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LLC and CLLC resonant converters are good candidates for the isolated dc-dc stage in EV on-board chargers due to their capability of achieving zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) at full load range. The synchronous rectifier (SR) is usually utilized to reduce the conduction loss and improve the system efficiency compared with the conventional diode bridge rectifier. In this paper, a high-dv/dt-immune, fine-controlled and parameter-adaptive gate driving scheme is presented for GaN-based synchronous rectifier in EV on-board chargers. A novel self-driven SR drain-to-source voltage sensing circuit is proposed. The circuit provides a low-impedance bypassing path for the displacement current induced by the high dv/dt, which addresses the over-voltage and oscillation issues for the controller input. The detailed operating principles and the design considerations of the novel sensing circuit are discussed as well. Moreover, the adaptive SR on-time tuning algorithm is implemented, which avoids the influence from the loop stray inductance and the propagation delay in the path and reaches the SR zero current turn-off moment with fine accuracy. A 3.3 kW, 500 kHz CLLC resonant converter prototype is built to validate the proposed SR gate driving scheme. With the employment of the proposed gate driving scheme, the SR almost achieves zero current turn-off for the whole operating frequency range. The prototype demonstrates the peak efficiency of 97.6% and the power density of 130 W/inch3.

SiC MOSFET has superior switching performance over Si IGBT in terms of power loss and temperature characteristics. In order to significantly improve the efficiency and power density of medium voltage drive and high-power converters, this paper proposes a current source gate driver for series connected SiC MOSFETs, forming a universal block of series connected SiC devices with higher voltage rating. Proposed current source gate driver has better gate voltage synchronization performance because of its constant gate current and novel gate driver structure. By implementing synchronized gate voltages, the snubber circuit is designed only for power loop difference, gate displacement current difference, and the snubber can be minimized or even be eliminated. The proposed block has been verified by LTSPICE simulations and multi-pulse test experiments under 200kHz, 2kV, 0~60A condition using three 1.2kV/60A C2M0040120D SiC MOSFETs connected in series.

In this article, event-triggered model predictive control (EMPC) of continuous-time nonlinear systems with bounded disturbances is studied. Two novel event-triggered control schemes are proposed. In the first strategy, an event-triggering condition, designed based on the state error between the actual system state and the optimal one, with an absolute threshold is considered. In the second strategy, an event-triggering condition with a mixed threshold is designed to further save the computational resources. The minimal interevent times of both event-triggered control schemes are obtained to avoid the Zeno behavior. Sufficient conditions of recursive feasibility for these two triggering strategies, which refer to the prediction horizon, the triggering level, and the disturbance bound, are obtained, respectively. Input-to-state practical stability (ISpS) of both event-triggered control systems is established without requiring the system state entering the terminal set in finite time, respectively. Finally, the numerical simulation shows the effectiveness of the proposed methods.

This study aimed to explore whether dietary rumen-protected L-arginine (RP-Arg) or N-carbamylglutamate (NCG) supplementation to feed-restricted pregnant ewes counteracts fetal hepatic inflammation and innate immune dysfunction associated with intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) in ovine fetuses. On d 35 of pregnancy, twin-bearing Hu ewes (n = 32) were randomly assigned to 4 treatment groups (8 ewes and 16 fetuses per group) and fed diets containing 100% of the NRC requirements (CON), 50% of the NRC requirements (RES), RES + RP-Arg (20 g/d) (RESA), or RES + NCG (5 g/d) (RESN). At 08:00 on d 110 of gestation, fetal blood and liver tissue samples were collected. The levels of triglyceride, free fatty acid, cholesterol and β-hydroxybutyrate in the fetal blood of RESA and RESN groups were lower (P

Environmental cadmium (Cd) exposure has been associated with severe liver injury. In contrast, melatonin (Mel) is a candidate drug therapy for Cd-induced liver injury due to its diverse hepatoprotective activities. However, the precise molecular mechanism by which Mel alleviates the Cd-induced liver injury, as well as the Mel–gut microbiota interaction in liver health, remains unknown. In this study, mice were given oral gavage CdCl2 and Mel for 10 weeks before the collection of liver tissues and colonic contents. The role of the gut microbiota in Mel’s efficacy in alleviating the Cd-induced liver injury was evaluated by the gut microbiota depletion technique in the presence of antibiotic treatment and gut microbiota transplantation (GMT). Our results revealed that the oral administration of Mel supplementation mitigated liver inflammation, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and mitophagy, improved the oxidation of fatty acids, and counteracted intestinal microbial dysbiosis in mice suffering from liver injury. It was interesting to find that neither Mel nor Cd administration induced any changes in the liver of antibiotic-treated mice. By adopting the GMT approach where gut microbiota collected from mice in the control (CON), Cd, or Mel + Cd treatment groups was colonized in mice, it was found that gut microbiota was involved in Cd-induced liver injury. Therefore, the gut microbiota is involved in the Mel-mediated mitigation of ER stress, liver inflammation and mitophagy, and the improved oxidation of fatty acids in mice suffering from Cd-induced liver injury.

