The current study aimed to investigate the effects of different iron sources on growth performance and small intestinal health in weaned piglets. Two hundred and forty piglets (Duroc × Large White × Landrace, 9.52 ± 1.60 kg, 40 ± 2 d) were assigned to four treatments including control group, a basal diet without iron supplemented in mineral premix; ferrous sulfate (FeSO4) group, 100 mg Fe/kg dry matter (DM); ferrous glycinate (Fe-Gly) group, 80 mg Fe/kg DM; amino acid-Fe(II)-chelator complexes group, 30 mg Fe/kg DM. There were four pens for each treatment, and each pen had fifteen piglets. The experiment lasted for 28 days. Compared to the control group, three iron sources increased average daily feed intake (P < 0.05). Fe-Gly and amino acid-Fe(II)-chelator complexes increased average daily gain (P < 0.05). Amino acid-Fe(II)-chelator complexes increased villus height in jejunum (P < 0.05). In addition, Fe-Gly increased Ki67 and leucine rich repeat containing G protein-coupled receptor 5 (Lgr5) mRNA expression in duodenum (P < 0.05). Amino acid-Fe(II)-chelator complexes increased claudin-1 mRNA expression, and both amino acid-Fe(II)-chelator complexes and Fe-Gly increased Lgr5 mRNA expression (P < 0.05) in jejunum. These results suggest that organic iron is more effective than FeSO4 in improving growth performance, and has a positive effect on intestinal health in weanling piglets.

In this paper, we investigate the ideal structure of uniform Roe algebras for general metric spaces beyond the scope of Yu’s Property A. Inspired by the ideal of ghost operators coming from expander graphs and in contrast to the notion of geometric ideal, we introduce a notion of ghostly ideal in a uniform Roe algebra, whose elements are locally invisible in certain directions at infinity. We show that the geometric ideal and the ghostly ideal are, respectively, the smallest and the largest element in the lattice of ideals with a common invariant open subset of the unit space of the coarse groupoid by Skandalis–Tu–Yu, and hence the study of ideal structure can be reduced to classifying ideals between the geometric and the ghostly ones. We also provide a criterion to ensure that the geometric and the ghostly ideals have the same $K$-theory, which helps to recover counterexamples to the coarse Baum–Connes conjectures. Moreover, we introduce a notion of partial Property A for a metric space to characterize the situation in which the geometric ideal coincides with the ghostly ideal. As an application, we provide a concrete description for the maximal ideals in a uniform Roe algebra in terms of the minimal points in the Stone–Čech boundary of the space.

The purpose of this study is to reveal the impact of pilot free trade zones (PFTZs) on local governance quality (LGQ) to provide a reference for driving governance reforms in China. Based on provincial panel data from 2004 to 2020 in China, the impact of the establishment of PFTZs on LGQ is analyzed by employing the multi-period difference-in-difference (DID) method. The results show that the establishment of PFTZs can significantly enhance the governance quality of local governments, but there is heterogeneity in location and establishment batches. PFTZs improve LGQ through the effects of institutional spillover, factor allocation, and talent agglomeration. FDI spillover can partially substitute for promoting the effect of PFTZs on LGQ, and economic growth pressures can distort the positive effect of PFTZs on LGQ. Therefore, policymakers should clarify the functional positioning of PFTZs and leverage their effects, which are institutional spillover, factor allocation, and high-end factor agglomeration, to enhance LGQ.

Rice water weevils (RWWs) (Lissorhoptrus oryzophilus) and rice weevils (RW) (Echinocnemus squameus) (both Coleoptera: Curculionidae) are major rice pests that cause significant economic losses in China. Understanding their potential distribution areas is crucial for effective management. This study used the Biomod2 package in R to simulate and predict the current and future potential distributions, changes in suitable areas, shifts in distribution centres, and overlaps under climate change for both pests under three greenhouse gas emission scenarios. By 2023, the suitable areas for RWWs and RWs were 538.52 × 104 km2 and 376.05 × 104 km2, respectively. The suitable area for the former pest expanded southwestward and northeastward across China, whereas the latter spread mainly into Northeast China. The suitable area for RWWs is projected to remain stable, whereas that for RWs is expected to decline. The distribution centroid of RWWs is anticipated to shift toward southeastern or southwestern Shaanxi, whereas RWs are likely to migrate toward central-eastern or northeastern Shaanxi. The niche overlap between the two pests is high (Schoener’s D = 0.658, I = 0.816), with overlap concentrated in central, eastern, and southern China. The key factors influencing their distributions include precipitation of the wettest month (Bio13), mean temperature of the warmest quarter (Bio10), and precipitation of the driest month (Bio14). This study provides a theoretical basis for the prediction of the potential distribution of both pests, which offers valuable insights for the development of effective pest control strategies in China.

