This study investigated the effects of rumen-protected methionine (RPM) and rumen-protected choline (RPC) on energy balance, postpartum lactation performance, antioxidant capacity and immune response in transition dairy cows. Forty-eight multiparous transition cows were matched and divided into four groups: control, 15 g/d RPC, 15 g/d RPM or 15 g/d RPC + 15 g/d RPM. Diet samples were collected daily before feeding, and blood samples were collected weekly from the jugular vein before morning feeding from 21 days prepartum to 21 days postpartum. Postpartum dry matter intake (DMI) was increased by both additives (P < 0.05), and energy balance values in supplemented cows were improved after parturition (P < 0.05). Both RPC and RPM decreased the plasma concentrations of non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), β-hydroxybutyric acid (BHBA), total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (P < 0.05), but increased the plasma levels of glucose, very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) and apolipoprotein B100 (ApoB 100, P < 0.05). The supplements improved milk production (P < 0.05), and increased (P < 0.05) or tended to increase (0.05 < P < 0.10) the contents of milk fat and protein. The post-ruminal choline and methionine elevated the blood antioxidant status, as indicated by total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity and the vitamin E concentration (P < 0.05), and reduced the plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) level (P < 0.05). Furthermore, RPM and RPC elevated the plasma interleukin 2 (IL-2) concentration and the CD4+/CD8+ T lymphocyte ratio in peripheral blood (P < 0.05). Alternatively, the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and IL-6 were decreased by RPM and RPC (P < 0.05). Overall, the regulatory responses of RPC and RPM were highly correlated with time and were more effective in the postpartum cows. The results demonstrated that dietary supplementation with RPC and RPM promoted energy balance by increasing postpartal DMI and regulating hepatic lipid metabolism, improved postpartum lactation performance and enhanced antioxidant capacity and immune function of transition dairy cows.

The objective of this experiment was to characterize the relationship among rumen fermentation variables, milk fatty acid profile, and dietary physically effective neutral detergent fiber (peNDF) content in a study that controlled for the potential confounding effects of dissimilar dry matter intake among treatments. Ten multiparous Xinong Saanen dairy goats were divided into 2 groups with 2 ruminally cannulated goats per group. Goats in each group were assigned to 1 of 2 dietary treatments (high and low peNDF) according to a 2×2 crossover design with 2 periods. The peNDF content of alfalfa hay (proportion of neutral detergent fiber retained on an 8.0-mm screen) was 42.1% for the high-peNDF and 14.5% for the low-peNDF group. To ensure similar dry matter intake, each morning the amount of alfalfa hay consumed on the prior day by the high-peNDF group was determined (amount offered minus morning refusals), and this was the amount of hay offered to the low-peNDF group that day. Each adaptation period consisted of 21d, followed by a 9-d sampling period. Dry matter intake and milk production and composition were similar between treatments. Milk energy efficiency increased with low dietary peNDF. Duration of pH below 5.60 was longer for goats fed the low-peNDF ration compared with the high-peNDF ration (4.08 vs. 0.41h/d); however, mean rumen pH (6.05 vs. 6.13) was not different between treatments. Reducing dietary peNDF increased rumen total volatile fatty acids (114.6 vs. 95.1mM) and decreased chewing time (404 vs. 673min/d), but did not affect the ratios of acetate, propionate, and butyrate. The relative abundance of Fibrobacter succinogenes and Ruminococcus flavefaciens increased with reduced dietary peNDF, but Ruminococcus albus proportions were not influenced by treatment. Reducing dietary peNDF decreased the proportion of iso C14:0, iso C15:0, and trans-11 C18:1 in milk fat, whereas the iso C17:0 and trans-10 C18:1 increased. This study demonstrated that low dietary peNDF in dairy goats increases rumen volatile fatty acids, reduces chewing time, and is correlated to the amount of F. succinogenes and R. flavefaciens.