A 48 V Belt-Driven Starter Generator (BSG) System is featured with high output current, high starting torque, and highly efficient thermal management. This paper firstly elaborates hardware design considerations of a high power density three-phase BSG inverter to address the challenges of even current distribution among paralleled MOSFETs, small drain-source voltage spike and good thermal dissipation. In order to satisfy the high-current requirement, a careful selection of MOSFET device with high-current rating and low on-resistance has been presented. In order to suppress circulating current among paralleled devices, individual gate resistors have been placed in the gate loop of each MOSFET. In order to provide good thermal dissipation, an Insulated Metal Substrate (IMS) board and single-layer layout technique have been implemented. Multiple low-profile electrolytic capacitors are used to increase the power density of the prototype. Moreover, the use of automotive gate driver IC TLE9180 and microcontroller TC1782 makes the prototype more readily accepted by industry. An improved Interior Permanent Magnet (IPM) motor control strategy and a pump-back system based on a virtual machine concept have been implemented to facilitate the validation of the prototype under rated condition without using a real motor. The control algorithm automatically adjusts the onset of field-weakening by using an additional inverter voltage loop and takes into account the nonlinearity of the stator flux linkage by using curve fitting technique, which makes the motor drive adaptive to machine parameter changes as well as DC bus voltage fluctuation. A three-phase BSG inverter prototype with a peak power of 12 kW has been built and tested. The prototype power density has reached 20.3 kW/L. Both PLECS simulations and hardware experiments show a continuous and stable operation with up to 200 A phase current and up to 600 Hz output frequency.

Precision dietary interventions (e.g., altering proportions of dietary protein fractions) has significant implications for the efficiency of nutrient use in ruminants, as well as lowering their environmental footprint, specifically nitrogen (N) emissions. Soluble protein (SP) is defined as the protein fraction that is rapidly degraded in the rumen (e.g., non-protein N and true protein), and our previous study found that regulating SP levels could improve N efficiency in Hu sheep. Thus, the present study was conducted to explore in vitro how protein fractions with different SP levels modulate the rumen microbial community and its association with N metabolism. Four dietary treatments with different SP proportions and similar crude protein (CP) content (~14%) were formulated (% of CP): 20 (S20), 30 (S30), 40 (S40) and 50 (S50). Results showed that NH3-N content increased with increasing SP levels at 4, 12 and 24 h; TVFA, acetate, propionate and valerate were higher in S30 and S40 (p < 0.05) and had quadratic effects (p < 0.05). Moreover, dry matter digestibility (DMD) and N digestibility (ND) were all decreased with S20 and S50 (p < 0.05). The S30 and S40 treatments increased the abundance of Bacteroidetes and Prevotella (Prevotella_ruminicola) but decreased the abundance of Firmicutes and Proteobacteria (p < 0.05). Bacterial pathways related to amino acid and fatty acid metabolism also were enriched with S30 and S40. The abundance of Entodinium was increased with S30 and S40 and had a positive correlation with Prevotella, and these two genera also played an important role in N metabolism and VFA synthesis of this study. In conclusion, bacterial and protozoal communities were altered by the level of SP (% of CP), with higher SP levels (~50% of CP) increasing the microbial diversity but being detrimental to rumen N metabolism.

Silage is rich in nutrients, which can make up for the lack of seasonal roughage, and has a certain promotion effect on the intensive feeding of ruminants. In addition, silage can maintain the rumen function of ruminants to a certain extent and reduce the risk of rumen acidosis and abomasum translocation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the mixed silage of Chinese cabbage waste and rice straw (mixed silage) on antioxidant performance, rumen microbial population, and fermentation metabolism of Hu sheep. The 16 healthy Hu sheep (eight rams and eight ewes, 39.11 ± 1.16 kg, 5.5 months) were randomly divided into two groups (the control group and the mixed silage group) with eight animals (four rams and four ewes) in each group. The control group was fed with farm roughage (peanut seedlings, corn husk, and high grain shell) as forage, and the mixed silage group was fed with the mixed silage as forage. The results showed that the mixed silage had no effect on the growth performance of Hu sheep (

The extensive use of high-concentration copper (Cu) in feed additives, fertilizers, pesticides, and nanoparticles (NPs) inevitably causes significant pollution in the ecological environment. This type of chain pollution begins with animal husbandry: first, Cu accumulation in animals poisons them; second, high Cu enters the soil and water sources with the feces and urine to cause toxicity, which may further lead to crop and plant pollution; third, this process ultimately endangers human health through consumption of livestock products, aquatic foods, plants, and even drinking water. High Cu potentially alters the antibiotic resistance of soil and water sources and further aggravates human disease risks. Thus, it is necessary to formulate reasonable Cu emission regulations because the benefits of Cu for livestock and plants cannot be ignored. The present review evaluates the potential hazards and benefits of high Cu in livestock, the environment, the plant industry, and human health. We also discuss aspects related to bacterial and fungal resistance and homeostasis and perspectives on the application of Cu-NPs and microbial high-Cu removal technology to reduce the spread of toxicity risks to humans.

In this article, a high-efficiency high-power-density wide-bandgap-based CLLC resonant converter with a low-stray-capacitance and well-heat-dissipated planar transformer is presented, which is used as the isolated dc–dc stage for an electric vehicle on-board charger. A generalized planar transformer design methodology is proposed and validated by practical designs and experimental tests. A novel and simple transformer configuration is proposed to reduce the winding stray capacitance and enhance the winding thermal dissipation. The proposed transformer configuration is compared with different planar transformer designs, and the tradeoffs of employing the proposed design are well analyzed. Moreover, the system design and optimization of the high-efficiency high-power-density CLLC resonant converter is studied. The proposed transformer design and the system optimization approach are employed in a 6.6-kW/500-kHz CLLC resonant converter prototype. The prototype achieves a peak efficiency of 97.85% and a power density of 114 W/in $^\text {3}$ .

