Effects of Crude Protein Level of Concentrate Supplement on Production Performance and Serum Biochemical Parameters in Post-fattening Hainan Yellow Cattle

[Objective]The paper was to investigate the effects of crude protein level of concentrate supplement on production performance and serum biochemical parameters of post-fattening Hainan Yellow Cattle.[Method]Twelve Hainan Yellow Cattles with the same genetic backgrounds and similar initial weight of(168.13±0.55)kg were randomly divided into three treatments.Cattle were fed with concentrate supplement containing different levels of crude protein.The trial lasted 60 d.[Result]The daily gain of 17.56%crude protein group was significantly higher than those of 15.55%and 13.56%crude protein groups(P<0.05),and the gross profit of 17.56%crude protein group was markedly higher than that of 13.56%crude protein group(P<0.05),but the feed gain ratio of 17.56%crude protein group was significantly lower than that of 13.56%crude protein group(P<0.05).Compared with 15.55%and 13.56%crude protein groups,the serum total protein content markedly increased(P<0.05),but the urea nitrogen level significantly decreased(P<0.05).[Conclusion]When crude protein level of concentrate supplement was 17.56%,post-fattening Hainan Yellow Cattle could obtain better production performance.

The Relationship Between Cross-Cultural Conflict Management Levels and Employee Organizational Performance in Cross-Border E-Commerce Corporations in China

This research focuses on the cross-cultural conflict management of cross-border e-commerce corporations in companies on employee organizational performance under conflict management such as power distance conflict,individualism,long-term orientation,indulgence and avoidance of uncertainty as the independent variables and employee organizational performance such as quality,efficiency,and profitability of organizational tasks as the dependent variable.With the advancement of China’s reform and opening up and the implementation of the“One Belt,One Road”strategy,the globalized economy has penetrated into various countries and regions.China trade exchanges with other countries have become more frequent,and have also set up branch factories and branches abroad.However,there are certain differences between the branch company and the domestic culture in the actual operation process.If the cross-border e-commerce corporations cannot handle these contradictions and differences well,the company may face difficulties such as cultural conflicts.For this reason,this paper makes a deep analysis of this,taking the cross-border e-commerce corporations in Guangxi as an example,and points out the problems existing in cross-cultural management in this region and putting forward personal opinions and solutions to related problems,and putting forward feasible solutions,enhances the understanding of involving conceptualizations of cross-cultural communication conflict and its management in the frame of cross-cultural conflicts management theory and provides references for the formulation of cultural conflict management measures for cross-border e-commerce corporations.So that enterprises can gain a firm foothold in the international market competition,enrich and enhance their soft power,and enhance their international status in the development of multinational regions.The result of this research will not only answer existing research questions,but also introduce new ideas and new questions for future research.

System-Level Performance Evaluation of Very High Complexity Media Applications : A H264/AVC Encoder Case Study

Given the substantially increasing complexity of embedded systems, the use of relatively detailed clock cycle-accurate simulators for the design-space exploration is impractical in the early design stages. Raising the abstraction level is nowadays widely seen as a solution to bridge the gap between the increasing system complexity and the low design productivity. For this, several system-level design tools and methodologies have been introduced to efficiently explore the design space of heterogeneous signal processing systems. In this paper, we demonstrate the effectiveness and the flexibility of the Sesame/Artemis system-level modeling and simulation methodology for efficient peformance evaluation and rapid architectural exploration of the increasing complexity heterogeneous embedded media systems. For this purpose, we have selected a system level design of a very high complexity media application;a H.264/AVC (Advanced Video Codec) video encoder. The encoding performances will be evaluated using system-level simulations targeting multiple heterogeneous multiprocessors platforms.

Simplified stiffness-based approach for seismic performance evaluation of moment-resisting frame

Based on the concept of stiffness degradation, a damage index of the whole frame and the storey is proposed for the frame seismic performance evaluation. The index is compatible with the non-linear static analysis （e. g. the pushover analysis）, and the structural damage is considered via plastic hinges. Simultaneously, a practical approach is developed to obtain the relationships between the proposed index and earthquake intensities based on the capacity spectrum method. The proposed index is then illustrated through two low-rise reinforced concrete frames, and it is also compared with some other indices. The results indicate that the proposed index is on the safe side and not sensitive to the lateral load pattern. The storey index is helpful to reflect the storey damage and to uncover the position of the weak storey. Finally, the relationship between performance levels and damage index values is also proposed through statistical analysis for the performance-based seismic evaluation.

