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Digital livestock system through convergence of livestock production and information and communication technology is being applied to livestock farms to improve animal behavior and welfare, production, and quality of animal food. In previously study, we noted that the egg production were greatly enhanced in laying hens using digital livestock system. The present study investigated effects of a digital livestock system on fatty acid profiles and cholesterol of eggs, animal behavior, and welfare of laying hens. A total of 300 laying hens (Hy-Line Brown) at 48 weeks old were divided into two treatment groups: conventional livestock system (CON) and digital livestock system (DLS) in a randomized complete block design for 10 weeks. Drinking, feather squatting, eating, moving, preening, and resting scores as behavior indicators of laying hens were significantly improved in the DLS group than in the CON group (all P < 0.05). Animal welfare scores such as appearance, feather condition, body condition, and health of laying hens were significantly higher in the DLS group than in the CON group (P < 0.05). Contents of oleic acid and unsaturated fatty acid of eggs were significantly increased in the DLS group compared to the CON group (P < 0.05). However, content of saturated fatty acid and n-6/n-3 fatty acid ratio of eggs of the DLS group were significantly lower than those in the CON group (P < 0.05). These results indicate that the digital livestock system can be used as a future livestock farming algorithm to significantly improve egg fatty acid profile, animal behavior, and welfare in laying hens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under heat stress (HS) feed restriction (FR) can maintain blood biomarker homeostasis and improve poultry production. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of feed restriction with betaine and ascorbic acid supplementation on the digestive system and growth performance of meat ducks under HS. A total of 400 meat ducks were assigned to the following four groups: NC (normal temperature control group, 24°C, feeding ad libitum), T1 (HSC, heat stress control group 34°C, feeding ad libitum), T2 (HSFR, with 800 mg/kg dietary betaine supplementation and feed restriction), and T3 (HSFR, with 800 mg/kg dietary betaine and 300 mg/kg ascorbic acid supplementation in drinking water and feed restriction). FR was performed in the morning (05:00-10:00 h) and afternoon (17:00-24:00 h). Body weight and feed intake were lower in T1 and T2 groups than in the NC and T3 groups. The T1 group reached the lowest values. Blood pH values were higher and concentrations of blood biomarkers were lower (p< 0.05) in the T1 group compared with the other groups, which did not differ significantly from each other. Villus height (VH), crypt depth (CD), and VH/CD ratio in the duodenum were significantly lower in the T1 group than in the other groups. Caecal Lactobacillus counts (p< 0.05), but not coliform bacteria, bacteroids, or E. coli counts, were lower in the T1 group than those in any other group. Total short chain fatty acid (SCFA), acetic acid, and propionic acid contents were lower (p< 0.05) in the T1 group than those in the other groups, which show high values in the following order NC > T3 > T2. In conclusion, under heat stress FR with betaine (800 mg/kg) and ascorbic acid (300 mg/kg) in the diet or water improved growth performance, blood parameters, caecal SCFA and microflora in meat-type ducks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To identify the degradation mechanism in magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) using hydrogen, the properties of the MTJs were measured by applying an additional hydrogen etch process and a hydrogen plasma process to the patterned MTJs. In these studies, an additional 50 s hydrogen etch process caused the magnetoresistance (MR) to decrease from 103% to 14.7% and the resistance (R) to increase from 6.5 kX to 39 kX. Moreover, an additional 500 s hydrogen plasma process decreased the MR from 103% to 74% and increased R from 6.5 kX to 13.9 kX. These results show that MTJs can be damaged by the hydrogen plasma process as well as by the hydrogen etch process, as the atomic bonds in MgO may break and react with the exposed hydrogen gas. Compounds such as MgO hydrate very easily. We also calculated the damaged layer width (DLW) of the patterned MTJs after the hydrogen etching and plasma processes, to evaluate the downscaling limitations of spin-transfer-torque magnetic randomaccess memory (STT-MRAM) devices. With these calculations, the maximum DLWs at each side of the MTJ, generated by the etching and plasma processes, were 23.8 nm and 12.8 nm, respectively. This result validates that the hydrogen-based MTJ patterning processes cannot be used exclusively in STTMRAMs beyond 20 nm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We suggest a type of "goggle" cell shape and discuss its switching mechanism in comparison with conventional shapes such as rectangular and elliptical shapes. For the goggle shapes, the dependence of the switching characteristics on the saturation magnetization, the free layer thickness, and the aspect ratio was studied. We found that the "L"-like astroid curve with an enlarged writing margin could be obtained from a goggle shape, especially when the aspect ratio is smaller than 2. This seems to be closely related with the kink formation. We also found that the writing margin could be improved further as the saturation magnetization and thickness of the free layer was optimized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat stress in hot seasons is a major problem in poultry production, particularly in humid areas. The aim of this study was to determine the pharmacodynamics of betaine on the blood and cecal short chain fatty acid profile in meat-type ducks exposed to heat stress. Three-hundred-sixty meat-type ducks (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus) were randomly allocated into 4 treatments: C (heat stress control without betaine), T1 (700 ppm betaine), T2 (1,000 ppm betaine), and T3 (1,300 ppm betaine). Each treatment had 6 replicated pens with 15 meat-type ducks per pen. The study was conducted for 42 days. Our findings revealed that the betaine group had higher body weight gain compared to the control group under heat stress (P < 0.05). Betaine supplementation resulted in more significant improvement in hematological indicators such as RBCs and platelet counts than the heat stress control group (P < 0.05). Under the heat-wave environment, supplementation of betaine manifested a significant decrease in blood pH (P < 0.05) but not in electrolytes (Na+, K+ and Cl-) and gas concentration. The concentration of short chain fatty acids (SCFA) in the cecum was higher than the control under heat stress conditions. The total SCFA, acetic acid, and propionic acid production was higher in the betaine supplemented groups compared to the heat stress control group (P < 0.05). Results showed that betaine supplementation has beneficial effects in meat-type ducks under heat stress on short chain fatty acid levels, blood biochemical parameters, and body weight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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