The influence of dietary supplementation of L-arginine (Arg) or N-carbamylglutamate (NCG) on the hepatic antioxidant status in intrauterine-growth-retarded (IUGR) suckling lambs remains unclear. The current work aimed to investigate the regulatory mechanisms whereby dietary Arg or NCG alter hepatic antioxidant status in suckling lambs suffering from IUGR. Forty-eight newborn Hu lambs of normal birth weight (CON) and IUGR were allocated randomly into four groups of 12 animals each: CON (4.25 ± 0.14 kg), IUGR (3.01 ± 0.12 kg), IUGR + 1% Arg (2.99 ± 0.13 kg), or IUGR + 0.1% NCG (3.03 ± 0.11 kg). All lambs were raised for a period of 21 days from 7 to 28 days after birth. Compared with the IUGR suckling animals, glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and reduced glutathione (GSH) content were greater (P < 0.05), and protein carbonyl and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels were reduced (P < 0.05) in the livers of both IUGR + 1% Arg and 0.1% NCG suckling animals. Relative to IUGR suckling lambs, supplementing with Arg or NCG markedly reduced (P < 0.05) reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, apoptosis, and necrosis in liver. Relative to IUGR suckling lambs, protein and mRNA expression of GSH-Px1, SOD2, catalase (CAT), heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), inducible nitric oxide (NO) synthase (iNOS), and epithelial NO synthase (eNOS) increased in IUGR animals receiving Arg or NCG (P < 0.05). Both Arg and NCG can protect neonates from IUGR-induced hepatic oxidative damage through promoting the expression of antioxidative enzymes (including SOD, CAT, and GSH-Px), phase II metabolizing enzymes, and activation of the NO pathway.

The period circadian regulator 2 (

The digestive tract microorganisms play a very important role in the host's nutrient intake, environmental suitability, and affect the host's physiological mechanism. Previous studies showed that in different seasons, mammalian gut microbes would be different. However, most of them are concentrated in wild animals. It remains unclear how seasonal change affects the gut microbes of Chinese merino fine-wool Sheep. Therefore, in this experiment, we continuously collected blood and feces samples of 50 Chinese merino fine-wool sheep in different seasons, measured the physiological indicators of blood, and passed 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, determined the microbial community structure of fecal microorganisms and predicted flora function by PICRUSt. The results of blood physiological indicators showed that WBC, Neu and Bas in spring were significantly higher than those of other seasons. Fecal microbial sequencing revealed seasonal changes in gut microbial diversity and richness. Among them, Chinese merino fine-wool sheep had the highest gut microbes in summer. Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were the dominant phyla, and they were unaffected by seasonal fluctuations. LEfSE analysis was used to analyze representative microorganisms in different seasons. The Lachnospiraceae and its genera (Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group, Lachnospiraceae_AC2044_group, g_unclassified_f_ Lachnospiraceae) were representative microorganisms in the three seasons of spring, summer and winter with harsh environmental conditions; while in autumn with better environmental conditions, the Ruminococcaceae and its genus (Ruminococcaceae_UCG-009 and Ruminococcaceae_UCG-005) were the representative microorganism. In autumn, the ABC transporter and the pyruvate metabolic pathway were significantly higher than other seasons. Correlation analysis results showed that Lachnospiraceae participated in the ABC transporters metabolic pathway, which caused changes in the blood physiological indicators. Overall, our results showed that, in response to seasonal changes, Chinese merino fine-wool sheep under house-feeding have adjusted their own gut microbial community structure, causing changes in the metabolism, and thus changing the physiological conditions of the blood. In the cold season, producers should focus on regulating the nutritional level of feed, enhancing the level of butyric acid in young animals to increase the ABC transporter, resist the external harsh environment, and improve the survival rate.

Regular environmental light-dark (LD) cycle-regulated period circadian clock 2 (

This study determined the effect of temperament on antioxidant capacity and the relationship between antioxidant capacity and the contents of amino acids (AA) and fatty acids (FA) in muscle of Hu sheep. Organ and muscle samples of five calm and five nervous Hu sheep were collected to determine the antioxidant capacity and the contents of AA and FA in muscle tissue. The concentrations of malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide excretion enzyme (SOD) in muscle and intestinal tissue of calm Hu sheep were lower than those of nervous Hu sheep (p < 0.01), and the activity of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in liver of calm Hu sheep was significantly higher than that of nervous Hu sheep (p = 0.050). The content of AA of calm Hu sheep was higher than that of nervous Hu sheep, especially the content of reductive amino acids, which was significantly higher than that of nervous Hu sheep (p = 0.029). Fatty acid content of nervous Hu sheep was higher than that of calm type, and saturated fatty acid content was significantly higher than that of calm type (p = 0.001). The SOD content in muscle tissue was positively correlated with the contents of aspartic acid (Asp), alanine (Ala) and lysine (Lys). Catalase (CAT) activity was positively correlated with Ala content. There was a significant positive correlation between total antioxidants (T-AOC) and glutamate (Glu) (p < 0.05). MDA concentration was positively correlated with lauric acid (C12:0), triseconic acid (C13:0), myristic acid (C14:0) content (p < 0.01), and ginkgo acid (C15:0) content. The total antioxidants (T-AOC) was negatively correlated with stearic acid (C18:0) (p < 0.05). Our conclusion is that the antioxidant capacity of calm Hu sheep is superior to that of nervous Hu sheep, which may be due to the higher AA (especially reductive amino acids (Arg, Lys, Ala and Glu)) content in the muscle and the lower FA (especially SFA) content, which improve the antioxidant capacity of the organism and allow for further exploration of the mechanisms by which animal temperament affects antioxidant performance.

The rumen of ruminants, as well as the colon of monogastric animals, are inhabited by over one trillion bacteria, fungi, and protozoa, and these are emerging as critical regulators in dietary micronutrients and animal health [...]