The current study aims to assess associations between trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) levels and mortality and to investigate modification effects of genetics. A total of 500 participants from a family-based cohort study were enrolled from 2005 to 2017 and followed up until 2020 in Fangshan District, Beijing, China. Serum TMAO levels were measured using the ELISA kit. The primary outcomes were all-cause mortality and deaths from CVD and stroke. During a median follow-up time of 7·38 years, thirty-eight deaths were recorded, including twenty deaths due to CVD and nineteen deaths due to stroke. Compared with the lowest TMAO quartile group, the HR for all-cause mortality was 1·35 (95 % CI: 0·44, 4·15), 1·65 (95 % CI: 0·58, 4·64) and 2·45 (95 % CI: 0·91, 6·57), respectively, in higher groups. No association was observed between TMAO and CVD mortality. However, compared with the lowest TMAO concentration group, the HR for stroke mortality was 1·93 (95 % CI: 0·40, 9·39), 1·91 (95 % CI: 0·41, 8·96) and 4·16 (95 % CI: 0·94, 18·52), respectively, in higher groups (Pfor trend = 0·046). Furthermore, polygenic risk score (PRS) for longevity modified the association of TMAO with all-cause mortality (Pfor interaction = 0·008). The risk of mortality (HR = 2·20, 95 % CI: 1·06, 4·57) was higher among participants with lower PRS compared with higher PRS (HR = 1·00, 95 % CI: 0·71, 1·40). The study indicates that elevated serum TMAO levels are potentially associated with long-term mortality risk in rural areas of northern China, especially for stroke deaths. Additionally, it provides novel evidence that genetic variations might modify the association.

The heating effect of electromagnetic waves in ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRFs) in magnetic confinement fusion device is different in different plasma conditions. In order to evaluate the ICRF heating effect in different plasma conditions, we conducted a series of experiments and corresponding TRANSP simulations on the EAST tokamak. Both simulation and experimental results show that the effect of ICRF heating is poor at low core electron density. The decrease in electron density changes the left-handed electric field near the resonant layer, resulting in a significant decrease in the power absorbed by the hydrogen fundamental resonance. However, quite a few experiments must be performed in plasma conditions with low electron density. It is necessary to study how to make ICRF heating best in low electron density plasma. Through a series of simulation scans of the parallel refractive index (n//) of the ICRF antenna, it is concluded that the change of the ICRF antenna n// will lead to the change of the left-handed electric field, which will change the fundamental absorption of ICRF power by the hydrogen minority ions. Fully considering the coupling of ion cyclotron wave at the tokamak boundary and the absorption in the plasma core, optimizing the ICRF antenna structure and selecting appropriate parameters such as parallel refractive index, minority ion concentration, resonance layer position, plasma current and core electron temperature can ensure better heating effect in the ICRF heating experiments in the future EAST upgrade. These results have important implications for the enhancement of the auxiliary heating effect of EAST and other tokamaks.