Effects of Target and Distractor Saturations on the Cognitive Performance of an Integrated Display Interface

Color coding is often used to enhance decision quality in complex man-machine interfaces of integrated display systems. However, people are easily distracted by irrelevant colors and by the numerous data points and complex structures in the interface. Although an increasing number of studies are seriously focusing on the problem of achieving efficient color coding, few are able to determine the effects of target and distractor saturations on cognitive performance. To study the performances of target colors among distractors, a systematic experiment is conducted to assess the influence of high and low saturated targets on cognitive performance, and the affecting extent of different saturated distractors of homogeneous colors on targets. According to the analysis of the reaction time through the non-parametric statistical method, a calculation method of the cognitive performance of each color is proposed. Based on the calculation of the color differences and the accumulation of the reaction times, it is shown that with the different saturated distractors of homogeneous colors, the high saturated yellow targets perform better than the low saturated ones, and the green and blue targets have moderate performances. When searching for a singleton target placed oll a black background, the color difference between the target and the distractor should be more than 20AE＊ab units in the yellow saturation coding, whereas the color difference should be more than 40△E＊ab units in the blue and green saturation coding. In addition, as regards saturation coding, the influence of the color difference between the target and the background on cognitive performance is greater than that of the color difference between the target and the distractor. Seemingly, the hue attribute determines whether the saturation difference between the target and the distractor affects thc cognitive performance. Based on the experimental results, the simulation design of the instrument dials in a flight situation awareness interface is completed and tested. Simulation results show the feasibility of the method of choosing the target and distractor colors, and the proposed research provides the instruction for the color saturation design of the interface.

The Effect of Varied Dietary Crude Protein Levels with Balanced Amino Acids on Performance and Egg Quality Characteristics of Layers at First Laying Phase

Four diets were formulated to study the influence of varying crude protein levels on the performance, egg quality, serum and haematological characteristics at the first phase of laying cycle of sixty Bovan Nera laying birds that were randomly allotted to dietary treatments. The four experimental diets had five replicates each and three birds per repli-cate. Diet 1 contained 14% crude protein (CP), while diet 2 contained 15% CP, diets 3 and 4 contained 16% and 17% CP respectively. The experimental birds were fed for 10 weeks and the data collected were statistically analysed. Apparent variations recorded for all the performance characteristics such as Egg number, Hen-day production, Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) and weight gain were significantly different (p < 0.05). The best FCR value were recorded by birds fed 17% CP (3.45), while the highest weight gain mean value were also recorded by birds fed 17% CP value. Findings indicated a direct relationship between dietary crude protein values and performance.

Limb symmetry index in competitive alpine ski racers:Reference values and injury risk identification according to age-related performance levels

Purpose： The aims of this study were to assess differences of limb symmetry index （LSI） in strength- and coordination-related tasks between high-level, competitive, noninjured ski racers of different age-related performance levels and to prospectively assess limb differences as a possible risk factor for traumatic and overuse injury in youth ski racers. Methods： The study （Study 1） included 285 high-level competitive ski racers （125 females, 160 males） of 3 age-related performance levels and based on the school system： 95 youth （10-14 years, secondary modem school）, 107 adolescent （15-19 years, grammar school）, and 83 elite athletes （20-34 years）. To investigate the second aim （Study 2）, 67 of the 95 youth athletes were included and any traumatic or overuse injuries were prospectively recorded over 2 seasons. All athletes performed 4 unilateral tests （strength related： one-leg counter movement jump （OL-CMJ） and one-leg isometric/isokinetic press strength test （OL-ILS）; coordination related： one-leg stability test （OL-ST） and one-leg speedy jump test （OL-SJ））. The LSI was calculated by dividing the dominant leg by the nondominant leg and multiplying by 100. Kruskal-Wallis H tests and binary logistic regression analyses were conducted. Results： There were significant differences between the LSI of the 3 age-related performance-level groups only in the strength-related tests： the OL-CMJ （X^2（2, 285） = 9.09; p = 0.01） and the OL-ILS （X^2（2,285） = 14.79; p 〈 0.01）. The LSI for OL-ILS was found to be a significant risk factor for traumatic injury in youth ski racers （Wald = 7.08; p 〈 0.01）. No significant risk factors were found for overuse injuries. Conclusion： Younger athletes display slightly greater LSI values only in the strength-related tests. The cut-off value of limb differences of 〈 10% for return to sport decisions seems to be appropriate for elite athletes, but for youth and adolescent athletes it has to be critically discussed. It seems to be necessary to define thresholds based on specific performance tasks （strength vs. coordination related） rather than on generalizations, and age-related performance levels must be considered. Limb differences in unilateral leg extension strength represent a significant injury risk factor in youth ski racers.2018 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Shanghai University of Sport. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license. （http：//creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/）.