Previous studies have revealed that dietary

The voltage rating of the commercial Gallium Ni-tride (GaN) power devices are limited to 600/650 V due to the lateral structure. Stacking the low-voltage rating devices is a straightforward approach to block higher dc-link voltage. However, the unbalanced voltage sharing can occur due to the discrepancies in the gate driving loops, the device parameter tolerance and the device-to-ground displacement currents for the series-connected devices in the stack. In this paper, a novel closed-loop current source gate driver is proposed, which addresses the voltage imbalance issue of series-connected GaN HEMTs for both hard switching and soft switching scenarios. The proposed current source gate driver controls the device switching timing and the dv/dt with fine accuracy by directly regulating the device gate current. Without the employment of the lossy snubber circuit or the external Miller capacitor, the switching energy and the switching speed are almost not compromised for each individual device. Meanwhile, the closed-loop strategy improves the adaptivity to different operating conditions. A series-connected GaN-based multiple pulse tester is built to validate the proposed current source gate driver and the voltage balancing strategies in different switching scenarios.

Rumen functional bacteria are crucial for the homeostasis of rumen fermentation and micro-ecology. Cellulolytic bacteria, amylolytic bacteria, protein- and fat-degrading bacteria, lactic acid-producing bacteria, lactic acid-consuming bacteria, methanogens, and others can all be found in the rumen flora and help the host and other microorganisms convert feed into energy. For instance, Ruminococcus flavefaciens, Ruminococcus albus, and Fibrobacter succinogenes are the three most prevalent fiber-degrading bacteria. The digestion and metabolism of various nutrients and the absorption in rumen epithelium can greatly enhance host defense mechanisms and health production in ruminants. However, directly feeding live bacteria is prone to negative environmental effects. Therefore, the micro-encapsulation of film-forming and acid-resistant wall materials can become a great means of encapsulating naked bacteria into tiny particles. It can maintain the activity of functional flora, boost the function of the intestinal barrier, and improve its capacity for colonization on the surface of the rumen and colon mucosa. Therefore, the present review evaluates the latent progress of main functional bacteria and the applied techniques of micro-encapsulation in the rumen, in order to provide more references for the development and application of rumen-functional bacteria.

Gut hormones are not only able to regulate digestive, absorptive, and immune mechanisms of the intestine through biological rhythms, but impact the host through their interactions with intestinal microorganisms. Whether hormones in ruminal fluid have an association with the ruminal ecology is unknown. Objectives of the study were to examine relationships between the diurnal change in ruminal hormones and microbiota in lactating cows, and their associations in vivo and in vitro. For the in vivo study, six cows of similar weight (566.8 ± 19.6 kg), parity (3.0 ± 0.0), and milk performance (8,398.7 ± 1,392.9 kg/y) were used. They were adapted to natural light for 2 weeks before sampling and fed twice daily at 07:00 a.m. and 14:00 p.m. Serum, saliva, and ruminal fluid samples were collected at 02:00, 10:00, and 18:00 on the first day and 06:00, 14:00, and 22:00 on the second day of the experimental period. The concentrations of melatonin (MLT), growth hormone (GH), and prolactin (PRL) were measured via radioimmunoassay, whereas amplicon sequencing data were used to analyze relative abundance of microbiota in ruminal fluid. JTK_CYCLE analysis was performed to analyze circadian rhythms of hormone concentrations as well as the relative abundance of microbiota. For the in vitro study, exogenous MLT (9 ng) was added into ruminal fluid incubations to investigate the impacts of MLT on ruminal microbiota. The results not only showed that rumen fluid contains MLT, but the diurnal variation of MLT and the relative abundance of 9% of total rumen bacterial operational taxonomic units (OTUs) follow a circadian rhythm. Although GH and PRL were also detected in ruminal fluid, there was no obvious circadian rhythm in their concentrations. Ruminal MLT was closely associated with Muribaculaceae, Succinivibrionaceae, Veillonellaceae, and Prevotellaceae families in vivo. In vitro, these families were significantly influenced by melatonin treatment, as melatonin treatment increased the relative abundance of families Prevotellaceae, Muribaculaceae while it reduced the relative abundance of Succinivibrionaceae, Veillonellaceae. Collectively, ruminal microbes appear to maintain a circadian rhythm that is associated with the profiles of melatonin. As such, data suggest that secretion of melatonin into the rumen could play a role in host-microbe interactions in ruminants.

The synchronous rectifier (SR) is usually utilized to reduce the conduction loss and reverse recovery loss compared with the conventional diode bridge rectifier. However, the precise detection of the SR current zero-crossing is very challenging in high-frequency and high-power-density applications. The commercial SR drivers suffer from poor zero-crossing detection accuracy due to the device package inductance. Meanwhile, the conventional diode/FET blocking approach has over-voltage and oscillation issues during the high dv/dt transients. In this paper, a novel self-driven drain-to-source voltage sensing circuit is proposed. The circuit provides a paralleled low-impedance path to bypass the displacement current during the high dv/dt transients, which addresses the over-voltage and oscillation issues. Moreover, the adaptive SR on-time tuning algorithm is implemented, which eliminates the zero-crossing detection errors caused by the package and loop stray inductance. A 3.3 kW, 500 kHz CLLC resonant converter prototype is built to validate the proposed SR driving scheme. The prototype demonstrates the peak efficiency of 97.6% and the power density of 130 W/inch3.

