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To determine the optimum P requirements of taimen (Hucho taimen), the present study investigated the effects of diets supplemented with different levels of inorganic P (NaH2PO4) on growth, proximate composition, blood chemistry, and mineralization in juvenile taimen. Triplicate groups of fish (mean initial weight 15.39 ± 0.28 g) were fed, until satiation, with different diets containing graded levels of digestible P (0.22, 0.40, 0.55, 0.74, 0.90, and 1.07%), for 84 days. Weight gain, feed conversion ratio, and protein retention were significantly (P 0.05). With increasing dietary P levels, P retention and whole-body lipid content decreased from 75.41 ± 7.06 to 36.41 ± 3.30% and from 3.23 ± 0.13 to 2.74 ± 0.25%, respectively, whereas vertebrae ash and plasma P content increased from 43.68 ± 0.23 to 52.09 ± 0.28% and from 2.18 ± 0.14 to 3.98 ± 0.23 mmol L−1, respectively. Using a broken-line regression model that incorporated measurements of P digestibility, feed efficiency, and normal whole-body and vertebrae P content, the dietary requirement of digestible P was determined to be approximately 0.5% for taimen.

The emergence of smart electronics, human friendly robotics and supplemented or virtual reality demands electronic skins with both tactile and touchless perceptions for the manipulation of real and virtual objects. Here, we realize bifunctional electronic skins equipped with a compliant magnetic microelectromechanical system able to transduce both tactilevia mechanical pressureand touchlessvia magnetic fieldsstimulations simultaneously. The magnetic microelectromechanical system separates electric signals from tactile and touchless interactions into two different regions, allowing the electronic skins to unambiguously distinguish the two modes in real time. Besides, its inherent magnetic specificity overcomes the interference from non-relevant objects and enables signal-programmable interactions. Ultimately, the magnetic microelectromechanical system enables complex interplay with physical objects enhanced with virtual content data in augmented reality, robotics, and medical applications. Refereed/Peer-reviewed (VLID)5353406 Version of record

A 70-day feeding experiment was conducted to assess the effects of α-ketoglutarate (AKG) supplementation in different protein sources of diets on the growth performance, nitrogen metabolism and related gene expression of mirror carp. Two kinds of protein diets (soybean meal protein source and fish meal and soybean meal compound protein source) and two levels of AKG (0 g kg−1 and 15 g kg−1, respectively) were utilized. Each experimental diet was fed three times a day with five replicates of 20 fish per tank with an average individual weight of 217.93 ± 0.78 g. The results indicated that AKG significantly improved the protein efficiency ratio and decreased the feed conversion rate (FCR) (p

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of tank colour on growth and survival of taimen Hucho taimen larvae. Larvae (initial weight 0.11 ± 0.01 g, 21 days after hatching) were cultured in the water flow-through system. Fifteen aquaria (200 L per aquarium) were randomly allocated into triplicate groups of 500 larvae. The outsides of the tanks were covered in red, blue, yellow, white, or black sheeting. Larvae were fed eight times a day by hand to apparent satiation. The experiment was conducted for 56 days. The results showed that the specific growth rate was significantly affected by tank colour, which was higher in the yellow tank than that of the tank (black or red) (P 0.05). The highest feed intake was observed in fish reared in the yellow tank, followed by that of the white, blue, or black tank, and the lowest was in fish in the red tank. In conclusion, the light-coloured tank (yellow or white) was optimum for rearing taimen larvae based on the growth performance.

The present study was conducted to determine the effects of dietary α-ketoglutarate (AKG) supplementation on the growth performance, glutamine synthesis and amino acid concentrations of juvenile hybrid sturgeon Acipenser schrenckii ♀ × Acipenser baerii ♂ fed high levels of soy protein concentrate (SPC). The study consisted of four isoproteic and isolipidic diets (including 100 g of fish meal (FM)/kg or 0 FM) with or without 10 g AKG/kg supplementation. The results showed that the SPC diet had no effect (P > 0.05) on the weight gain rate (WGR), feed conversion ratio (FCR), protein efficiency ratio (PER), condition factor (CF) or viscerosomatic index (VSI) compared with the FM diet. The WGR and PER were increased (P

The effect of the different dietary carbohydrate types and levels on growth performance, haematological indices and hepatic hexokinase (HK) and glucokinase (GK) genes expression involved in control of glucose metabolism, was studied in juvenile mirror carp (Cyprinus carpio). Two carbohydrates (glucose and starch) diets with two levels (250 and 500 g kg−1) were fed to triplicate groups of 35 fish for 60 days. The best weight gain rate and specific growth rate were observed in fish fed with 250 g kg−1 glucose diet and 500 g kg−1 starch diet (P

A 120-day experiment was conducted with the aim to examine the effects of feed C/N ratio promoted bioflocs on water quality and production of bottom and filter feeder carp in land-based experimental mesocosm with minimum water exchange system. For the purpose four bioflocs treatments with carbohydrate feed referred as 'C/N 11', 'C/N 15', 'C/N 19' and 'C/N 23', and control 'C/N 7' without carbohydrate addition consisted of three replicate enclosures (7 m × 7 m x 1.5 m) were arranged. Young bottom feeder mirror carp, Cyprinus carpio , filter feeders silver carp, ( Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) and bighead carp ( Aristichtys nobilis) with initial mean individual body weight of 194.72 (± 4.42 g), 54.10 (± 0.84 g) and 58.69 (± 0.68 g) were stocked altogether in polyculture at densities of 285 g.m − 2 , 45 g.m − 2 and 15 g.m − 2 , respectively in control and treatments. During the experiment water temperatures varied from 24.7 to 12.0 °C. The results showed a significant (P 2 -N), nitrate nitrogen (NO 3 -N), total inorganic nitrogen (TIN), orthophosphate (PO 4 -P) and total phosphorus (TP) concentrations decreased significantly (P a , chemical oxygen demand (COD) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) with increasing C/N ratios in treatments. The total production (TP) of bottom and filter feeders fish reached up to 13895 kg.ha - 1 in experimental treatments. The specific growth rates (SGR), protein efficiency ratios (PER) and net production (NP) of mirror carp increased gradually with increases of C/N ratios. The feed conversion rates (FCR) of experimental fish declined significantly (P