Effects of Different Dietary Energy and Protein Levels on Meat Performance and Meat Quality of Jinghai Yellow Chickens

To investigate the effect of different dietary energy and protein levels on meat performance and meat quality of Jinghai yellow chickens, 480 43-day old Jinghai yellow chickens with similar weight were randomly divided into four experimental groups： experimental group 1 （protein 15%, metabolic energy 9.95 MJ/kg）, experimental group 2 （protein 16%, metabolic energy 10.95 MJ/kg）, experimental group 3 （protein 17%, metabolic energy 12.65 MJ/kg） and experimental group 4 （ protein 18%, metabolic energy 13.95 MJ/kg）, respectively. All chickens were slaughtered at 112-day old. The breast and leg muscles of Jinghai yellow chickens were collected, to determine the slaughter performance, conventional meat quality and muscle chemical indicators. The results indicated that dressing-out percentage and eviscerated yield percentage in four experimental groups were above 87.27% and 67.00%, respectively; other slaughter performance indicators exhibited no significant differences among various groups （P 〉 0.05 ） ; breast muscle color of hens in experimental group 4 varied significantly from that in other three groups （ P 〈 0.05 ） ; leg muscle color of hens in experimental group 2 varied extremely significantly from that in other three groups （ P 〈 0.01 ） ; water-holding capacity of breast muscles of hens in experimental group 3 was significantly higher than that in experimental group 4 （P 〈 0.05 ） ; thiamine content of breast muscles of cocks in experimental group 3 was significandy higher than that in experimental group 2 （ P 〈 0.05 ） ; however, other properties exhibited no significant differenees among various groups （P 〉 0.05 ）.

Fragility Curves of Existing RC Buildings Based on Specific Structural Performance Levels

In seismic risk mitigation policies, fragility functions of existing buildings play a fundamental role. In this paper, a procedure to develop analytical fragility curves for Moment Resisting Frame Reinforced Concrete buildings is presented. The design of the selected building typologies was performed according to the codes at the time of construction using force-based methods and the state of the practice at the time of construction. A total of 216 building classes were defined, considering different ages, number of storeys, infill panels, plan dimensions, beam stiffness, and concrete strength. The investigated buildings can be considered low-engineered buildings, using no seismic codes or old seismic codes. The seismic capacity of the selected models representing the existing RC buildings has been evaluated through non-linear dynamic simulations. Seismic response has been analyzed, considering various peak and integral intensity measures and various response parameters, such as ductility demands and Interstorey Drift Ratio (IDR). A new relationship among structural performance, damage levels and interstorey drift ratios for each studied type is introduced, which is calibrated using the damage levels described in EMS98. It is important to highlight that in this study, different thresholds of IDR have been associated with different typologies, considering their different ductility member levels after their different structural responses. Fragility Curves (FCs) for the studied structural types are set up, developed and discussed.

Dose-effect Study of Lipoic Acid Supplementation on Growth Performance in a Weaned Rat Model

The present study investigated the doseeffect relationship of graded levels of lipoic acid supplementation on growth performance and small intestinal development in a weaned rat model. Seventy-two weaned Sprague-Dawley rats, were fed semipurified diets （ n = 12 ）, either unsupplemented （ group I） or supplemented with 12.5,25,125, or 250 mg/kg body weight （ BW ） lipoic acid （ groups HI, IV, V, and VI）, with 200 mg/kg BW aureomycin as the antibiot- ic control （ group II）. The experiment lasted 21 days. Growth performance was not significantly different （P 〉 0.05） between rats under the antibiotic control （group I） and rats fed low levels （12. 5 and 25 mg/kg BW） of lipoic acid （groups III and IV）. In contrast,high level （125 and 250 mg/kg BW） lipoic acid supplementation （groups V and VI） （P 〈 0.05 ） reduced weight gain, feed consumption, and feed efficiency. In addition, high levels （125 and 250 mg/kg BW） of lipoic acid significantly （P 〈 0.05） reduced the villus height/crypt depth ratio, as well as the numbers of lactobacillus, total aerobes, and total anerobes in the gastrointestinal tract compared with the other treatments, which meant that high levels of lipoic acid impaired intestinal morphology and disordered the balance of intestinal microbiology. Furthermore,the results showed that high levels of lipoic acid supplementation （ P 〈 0.05 ） elevated interferon- γ and interleukin-2, but dramatically （ P 〈 0.05 ） depressed interleukin-4 and interleukin-10 compared with the low levels of lipoic acid supplementation and the control group, which indicated that high levels of lipoic acid would induce bias of Th1/Th2 lymphocytes. Taken together, the results indicate that lipoic acid supplementation can＇ t improve growth performance and intestinal development of normal animals, especially,high levels （ ≥ 125 mg/kg BW） of lipoic acid supplementation restrained growth performance and intestinal development, in association with unbalance of certain cytokines.

