffer from some drawbacks, such as low focusing efficiency and large concentrating size. The Luneburg lens with highly efficient aberration-free focusing provides a new route for solar/energy concentrator. In this work, we designed a plane focal surface Luneburg lens(PFSLL) by transformation optics(TO). The PFSLL provides a relatively high focusing efficiency and concentration ratio of collection of energy. At the same time, it circumvents the disadvantage of curve surface of the classical Luneburg lens in device integration. Based on the reciprocity of electromagnetic waves, the PFSLL can also be applied to the antenna field to achieve broadband wide-angle scanning and highly directional radiation.

The optimization research on the coupled of active and passive energy supplying in public institutions in China

The building sector is one of the largest energy user and carbon emitters globally.To increase the utilization rate of renewable energy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions,the optimal technical scheme of active public institutions and coupled utilization of renewable energy is studied.In this study,the energy consumption of three types of public institutions in various regions of China was simulated by using DeST building energy consumption software,combined with energy conversion efficiency and data released by the National Bureau of Statistics,and the total energy demand and total energy supply of public institutions were predicted using the load density method.Based on the coupling mechanism of the MARKAL model,the optimal proportion of renewable energy in the energy supply of public buildings in different regions is determined.Through the study of the number of public institutions in various regions of China,energy consumption characteristics,construction area,and other related data,the reverse energy flow method is creatively proposed,and the active and renewable energy coupling algorithm from the energy demand side of public institutions to the energy supply side is established.The results show that the central region has the highest utilization rate of renewable energy in the public sector,reaching 36.18%.The use of renewable energy in public buildings in hot summer and warm winter zones decreased to 35.08%,and it was 12.82% in cold zones.By 2025,the proportion of renewable energy resources in China is expected to reach 29.2%.The energy coupling model and algorithm constructed in this paper can provide a basis for the coupling macro configuration of renewable energy in public institutions in China.

Quantitative Diagnosis of Fault Severity Trend of Rolling Element Bearings

The condition monitoring and fault diagnosis of rolling element bearings are particularly crucial in rotating mechanical applications in industry. A bearing fault signal contains information not only about fault condition and fault type but also the severity of the fault. This means fault severity quantitative analysis is one of most active and valid ways to realize proper maintenance decision. Aiming at the deficiency of the research in bearing single point pitting fault quantitative diagnosis, a new back-propagation neural network method based on wavelet packet decomposition coefficient entropy is proposed. The three levels of wavelet packet coefficient entropy（WPCE） is introduced as a characteristic input vector to the BPNN. Compared with the wavelet packet decomposition energy ratio input vector, WPCE shows more sensitive in distinguishing from the different fault severity degree of the measured signal. The engineering application results show that the quantitative trend fault diagnosis is realized in the different fault degree of the single point bearing pitting fault. The breakthrough attempt from quantitative to qualitative on the pattern recognition of rolling element bearings fault diagnosis is realized.

Reflection of three-dimensional plane waves at the free surface of a rotating triclinic half-space under the context of generalized thermoelasticity

The reflection of three-dimensional(3D) plane waves in a highly anisotropic(triclinic) medium under the context of generalized thermoelasticity is studied. The thermoelastic nature of the 3D plane waves in an anisotropic medium is investigated in the perspective of the three-phase-lag(TPL), dual-phase-lag(DPL), Green-Naghdi-III(GNIII), Lord-Shulman(LS), and classical coupled(CL) theories. The reflection coefficients and energy ratios for all the reflected waves are obtained in a mathematical form. The rotational effects on the reflection characteristics of the 3D waves are discussed under the context of generalized thermoelasticity. Comparative analyses for the reflection coefficients of the waves among these generalized thermoelastic theories are performed. The energy ratios for each of the reflected waves establish the energy conservation law in the reflection phenomena of the plane waves. The highly anisotropic materials along with the rotation may have a significant role in the phenomenon of the reflection behavior of the 3D waves. Numerical computations are performed for the graphical representation of the study.

Small-current grounding fault location method based on transient main resonance frequency analysis

The small-current grounding fault in distribution network is hard to be located because of its weak fault features.To accurately locate the faults,the transient process is analyzed in this paper.Through the study we take that the main resonant frequency and its corresponding component is related to the fault distance.Based on this,a fault location method based on double-end wavelet energy ratio at the scale corresponding to the main resonant frequency is proposed.And back propagation neural network(BPNN)is selected to fit the non-linear relationship between the wavelet energy ratio and fault distance.The performance of this proposed method has been verified in different scenarios of a simulation model in PSCAD/EMTDC.