In this paper, input-to-state stability (ISS) properties of perturbed systems with event-triggered receding horizon control (RHC) schemes are studied. Two event-triggered control schemes, which are the event-triggered quasi-infinite RHC (EQRHC) and the event-triggered dual-mode RHC (EDRHC) strategies, respectively, are considered. In the EQRHC scheme, an optimal control problem (OCP) should be considered at triggering time and the event is triggered if the error between the actual system state and the optimal system state violating a threshold. While in the EDRHC strategy, an OCP is only solved outside the terminal region and a local control law will be used inside the terminal region. The corresponding event condition is redesigned based on if the system state enters the terminal region or not. The event-triggering condition outside the terminal region is the same with that of the EQRHC scheme and the event-triggering condition inside the terminal region is proposed based on the difference between the actual system state and the predictive system state. Sufficient conditions of feasibility are proposed and ISS properties of both event-triggered control schemes are studied, respectively. At last, numerical simulations show the validity of the proposed methods.

Bovine mammary epithelial cells were used to evaluate the effects of different levels of Arginine (Arg) on enzymes related to Arg metabolism. A series of seven Arg concentrations in the medium as treatments were T0 (0.00 mg L−1) as control group, and T0.25 (69.50 mg L−1), T0.5 (139.00 mg L−1), T1 (278.00 mg L−1), T2 (556.00 mg L−1), T4 (1112.00 mg L−1), and T8 (2224.00 mg L−1) as experiment groups, respectively. The quantitative polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay analysis showed that the nitric oxide concentration, the expressions of endothelial nitric oxide synthase in mRNA, and enzyme level were all increased in response to enhanced Arg doses such that the T8 was the greatest group (P

This research aims to explore the effect of l-arginine (Arg) upon lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced induction of the oxidative stress as well as subsequent apoptosis within ovine intestinal epithelial cells (IOECs). Through a 16 h incubation, cells were divided into four groups and the medium was replaced with different medium as follows: (1) control (Con), Arg-free Dulbecco's modified Eagle's F12 Ham medium (DMEM); (2) Arg treatment, Arg-free DMEM supplemented with 100 μM Arg; (3) LPS treatment, Arg-free DMEM supplemented with 10 μg/mL LPS; (4) LPS with Arg treatment, Arg-free DMEM supplemented with both 10 μg/mL LPS and 100 μM Arg. After culturing for 24 h in different mediums, some characteristics of cells in the four groups were measured. Addition of Arg increased cell viability induced with LPS compared with the LPS group ( p < 0.05). Arg significantly decreased the release of dehydrogenase (LDH) and the production of malonaldehyde (MDA) ( p < 0.05) within IOECs challenged by the LPS. Compared with the LPS group, cells treated with Arg and Arg + LPS increased ( p < 0.05) mRNA as well as protein expression of glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPx1), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2), B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl2), quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1), heme oxygenase (HO-1), and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2). IOEC treatment with Arg reduced significantly ( p < 0.05) apoptosis induced by the LPS (12.58 ± 0.79%). The results showed that Arg promoted the protein expression of Nrf2, up-regulated expression of the phase II metabolizing enzymes (NQO1 and HO-1), as well as antioxidative enzymes (GPx1, CAT, and SOD2) for alleviating oxidative injury and protected IOECs from LPS-induced apoptosis.

Data indicate that intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) in newborns can be partly alleviated through the supply of l-arginine (Arg) and N-carbamylglutamate (NCG). The current work aimed to explore whether Arg and NCG promote intestinal function by regulating antioxidant capacity in suckling lambs with IUGR via a nitric oxide (NO)-dependent pathway. Forty eight newly born Hu lambs with normal weights at birth (CON) or suffering from IUGR were randomly divided into 4 groups (n = 12 per group), namely, the CON, IUGR, IUGR + 1% Arg, and IUGR + 0.1% NCG groups. The animals were used for experiments from the age of day 7 to 28. Compared with the lambs in the IUGR group, the lambs in the Arg or NCG group had higher (P < 0.05) final body weights. The plasma insulin, NO, and NO synthase (NOS) concentrations in the IUGR group were higher (P < 0.05) compared with those in IUGR + 1% Arg or IUGR + 0.1% NCG. The jejunal level of the tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) in the IUGR lambs was greater (P < 0.05) compared with that in IUGR + 1% Arg or IUGR + 0.1% NCG. The plasma and jejunal total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) values for the IUGR + 1% Arg or IUGR + 0.1% NCG group were greater (P < 0.05) compared with those for the IUGR group. Compared with the IUGR + 1% Arg or IUGR + 0.1% NCG lambs, the IUGR lambs had lower (P < 0.05) abundance of mRNA and protein abundance of glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPx1), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2), nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1), heme oxygenase (HO-1), zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1), occludin, inducible NOS (iNOS), and epithelial NOS (eNOS). Overall, the data suggest that the Arg or NCG supplementation to suckling lambs with IUGR enhances the intestinal function by regulating the oxidant status via the NO-dependent pathway.