This study presents an experimental investigation on the drag reduction (DR) over air-fed hydrophobic surfaces (AFHS) with longitudinal grooves in a turbulent boundary layer (TBL). The AFHS, designed with longitudinal grooves and air supplement channels, enables active maintenance and reversible restoration of the plastron in TBL. The shear stress sensor, particle image velocimetry (PIV) and interfacial visualization are applied for simultaneous measurement of the skin friction drag, TBL velocity profiles and plastron coverage. The AFHS demonstrated the ability to control plastron shape and enhance its sustainability with friction Reynolds numbers up to 1723. Drag reductions ranging from 14.8–35.8 % are obtained over the AFHS. At same designed air fraction, the AFHS exhibits higher DR than the conventional hydrophobic surface. By minimizing influences of the degradation of plastron coverage and the shape, the monotonic increase in DR and slip velocity with Reynolds number is confirmed, which corroborates trends from direct numerical simulations. Turbulence statistics measured by PIV reveal an apparent decrease in near-wall viscous shear stress, and corresponding slip velocities both in the viscous sublayer and log-law region. The Reynolds shear stress and streamwise velocity fluctuations over the AFHS are larger than those over a smooth wall, where near-wall vortex cores of the AFHS are found to be shifted 10 % towards the wall. This study presents the first simultaneous experimental quantification of skin friction, plastron coverage and turbulence statistics under sustained plastron conditions in TBL. The results demonstrate the efficacy of the plastron control strategy on hydrophobic surfaces and address a critical gap in validating numerical predictions for turbulent flows in practical applications.

Triceps skinfold thickness (TSF) is a surrogate marker of subcutaneous fat. Evidence is limited about the association of sex-specific TSF with the risk of all-cause mortality among maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients. We aimed to investigate the longitudinal relationship of TSF with all-cause mortality among MHD patients. A multicenter prospective cohort study was performed in 1034 patients undergoing MHD. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to evaluate the association of TSF with the risk of mortality. The mean (standard deviation) age of the study population was 54.1 (15.1) years. 599 (57.9%) of the participants were male. The median (interquartile range) of TSF was 9.7 (6.3–13.3 mm) in males and 12.7 (10.0–18.0 mm) in females. Over a median follow up of 4.4 years (interquartile range, 2.4-7.9 years), there were 548 (53.0%) deaths. When TSF was assessed as sex-specific quartiles, compared with those in quartile 1, the adjusted HRs (95%CIs) of all-cause mortality in quartile 2, quartile 3 and quartile 4 were 0.93 (0.73, 1.19), 0.75 (0.58, 0.97) and 0.69 (0.52, 0.92), respectively (P for trend =0.005). Moreover, when analyzed by sex, increased TSF (≥9.7 mm for males and ≥18mm for females) was significantly associated with a reduced risk of all-cause mortality (quartile 3-4 vs. quartile 1-2; HR, 0.70; 95%CI: 0.55, 0.90 in males; quartile 4 vs. Quartile 1-3; HR, 0.69; 95%CI: 0.48, 1.00 in females). In conclusion, high TSF was significantly associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality in MHD patients.

Mamyshev oscillators (MOs) demonstrate extraordinarily superior performance compared with fiber laser counterparts. However, the realization of a fully fiberized, monolithic laser system without pulse degradation remains a key challenge. Here we present a high-energy MO using large mode area Yb-doped fiber and fiber-integrable interferometric super-Gaussian spectral filters that directly generates a nearly diffraction-limited beam with approximately 9.84 W average power and 533 nJ pulse energy. By implementing pre-chirp management with anti-resonant hollow-core fiber (AR-HCF), the adverse effects of super-Gaussian filtering on pulse quality are effectively mitigated, enabling pulse compression to 1.23 times the transform limit. Furthermore, AR-HCF is employed to provide negative dispersion to compensate for the positive chirp of output pulses, resulting in approximately 37 fs de-chirped pulses with approximately 10 MW peak power. This approach represents a significant step toward the development of monolithic fiber lasers capable of generating and flexible delivery of sub-50-fs pulses with tens of megawatts peak power.

Spin coating is the process of generating a uniform coating film on a substrate by centrifugal forces during rotation. In the framework of lubrication theory, we investigate the axisymmetric film evolution and contact-line dynamics in spin coating on a partially wetting substrate. The contact-line singularity is regularized by imposing a Navier slip model. The interface morphology and the contact-line movement are obtained by numerical solution and asymptotic analysis of the lubrication equation. The results show that the evolution of the liquid film can be classified into two modes, depending on the rotational speed. At lower speeds, the film eventually reaches an equilibrium state, and we provide a theoretical description of how the equilibrium state can be approached through matched asymptotic expansions. At higher speeds, the film exhibits two or three distinct regions: a uniform thinning film in the central region, an annular ridge near the contact line, and a possible Landau–Levich–Derjaguin-type (LLD-type) film in between that has not been reported previously. In particular, the LLD-type film occurs only at speeds slightly higher than the critical value for the existence of the equilibrium state, and leads to the decoupling of the uniform film and the ridge. It is found that the evolution of the ridge can be well described by a two-dimensional quasi-steady analysis. As a result, the ridge volume approaches a constant and cannot be neglected to predict the variation of the contact-line radius. The long-time behaviours of the film thickness and the contact radius agree with derived asymptotic solutions.