The microstructure of Al-bearing high-boron high speed steel (AB-HSS) contains a large amount of borocarbides, which makes it have high hardness, superior wear resistance and thermal stability. But the borocarbides are coarser and continuously distribute along the grain boundary which seriously destroys the toughness of AB-HSS. In this paper, the microstructure and properties of AB-HSS were regulated by adding modifiers and quenching and tempering heat-treatment. The modifier was RE-Mg, Ti and N elements. The microstructure and properties of AB-HSS were investigated by means of optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), the electron probe microanalysis (EPMA), hardness testing, wear testing, and impact testing. The results show that the borocarbides in as-cast AB-HSS are found in intergranular networks showing different degrees of continuity after adding different types of modifiers. The matrix of as-cast AB-HSS all is composed of ferrite, pearlite and martensite, and the borocarbides all consist of M2(B,C) and M7(C,B)3 after adding different types of modifiers. After high-temperature heat treatment, the borocarbides in the microstructure of RE-Mg modification AB-HSS appear as discontinuous networks showing signs of spheroidization and the distribution of the borocarbides is more uniform. The matrix of RE-Mg modification AB-HSS is martensite and the borocarbides consist of M2(B,C), M7(C,B)3 and M23(C,B)6. The hardness of RE-Mg modification AB-HSS reaches 61.7 HRC, and impact toughness increases by 52%, and has excellent comprehensive mechanical properties.

Summary Exogenous glutamine (Gln) was evaluated for its effect on antioxidation and serum non-specific immunity in juvenile Hybrid sturgeon (Acipenser schrenckii♀ × Huso dauricus♂). Seven basal diets supplemented with 0.0, 0.3, 0.6, 0.9, 1.2, 1.5% of Gln and 1.0% alanyl-glutamine (Aln-Gln) were fed to fish (initial mean weight: 22.38 ± 0.18 g) for 8 weeks, and the experiment was conducted in triplicate. Treatment of fish supplemented with 1.2, 1.5% of Gln, or 1.0% of Aln-Gln caused a significantly higher glutathione peroxidase (GPX), superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities, and glutathione (GSH) content, and lower serum malondialdehyde (MDA) levels (P

Summary Studies were conducted to demonstrate the effects of L-alanylL-glutamine (L-AG) on the growth performance and physiological function of hybrid sturgeon Acipenser schrenckii $ · Acipenser baerii # larvae. Five isonitrogenous experimental diets contained five different L-AG levels: 0.0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0%. Triplicate groups of 1500 fish (mean weight 0.42 ± 0.05 g) were stocked in each aquarium (220 L), which were connected to a recycling system and fed to apparent satiation for 56 days. When the culture experiment was terminated, weight gain, specific growth, survival and condition factor were determined and served as indices for assessing growth performance. Na + -K + ATPase, glutamine, superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), protease, lipase and amylase of the whole fish or intestine were also determined. The results showed that the growth performance improved significantly with increasing dietary L-AG supplementation levels from 0.0 to 1.0%. Fish fed diets containing higher L-AG level had greater Na + -K + ATPase, glutamine, SOD and lower MDA when the supplementation level increased. Compared to the control group, however, there were no significant differences in protease, lipase or amylase of the intestine. In conclusion, dietary L-AG supplementation could help improving growth performance and physiological function of larval hybrid sturgeon.

In diffusion processes of solid materials, such as in the classical thermal shock problem and the recent lithium ion battery, the maximum diffusion induced stress (DIS) is a very important quantity. However a widely accepted, accurate and easy-to-use quantitative formula on it still lacks. In this paper, by normalizing the governing equations, an almost analytical model is developed, except a single-variable function of the dimensionless Biot number which cannot be determined analytically and is then given by a curve. Formulae for various typical geometries and working conditions are presented. If the stress and the diffusion process are fully coupled (i.e. stress-dependent diffusion), as in lithium ion diffusion, the normalized maximum DIS can be characterized by a two-variable function of a dimensionless coupling parameter and the Biot number, which is obtained numerically and presented in contour plots. Moreover, it is interesting to note that these two parameters, within a wide range, can be further approximately combined into a single dimensionless parameter to characterize the maximum DIS. These formulae together with curves/contours provide engineers and materialists a simple and easy way to quickly obtain the stress and verify the reliability of materials under various typical diffusion conditions. Via energy balance analysis, the model of diffusion induced fracture is also developed. It interestingly predicts that the spacing of diffusion induced cracks is constant, independent of the thickness of specimen and the concentration difference. Our thermal shock experiments on alumina plates validate these qualitative and quantitative theoretical predictions, such as the constant crack spacing and the predicted critical temperature difference at which the cracks initiate. Furthermore, the proposed model can interpret the observed hierarchical crack patterns.