The event-based model predictive control (MPC) problem for discrete-time non-linear control systems with external disturbances is studied. Two triggering conditions are designed based on whether the system state is within the terminal region or not. The first one is triggered outside the terminal region when the difference between the actual system state trajectory and the corresponding optimal state trajectory violates a relative threshold, while the second one is triggered inside the terminal region if the difference between the actual system state trajectory and the predicted nominal state trajectory violates a desired relative threshold. The feasibility analysis and stability analysis are given in detail. Sufficient conditions for feasibility relating to the triggering threshold and disturbance bound are obtained. Sufficient conditions for stability of the event-based control system referring to system parameters, triggering threshold and disturbance bound are given. Besides, the upper bound of the state trajectory is obtained and a robust invariant set that the system state will enter in finite time is given. Finally, simulation examples are given to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

This study explores the roles of L-arginine (Arg) and N-carbamylglutamate (NCG) supplementation in the diet in intestine damage, energy state, as well as the associated protein kinase signaling pathways activated by AMP in intrauterine growth retarded (IUGR) suckling lambs. A total of 48 newborn Hu lambs with a normal birth weight (CON) and those with IUGR were randomly divided into four groups, CON, IUGR, IUGR + 1% Arg, and IUGR + 0.1% NCG, with 12 animals in each group. All animals were fed for 21 days, from day 7–28, following birth. Our results indicated that the IUGR suckling Hu lambs in the Arg or NCG groups were associated with reduced (P < 0.05) plasma diamine oxidase (DAO) and D-lactic acid levels compared with IUGR suckling lambs. In addition, IUGR suckling Hu lambs in the Arg or NCG group were also linked with a higher (P < 0.05) villous height : crypt depth ratio (VCR), as well as villous height in the duodenum relative to those obtained for IUGR suckling Hu lambs. Relative to IUGR suckling Hu lambs, IUGR suckling Hu lambs in the Arg or NCG groups were found to have higher (P < 0.05) ATP, ADP and TAN contents, and AEC levels, and smaller (P < 0.05) AMP : ATP ratios in the duodenum, jejunum and ileum. Moreover, IUGR suckling Hu lambs in the Arg or NCG group were also linked with higher citrate synthase, isocitrate dehydrogenase and alpha-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex activities in the duodenum, jejunum and ileum compared with those found for IUGR suckling Hu lambs (P < 0.05), except for the activity of isocitrate dehydrogenase in the ileum. IUGR suckling Hu lambs in the Arg or NCG group were linked with a lower ratio of pAMPKα/tAMPKα and protein expression of Sirt1 and PGC1α in the ileum relative to those of the IUGR suckling Hu lambs (P < 0.05). Taken together, these findings show that supplementation of NCG and Arg in the diet can ameliorate intestinal injury, improve energy status, motivate key enzyme activities in the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, and also inhibit the AMP-activated protein kinase signaling pathways in IUGR suckling Hu lambs.

This paper introduces a new MMC topology, in which each phase leg consists of four arms. Two of the arms consists of cascaded connected submodules and are just like single phase leg in traditional MMC topology. Another two arms are formed by series switches such as high voltage IGBT, which are only activated when the ac voltage changes polarity. And then three phase legs are series connected in vertical direction to support the DC bus voltage. The major advantage of proposed topology are as follows: (1) The total number of required submodules are reduced to 1/3 compared with traditional MMC topology. (2) The energy ripple in each arm is calculated to be smaller than the traditional 3-phase MMC. Therefore, the total capacitor size can be reduced. A detailed 20 MW simulation has been conducted and the related results of proposed topology have been presented. What’s more, The SM prototype and preliminary experiments are also demonstrated and analyzed.

This paper proposes a new MMC topology, in which, a "full-bridge" with four arms of cascaded full-bridge modules is applied for each phase and three phase legs are series connected in vertical direction to support the DC-link. The major advantages of proposed topology are as follows: (1) The total number of required submodules are reduced to 2/3 compared with traditional MMC topology. As a result, the volume of the converter shrinks significantly. Regarding the reduced voltage amplitude, an AC transformer is used to bring the voltage back into the normal amplitude in a three-phase Y-connection manner. (2) The second order harmonic is eliminated in the proposed unique configuration. Thus, the capacitor size is reduced and no more circulating current control loop is required. A detailed 20 MW simulation has been conducted and the related results of proposed topology have been presented. What’s more, The SM prototype and preliminary experiments are also demonstrated and analyzed.

In this experiment, response surface methodology was used to study the preparation of malic acid calcium salt from bovine bones assisted by ultrasonication. The results showed that the optimum conditions for ultrasound-assisted preparation of calcium malate from bovine bone were as follows: solid-liquid ratio 1:15, solid-acid ratio 1:1.5, ultrasonic power 200 W, ultrasonic temperature 35°C, and ultrasonication time 17 min. The efficiency of calcium recovery was 66.16%, and the purity was 92.54%. After three ultrasonic treatments of 17 min each, the calcium malate conversion rate of bovine bone reached 95.73%. Animal experiments showed that feeding bovine bone-derived calcium malate significantly increased alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and bone calcium content, reduced tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) activity, and maintained the balance of serum calcium and phosphorus. These results indicated that the ultrasonic method effectively ionized calcium in bovine bone, which provides a reference point for the industrial production of calcium products with bovine bone as the raw material.

Dietary copper supplementation in the feed of piglets generally exceeds 250–800 mg/kg, where a higher quantity (>250 mg/kg) can promote growth and improve feed conversion. Despite the reported positive effects, 90% of copper is excreted and can accumulate and pollute the soil. Data indicate that fungi have a biosorptive capacity for copper. Thus, the objectives of the present experiment were to study the effects of adding different strains of fungi on the biosorptive capacity for copper in swine manure and to evaluate potential effects on microbiota profiles. Aspergillus niger (AN), Aspergillus oryzae (AO), and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC) were selected, and each added 0.4% into swine manure, which contain 250 mg/kg of copper. The incubations lasted for 29 days, and biosorption parameters were analyzed on the 8th (D8), 15th (D15), 22nd (D22), and 29th (D29) day. Results showed that after biosorption, temperature was 18.47–18.77°C; pH was 6.33–6.91; and content of aflatoxin B1, ochratoxin A, and deoxynivalenol were low. In addition, residual copper concentration with AN was the lowest on D15, D22, and D29. The copper biosorption rate was also highest with AN, averaging 84.85% on D29. Biosorption values for AO reached 81.12% and for SC were lower than 80%. Illumina sequencing of 16S and ITS rRNA gene revealed that fungal treatments reduced the diversity and richness of fungal abundance, but had no effect on bacterial abundance. Unknown_Marinilabiliaceae, Proteiniphilum, Tissierella, and Curvibacter were the dominant bacteria, while Aspergillus and Trichoderma were the dominant fungi. However, the added strain of S. cerevisiae was observed to be lower than the dominant fungi, which contained less than 0.05%. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment predicted via PICRUSt2 that there were bacterial genes potentially related to various aspects of metabolism and environmental information processing. Overall, data indicated that Aspergillus can provide microbial materials for adsorption of copper.