Loon Nest Viability Model: A Performance Indicator for Improving Water-Level Regulation of Large Water Bodies

Rule curves dictating target water levels for management have been implemented in several water bodies in North America over the last 70 years or more. Anthropogenic alterations of water levels are known to affect several components of wetland ecosystems. Evaluating the influence of rule curves on biological components with simple performance indicators could help harmonize water level management with wetland integrity. We assessed the potential of using the probability of common loon nest viability as a performance indicator of long-term impacts of rule curves on nesting wetland birds. We analyzed the outcome of rule curves on the probability of loon nest viability in Rainy Lake and Namakan Reservoir, 2 regulated water bodies located along the Ontario-Minnesota border. The analysis was focused on 4 hydrological time series between 1950 and 2013: 2 sets of time series simulating rule curves used to manage the water bodies in the past decades (referred to as the 1970RC and 2000RC), one of the historical measured water levels, and one of computed natural water levels. The probability of loon nest viability under the 1970RC was 2× higher than under natural conditions in both water bodies. The probability was also 2× higher under the 2000RC than under the 1970RC in the Namakan Reservoir but not in Rainy Lake. The rule curves generally improved conditions for nesting loons in both water bodies. The presented performance indicator can be used to evaluate future rule curves before they are implemented in the Rainy-Namakan or other similar systems.

The effects of text structure, structure awareness and proficiency level on EFL learners＇ reading test performance

The present study probed into the effects of text structure, structure awareness and proficiency level on EFL learners＇ reading test performance. There are 112 college-level students participated in the experiment and their English proficiency belonged to distinct levels. The subjects＇ performance on the recall of two passages written in different types of structure was examined. Results of statistical indicate that text structure, structure awareness and proficiency level all have main effects on the subjects＇ reading performance. More specifically, two major findings emerged from the results of the investigation. One the one hand, text structures significantly affected the quantity but not the quality of the information recalled while proficiency level and structure awareness had significant impact on both the quantity and quality of information recalled. On the other hand, structure awareness was irrelevant to either text structure or proficiency level. The implications of the findings for teaching L2/FL reading were suggested.

An Analysis of Factors Influencing Entrepreneurs’ Performance in Business after Returning Home——Empirical Study Based on a Sichuan Sample

This paper uses survey data regarding native Sichuan entrepreneurs who have developed businesses outside of Sichuan Province and then returned,along with their organizations,to Sichuan.Our goal was to identify and examine the factors influencing their entrepreneurial performance by using SEM-PLS.The results show that policy support,social relations and entrepreneurial self-efficacy have significant roles in entrepreneurial performance.No direct influence from the cultural or market environments was detected.Therefore,this study indicates that for entrepreneurs returning to their hometown the government should provide social and financial support for small and micro sized entrepreneurial ventures while the entrepreneurs should constantly strengthen their entrepreneurial selfefficacy by obtaining information through cultivated social relationships and market opportunities that will allow them to enhance their entrepreneurial performance.

Performance prediction of expressway pavement in high maintenance level areas based on cosine deterioration equation: A case study of Zhejiang Province in China

Accurate prediction of performance decay law is an important basis for long-term planning of maintenance strategy.The statistical regression prediction model is the most widely employed method to calculate pavement performance due to its advantages such as the small amount of calculation and good accuracy,but the traditional prediction model seems not applicable to the high maintenance level areas with excellent pavement conditions.In this paper,the service life and the cumulative number of the axle load were determined as the independent variables of prediction models of pavement performance.The pavement condition index(PCI)and rutting depth index(RDI)were selected as maintenance decision control indexes to establish the unified prediction model of PCI and RDI respectively by applying the cosine deterioration equation.Results reveal that the deterioration law of PCI presents an anti-S type or concave type and the deterioration law of RDI shows an obvious concave type.The prediction model proposed in this study added the pavement maintenance standard factor d,which brings the model parameterα(reflecting the road life)and the deterioration equations are more applicable than the traditional standard equations.It is found that the fitting effects of PCI and RDI prediction models with different traffic grades are relatively similar to the actual service state of the pavements.