This study investigates the mechanisms driving the effectiveness of free-form communication in promoting cooperation within a sequential social dilemma game. We hypothesize that the self-constructing nature of free-form communication enhances the sincerity of messages and increases the disutility of dishonoring promises. Our experimental results demonstrate that free-form messages outperform both restricted promises and treatments where subjects select and use previously constructed free-form messages. Interestingly, we find that selected free-form messages and restricted promises achieve similar levels of cooperation. We observe that free-form messages with higher sincerity increase the likelihood of high-price and high-quality choices, thereby promoting cooperation. These messages frequently include promises and honesty, while threats do not promote cooperation. Our findings emphasize the crucial role of the self-constructed nature of free-form messages in promoting cooperation, exceeding the impact of message content compared to restricted communication protocols.

The problem of how to effectively track and intercept small aircraft that break into the no-fly zones is now attracting increasing interest in robotics society. Vision-based control has been proved an effective solution to the target tracking problem for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Due to the limited field of view (FOV) of onboard vision sensors, existing works assume that the target is always detectable during tracking or limit the flight speed of the UAV in practice. In this paper, inspired by the broad FOV of camera network, we are the first to propose an eye-to-hand (i.e., fixed cameras) visual servoing scheme to track and intercept aerial targets by using UAVs and ground visual sensors. Specifically, utilizing rotation matrices, we first present a visual servoing equation to convert the UAV motion in image planes to the inertial frame. Then, an image-based visual servoing controller is designed directly based on image errors of camera nodes in the sensor network, and system stability is proved by means of Lyapunov analysis. Additionally, to achieve the desired translational velocity command, a low-level attitude controller is developed based on the UAV dynamics. Finally, a series of experiments in both simulated and real flight scenarios show the outstanding efficacy of our method.

In this paper, a novel polarization conversion metasurface (PCM) is proposed. Compared with the conventional receiver-transmitter metasurface units, two metallized via holes are set up to correct the current. It can achieve better polarization conversion from linear to circular and maintain a high reflectivity performance. A patch antenna with an L-probe feed is used as a feeder. The circularly polarized Fabry–Perot resonator antenna (CP-FPRA) consists of the PCM with a 5 × 5 array and a feeder. The measurements indicate a 3 dB axial ratio (AR) bandwidth of 8.6% (22.3–24.3 GHz). And it achieves a maximum gain of 14.2 dBic at 24 GHz, compared to the feed antenna has a gain enhancement of 5.5 dBi (from 8.7 dBi to 14.2 dBic). The proposed CP-FPRA has high gain, a wide AR, and a relatively low profile, providing ideas for subsequent antenna designs.

Let E be an elliptic curve defined over $\mathbb {Q}$ with good ordinary reduction at a prime $p\geq 5$ and let F be an imaginary quadratic field. Under appropriate assumptions, we show that the Pontryagin dual of the fine Mordell–Weil group of E over the $\mathbb {Z}_{p}^2$-extension of F is pseudo-null as a module over the Iwasawa algebra of the group $\mathbb {Z}_{p}^2$.

A high-energy pulsed vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) solid-state laser at 177 nm with high peak power by the sixth harmonic of a neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) amplifier in a KBe2BO3F2 prism-coupled device was demonstrated. The ultraviolet (UV) pump laser is a 352 ps pulsed, spatial top-hat super-Gaussian beam at 355 nm. A high energy of a 7.12 mJ VUV laser at 177 nm is obtained with a pulse width of 255 ps, indicating a peak power of 28 MW, and the conversion efficiency is 9.42% from 355 to 177 nm. The measured results fitted well with the theoretical prediction. It is the highest pulse energy and highest peak power ever reported in the VUV range for any solid-state lasers. The high-energy, high-peak-power, and high-spatial-uniformity VUV laser is of great interest for ultra-fine machining and particle-size measurements using UV in-line Fraunhofer holography diagnostics.