No abstract

No abstract

In a mechanical interface, the contact surface topography has an important influence on the contact stiffness. In the contact processes of asperities, elastic-plastic change can lead to discontinuity and lack of smoothness at a critical contact point. The result is a large difference between the elastic-plastic deformation and the actual asperity deformation. Based on Hertz contact theory, the heights of asperities on a rough surface obey a Gaussian distribution. To take into consideration the continuity of elastic-plastic asperity deformation, we divide the elastic-plastic deformation into three stages: pre-elastic-plastic, mid-elastic-plastic, and post-elastic-plastic deformation. This establishes an elastic-plastic contact model of asperity at a continuous critical point. The contact model of a single asperity fits well with the Kogut–Etsion model and the Zhao–Maietta–Chang model, and the variation trend is consistent. At a lower plastic index, the present model coincides with classical models of contact area and contact load. At a higher plastic index, the simulation results of the present model differ from the Greenwood–Williamson model and the Chang–Etsion–Bogy model but are similar to results from the Kogut–Etsion and Zhao–Maietta–Chang models. This study provides a more accurate microscopic contact model for rough surfaces and a theoretical framework for interface design and analysis.

Packet routing is a fundamental problem in wireless networks in which routers decide the next hop for each packet in order to deliver it to its destination as quickly as possible. In order to overcome the shortcoming of non optimal forwarding path caused by fixed forwarding mode in geographic location-based routing algorithm, we investigated a new efficient packet routing strategy which combined with Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) algorithm (Proximal Policy Optimization: PPO) to minimize the hops and reduce the probability of encountering "routing hole" during the forwarding of the packets in complex networks. Each node in our network can make routing decisions to learn a routing policy that can not only use the greedy mode to maintain the efficiency of routing policy but also reduce the use of peripheral forwarding mode. The learning process of the DRL agent is based on the status information of the packet being transmitted and information of neighbor nodes within the communication range. Extensive simulations over dynamic network topologies and the number of nodes have shown that our packets routing agent can learn the optimal policy in terms of average packets delivery rate and the number of hops compared with Greedy Perimeter Stateless Routing (GPSR) protocol. The performance of PPO in large-scale action space is also verified, which provides a basis for the future researches to combine PPO technique with packet routing optimization.

For the statically indeterminate rotor structure of low-pressure rotor system in aero-engine, mechanics features of bearing deformation and rotor structure were analyzed, combined with the principle of virtual work, and the global stiffness matrix of the rotor system was deduced. According to the Lagrange method, the analytical dynamic model of statically indeterminate rotor system with three flexible supports based on the flexibility analysis was built. An analytical dynamic model of intermediate supporting misalignment was established on the basis of the model. The natural characteristic and unbalance response of aligned and misaligned statically indeterminate rotor system were obtained through the analytical solution, and the experimental verification was conducted. These findings indicate that intermediate bearing misalignment of statically indeterminate rotor system can not only produce the 2X component, but also make the 1X component change. The experimental results are essentially in agreement with the calculated ones. The study laid the foundations for model basis and experimental reference of the statically indeterminate rotor system design, dynamic modeling and vibration control.

In order to investigate the relationship between rock microfracture mechanism and acoustic emission (AE) signal characteristic parameters under split loads, the MTS322 servo-controlled rock mechanical test system was employed to carry out the Brazilian split tests on granite, marble, sandstone, and limestone, while FEI Quanta-200 scanning electron microscope system was employed to carry out the analysis of fracture morphology. The results indicate that different scales of mineral particle, mineral composition, and discontinuity have influence on the fracture characteristics of rock, as well as the b-value. The peak frequency distribution of the AE signal has obvious zonal features, and these distinct peak frequencies of four types of rock fall mostly in ranges of 0–100 kHz, 100–300 kHz, and above 300 kHz. Due to the different rock properties and mineral compositions, the proportions of peak frequencies in these intervals are also different among the four rocks, which are also acting on the b-value. In addition, for granite, the peak frequencies of AE signals are mostly distributed above 300 kHz for granite, marble, and limestone, which mainly derive from the internal fracture of k-feldspar minerals; for marble, the AE signals with peak frequency are mostly distributed in over 300 kHz, which mainly derive from the internal fracture of dolomite minerals and calcite minerals; AE signals for sandstone are mostly distributed in the range of 0–100 kHz, which mainly derive from the internal fracture of quartz minerals; for limestone, the AE signals with peak frequency are mostly distributed in over 300 kHz, which mainly derive from the internal fracture of granular-calcite minerals. The relationship between acoustic emission signal frequency of rock fracture and the fracture scale is constructed through experiments, which is of great help for in-depth understanding of the scaling relationship of rock fracture.