Numerical Simulations of the Performance of Steel Guardrails Under Vehicle Impact

Road side barriers are constructed to protect passengers and contain vehicles when a vehicle crashes into a barrier. In general, full-scale crash testing needs to be carried out if a geometrically and structurally equivalent barrier has not previously been proven to meet the requirements of containing the vehicle and dissipating sufficient impact energy for passenger protection. As full-scale crash testing is very expensive, the number of data that can be measured in a test is usually limited, and it may not always be possible to obtain good quality measurements in such a test, a reliable and efficient numerical simulation of crash testing is therefore very useful. This paper presents finite element simulations of a 3-rail steel road traffic barrier under vehicle impact. The performance levels defined in Australian Standards AS5100 Clause 10.5 for these barriers are checked. The numerical simulations show that the barrier is able to meet low performance levels. However, the maximum deceleration is higher than the acceptable limit for passenger protection. If present, a kerb launches the vehicles into the barrier, allowing for the possibility of overriding the barrier under certain circumstances, but it redirects the vehicle and reduces the incident angle, which reduces impact force on the barrier. Further investigation into all common kerb profiles on roads should be carried out, as only one kerb profile is investigated in this study.

Effect of N-Carbamylglutamate(NCG) on Growth Performance of ICR Mice

To understand the effects of self synthesized N-carbamylglutamate（NCG） on growth performance of ICR mice,mice were fed with the basal diet adding with 0.025%,0.05% and 0.1% NCG for 28 d.Effects of different levels of NCG on body weight of mice were observed.The re-sults showed that the addition of NCG in the feed could improve the growth performance of mice,and the growth-promoting effect enhanced with the increasing dose.

Performance Testing of Tractor Hydraulic Fluids to Simulate In-Use Conditions

Tractor hydraulic fluids are tested to maximize their performance levels and to ensure manufacturer′s standards are met.Common tractor hydraulic fluid tests include: Gear Wear Protection,Brake Chatter Reduction,Wet-Clutch Capacity,and Pump Performance tests.These tests are run by Southwest Research Institute,in the U.S.A.,for tractors built by John Deere and Case-New Holland.This paper details current methods for evaluating tractor hydraulic fluids.The tests that are described utilize full size equipment and were developed by the tractor′s original equipment manufacturers(OEMs).

Seismic fragility analysis of composite frame structure based on performance

Steel-concrete composite structures that share the advantages of both steel structure and concrete structure have been developed rapidly and used widely. It has been a popular structure in high-rise buildings in recent years. Although more and more composite structures have been used in earthquake area, only a few literatures about fragility analysis of this type of structure are available. In this paper, a fragility analysis method based on performance is proposed, in which both the uncertainty due to variability in structures and ground motion are considered. Seismic fragility analysis is performed for a 15-story composite beam-concrete-filled square steel tube column frame by the proposed method. The top-drift-angle and the story-drift-angle are used as quantitative indexes to define the four different performance levels. Then seismic demand probability analysis is carried out and fragility curves are derived to assess the seismic performance of this type of structure.

Effects of Dietary Energy Density in the Dry Period on the Production Performance and Metabolism of Dairy Cows

Thirty healthy Holstein dairy cows in the dry period were randomly divided into three groups and fed diets with different net energy for lactation (group A: 1.2 Mcal/kg DM, group B: 1.3 Mcal/kg DM, and group C: 1.4 Mcal/kg DM) for 8 weeks prepartum. Thereafter, dairy cows were fed a diet of the same formulation (1.66 Mcal/kg DM) for 12 weeks postpartum. The effects of different dietary energy densities in the dry period on postpartum performance and metabolic parameters of dairy cows were observed. Milk yield was reduced by 14.5% in the low-energy diet group;however, there were no differences in milk composition between the three groups. Postpartum plasma β-hydroxybutyrate, non-esterified fatty acid, growth hormone, and glucagon levels were significantly decreased whereas leptin and neuropeptide levels were elevated in the low-energy diet group. Moreover, body fat mobilization was attenuated, and the decline in postpartum body condition was reduced in the low-energy diet group, thus effectively reducing the postpartum negative energy balance.

Testing and Analysis of VoIPv6 (Voice over Internet Protocol V6) Performance Using FreeBSD

This study focuses on testing and quality measurement and analysis of VoIPv6 performance. A client, server codes were developed using FreeBSD. This is a step before analyzing the Architectures of VoIPv6 in the current internet in order for it to cope with IPv6 traffic transmission requirements in general and specifically voice traffic, which is being attracting the efforts of research, bodes currently. These tests were conducted in the application level without looking into the network level of the network. VoIPv6 performance tests were conducted in the current tunneled and native IPv6 aiming for better end-to-end VoIPv6 performance. The results obtained in this study were shown in deferent codec's for different bit rates in Kilo bits per second, which act as an indicator for the better performance of G.711 compared with the rest of the tested codes.