Our previous studies demonstrated that prenatal in utero growth restriction impairs postnatal intestinal function. Thus, improving postpartal intestinal absorption capacity and growth by manipulating the maternal diet prepartum is of importance. This work was conducted to determine whether supplementation of N-carbamylglutamate (NCG) or rumen-protected L-arginine (RP-Arg) increased fetal intestinal amino acid (AA) profiles in intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) fetuses. On d 35 of gestation, Hu ewes (n = 32) carrying twin fetuses were randomized into 4 groups (8 ewes and 16 fetuses in each group), where diets were as follows: 100% of nutrient requirements recommended by National Research Council (NRC, 2007) (CON); 50% of nutrient requirements recommended by NRC (2007) (RES); RES + RP-Arg (20 g/d), (RES + ARG); and RES + NCG (5 g/d), (RES + NCG). On d 110 of gestation, both fetal and maternal tissues were collected and weighed. Compared with RES, solute carrier family 1, member 5 (SLC1A5) was upregulated (P

There is a growing interest in the use of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) culture (YC) for the enhancement of growth performance and general animal health. Grain-based pelleted total mixed rations (TMR) are emerging in intensive sheep farming systems, but it is uncertain if the process of pelleting results in YC becoming ineffective. This study aimed to examine the effects of YC supplemented to pelleted TMR at two proportions of corn in the diet on animal performance, feed digestion, blood parameters, rumen fermentation, and microbial community in fattening lambs. A 2 × 2 factorial design was adopted with two experimental factors and two levels in each factor, resulting in four treatments: (1) low proportion of corn in the diet (LC; 350 g corn/kg diet) without YC, (2) LC with YC (5 g/kg diet), (3) high proportion of corn in the diet (HC; 600 g corn/kg diet) without YC, and (4) HC with YC. Fifty-six 3-month-old male F2 hybrids of thin-tailed sheep and Northeast fine-wool sheep with a liveweight of 19.9 ± 2.7 kg were randomly assigned to the four treatment groups with an equal number of animals in each group. The results showed that live yeast cells could not survive during pelleting, and thus, any biological effects of the YC were the result of feeding dead yeast and the metabolites of yeast fermentation rather than live yeast cells. The supplementation of YC resulted in 31.1 g/day more average daily gain regardless of the proportion of corn in the diet with unchanged feed intake during the 56-day growth measurement period. The digestibility of neutral detergent fibre and acid detergent fibre was increased, but the digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, and crude protein was not affected by YC. The supplementation of YC altered the rumen bacterial population and species, but the most abundant phyla Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria remained unchanged. This study indicates that YC products can be supplemented to pelleted TMR for improved lamb growth performance, although live yeast cells are inactive after pelleting. The improved performance could be attributed to improved fibre digestibility.

Background: Urtica cannabina, an unconventional forage, is widely distributed in northern China. It has high nutritional values that make it suitable for the ruminant’s feeding requirments as compared to Leymus chinensis. The current study was designed to evaluate varying ratios of Urtica cannabina and Leymus chinensis in the feeding diet and to see the effects on rumen fermentation and gas production in vitro. Methods: The study was designed into five treatments based on the different ratios of U. cannabina and L. chinensis: 0:100, 30:70, 50:50, 70:30 and 100:0 categorized into five groups from A-E. To detect the rumen fermentation parameters, the culture medium was collected at 1, 3, 6, 12 and 24 h. Result: Gas production of groups A and C was increased than other groups at 24h (P less than 0.05), whereas the rate of gas production (c) was also increased in group A (P less than 0.05). The pH values at 1, 3, 6 and 24 h were increased in groups A and C with higher values in group C at 24h (P less than 0.05). The ammonia concentration was increased in groups D and E at 3, 6, 12 and 24 h, with the lower values in group C at 24h (P less than 0.05). The concentration of bacterial and protozoal proteins was also observed higher in groups A and C at 1 and 24 h, with highest value in group C at 24 h (P less than 0.05). In summary, as for Urtica cannabina to Leymus chinensis ratios are concerned, 50:50 is an optimal ratio for rumen fermentation in vitro, which increases the gas production and microbial protein synthesis.

Cadmium (Cd) is a major environmental stressor that induces fetal growth restriction (FGR). Also, changes in gut microbiome diversity-which can be modulated positively by melatonin (Mel) have implications on fetal development and placental functions. Therefore, this study aimed to explore whether the role of Mel in counteracting the Cd-induced FGR by regulating placental barrier injury, endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) and mitophagy in pregnant mice is mediated-in part- via the gut microbiota modulations. Pregnant mice were intraperitoneally injected with CdCl

Animal temperament is defined as the consistent behavioral and physiological differences that are seen between individuals in response to the same stressor. Neurotransmitter systems, like serotonin and oxytocin in the central nervous system, underlie variation in behavioral traits in humans and other animals. Variations like single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the genes for tryptophan 5-hydroxylase (TPH2), the serotonin transporter (SLC6A4), the serotonin receptor (HTR2A), and the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) are associated with behavioral phenotype in humans. Thus, the objective of this study was to identify SNPs in those genes and to test if those variations are associated with the temperament in Merino sheep. Using ewes from the University of Western Australia temperament flock, which has been selected on emotional reactivity for more than 20 generations, eight SNPs (rs107856757, rs107856818, rs107856856 and rs107857156 in TPH2, rs20917091 in SLC6A4, rs17196799 and rs17193181 in HTR2A, and rs17664565 in OXTR) were found to be distributed differently between calm and nervous sheep. These eight SNPs were then genotyped in 260 sheep from a flock that has never been selected on emotional reactivity, followed by the estimation of the behavioral traits of those 260 sheep using an arena test and an isolation box test. We found that several SNPs in TPH2 (rs107856757, rs107856818, rs107856856 and rs107857156) were in strong linkage disequilibrium, and all were associated with behavioral phenotype in the nonselected sheep. Similarly, rs17196799 in HTR2A was also associated with the behavioral phenotype.

Background: The maternal under nutrition-induced intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) is associated with intestinal oxidative injury in fetuses and neonates in various animal models. However, whether maternal dietary Arginine (Arg) and N-carbamylglutamate (NCG) supplementation during IUGR alters fetal small intestine redox status is unclear.Objective: The ovine model of IUGR was used to elucidate whether dietary supplementation of rumen-protected Arg (RP-Arg) and NCG modulates the fetal intestinal oxidative resistance via the nitric oxide (NO) -dependent pathway. Methods: On day 35 of gestation, 32 twin-bearing Hu ewes were randomly assigned into 4 treatment groups, 8 ewes each. The first and second groups received 100% (Control, CON) and 50% (restricted, RES) of NRC-recommended pregnancy nutrient requirements, respectively. The third and fourth treatment groups included the RES ewes supplemented with 20 g/day of RP-Arg (RES+ARG) or 5 g/day of NCG (RES+NCG), respectively. On day 110 of gestation, fetal blood and intestinal specimens were collected and assayed for oxidative damage biomarkers. Results: The NCG or Arg-supplemented RES ewes elevated the fetal jejunal NO concentrations and NO synthase (NOS) activity, but decreased the fetal jejunal and plasma concentrations of interleukin (IL)-6 and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) (P < 0.05) compared with those in the RES ewes. Further, the NCG or Arg treatment increased the contents of catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPx1), nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2), heme oxygenase (HO-1), quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1), claudin-1, zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1), epithelial NOS (eNOS) and inducible NOS (iNOS) in the fetal jejunum (P < 0.05). Conclusion: These results indicate that both NCG and Arg supplementation for RES ewes help maintain intestinal function in fetuses experiencing IUGR through modulating the oxidation status.

Interior Permanent Magnet (IPM) machines are widely used in automotive applications for their wide-speed range operation and low maintenance cost. The proposed Constant Current based IPM motor drive control strategy can achieve seamless transition between non-field-weakening and field-weakening regions while keeping a large output EM torque. The detailed control block diagram is presented and a pump-back system is proposed to verify control effectiveness. PLECS simulations have been conducted to compare the performance of the proposed control strategy with the curve fitting based method proposed in the previous work. A 5 kW three-phase motor drive inverter prototype has been built based on current industrial requirements, and the prototype power density has reached 92 W/inch3. Meanwhile, Insulated Metal Substrate (IMS) board and single-layer layout technique are used for better heat dissipation. Pump-back system experiments have been performed and the results are presented.

The series connection of low voltage devices is one option of forming a device with higher voltage rating. The biggest challenge of series connected devices is drain-source voltage unequal sharing caused by differences among each device. A current source gate driver for series connected SiC MOSFETs is demonstrated in previous work. The proposed current source gate driver can generate highly synchronized gate voltages because of its constant gate current and novel gate driver structure. But in previous work, the design considerations are not explained in detail. This paper will provide detailed design guidelines of each stage in terms of control strategy and hardware.

BACKGROUNDBlack soldier fly (BSF; Hermetia illucens) is considered as a potential sustainable insect alternative source of protein for animal feed; however, the quality of BSF meal is greatly influenced by the killing method. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to compare the quality of BSF obtained by different killing methods.RESULTSBSF at the 18-day-old prepupae stage were separated into six different killing methods (n = 3): 1. blending, 2. freezing, 3. CO2 treatment, 4. vacuum, 5. Blanching and 6. humane method. After killing, were obtained by hot air oven drying and grinding. The chemical composition and in vitro digestibility calculated from sediment was not affected by the killing method, except that blending provided the worst BSF quality for all measured parameters (P P in vitro digestibility of BSF samples was observed with the humane killing method (P

In this paper, a kind of H ∞ control problem is studied for an Industrial Cyber-Physical System (ICPS) which employs the event-triggered mechanism (ETM) in the measurement wireless channel encountering a stealthy and reactive DoS jammer. For the ETM in the measurement channel, the DoS jammer keeps sensing the measurement channel and launches jamming attacks when there is packet transmission and launches DoS jamming attacks to decrease the quality of wireless communication. In order to guarantee the availability of ICPS and consider that the ICPS does not know the DoS jammers’ attack strategy, a H ∞ observer-based control method is designed by establishing an attack-tolerant mechanism to achieve the desired H ∞ disturbance attenuation level, and the controller design problem is transformed to an auxiliary convex optimization problem. Numerical simulation is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed H ∞ control method finally.