Effects of Dietary Coconut Oil as a Medium-chain Fatty Acid Source on Performance, Carcass Composition and Serum Lipids in Male Broilers

Wang, Jianhong,Wang, Xiaoxiao,Li, Juntao,Chen, Yiqiang,Yang, Wenjun,Zhang, Liying Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2015 Animal Bioscience Vol.28 No.2

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary coconut oil as a medium-chain fatty acid (MCFA) source on performance, carcass composition and serum lipids in male broilers. A total of 540, one-day-old, male Arbor Acres broilers were randomly allotted to 1 of 5 treatments with each treatment being applied to 6 replicates of 18 chicks. The basal diet (i.e., R0) was based on corn and soybean meal and was supplemented with 1.5% soybean oil during the starter phase (d 0 to 21) and 3.0% soybean oil during the grower phase (d 22 to 42). Four experimental diets were formulated by replacing 25%, 50%, 75%, or 100% of the soybean oil with coconut oil (i.e., R25, R50, R75, and R100). Soybean oil and coconut oil were used as sources of long-chain fatty acid and MCFA, respectively. The feeding trial showed that dietary coconut oil had no effect on weight gain, feed intake or feed conversion. On d 42, serum levels of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were linearly decreased as the coconut oil level increased (p<0.01). Lipoprotein lipase, hepatic lipase, and total lipase activities were linearly increased as the coconut oil level increased (p<0.01). Abdominal fat weight/eviscerated weight (p = 0.05), intermuscular fat width (p<0.01) and subcutaneous fat thickness (p<0.01) showed a significant quadratic relationship, with the lowest value at R75. These results indicated that replacement of 75% of the soybean oil in diets with coconut oil is the optimum level to reduce fat deposition and favorably affect lipid profiles without impairing performance in broilers.

Quantitative Analysis of Seismic Response of Rock Slopes Using Discontinuous Deformation Analysis - A Case Study

Wenjun Gong,Yunsheng Wang,Yujie Wang,Yonghong Luo 대한토목학회 2020 KSCE JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING Vol.24 No.12

For the prevention and mitigation of hazards, it is crucial to quantitatively analyze the seismic response of rock slopes. However, only a few studies have quantitatively analyzed the seismic response of rock slopes; these studies have considered topographic effects only and have neglected geological site effects, such as impedance contrasts and fractures, which are important factors affecting the seismic response of rock slopes, as revealed by multiple recent phenomena. Therefore, this study primarily aims to investigate the possibility of employing a numerical model for quantitatively analyzing the seismic response of rock slopes by considering the geological site effects. Herein, a discrete element method, i.e., discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA), was employed for the dynamic analyses, and a well-monitored rock slope, Mount Dong, was selected as the case study. In the proposed DDA model, horizontal and vertical ground motions were applied simultaneously. The different weathering degrees of the Mount Dong rock layers were considered to reflect the impedance contrasts, and the penalty value at the fractures was altered according to the stiffness for reflecting the fracture effects. Furthermore, a set of optimal boundary settings, especially for DDA, were applied to handle seismic dynamic problems. Results show that DDA can quantitatively reflect the seismic response of Mount Dong along a single direction, such as the horizontal direction, which is sufficient to satisfy engineering requirements. The peak ground acceleration amplification analyses indicate that: 1) a strong impedance contrast is more important than topographic effects for the seismic response of Mount Dong; and 2) in addition to the impedance of rock layers, widely spread fractures also play an important role in contributing to the seismic response anisotropy of rock slopes. Finally, spectral amplification analyses reveal that the responses of the inner and surface portion of Mount Dong are significant in a low- and high-frequency range, respectively.

Polymorphism of Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 Receptor Gene in 12 Pig Breeds and Its Relationship with Pig Performance Traits

Wang, Wenjun,Ouyang, Kehui,Su, Xifan,Xu, Mingsheng,Shangguan, Xinchen Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2006 Animal Bioscience Vol.19 No.11

The polymorphism of insulin-like growth factor I receptor (IGFIR) gene in 12 pig breeds (total n = 593) was detected by PCR-SacII-restriction fragment length polymorphism and allele A (379 bp) or allele B (235 bp and 144 bp) observed. In the studied breeds, it was found that European pigs principally carried allele A, while Chinese native pig breeds principally carried allele B. In addition, the role of pig IGFIR was investigated in 156 Wanbai pigs and 212 Large Yorkshire pigs. Growth related variables including body weight at birth, 2-, 4- and 6-mo of age and backfat thickness and lean percentage estimated by ultrasonography at 6-mo of age were recorded in analyzing the association between IGFIR gene polymorphism and growth traits. AA-genotype pigs exhibited greater (p<0.05) body weights (BW) at birth, 2- and 6-mo of age, but not at 4-mo of age, than those of the BB-genotype in Wanbai and Yorkshire breeds. Moreover, in the Yorkshire breed, AA-genotype pigs had less backfat thickness (p<0.05) and greater lean percentage (p<0.01) than the BB genotype. Based on these results, it is necessary to do more studies on IGFIR before introducing the IGFIR locus into breeding programs.

Deep Learning-Based Real-Time Crack Segmentation for Pavement Images

Wenjun Wang,Chao Su 대한토목학회 2021 KSCE JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING Vol.25 No.12

Crack is the early form of most pavement defects and has a great negative effect on road service life. Timely detection and maintenance of cracks may minimize the loss caused by it. In this paper, we propose a lightweight crack segmentation model based on a bilateral segmentation network, which achieves a good balance between inference speed and segmentation performance. The model contains two parts: context path and spatial path. The network used in context path is inspired by Xception, which is used to rapidly down-sample the feature map. Spatial path employs three convolutional layers to encode sufficient spatial information. The F1_score and IoU achieved by our model on the Crack500 dataset are 0.8270 and 0.7379, respectively. The proposed model gains superior performance in FPS compared to other four models. In addition, the model is able to process images at 1,024 × 512 pixels in real-time (31.3 FPS). Through the comparison of training time, our model can save 54.04% of the time.

CLIMATE VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT AND COMPARISON OF SOLAR AND WIND POWER IN SOUTHERN CHINA

Wenjun WANG,Pengcheng XIE,Wenxiu WANG,Xujie ZHAO,Daiqing zhao 한국신재생에너지학회 2017 AFORE Vol.2017 No.11

Polymorphism of Insulin-like Growth Factor I Gene in Six Chicken Breeds and Its Relationship with Growth Traits

Wang, Wenjun,Ouyang, Kehui,Ouyang, Jianhua,Li, Haihua,Lin, Shumao,Sun, Han Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2004 Animal Bioscience Vol.17 No.3

The polymorphism of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF I) in 6 chicken breeds (total n=515) was detected by PCR-Pst IRFLP, and allele A (621 bp) or allele B (364 and 257 bp) were observed. In these chicken breeds, it was found that exotic chicken carried high frequencies of allele B, while Chinese native chicken breeds carried high frequencies of allele A. Meanwhile the role of IGF I was investigated in 133 Ningdu Yellow chicken and 162 Wanzhai Yellow chicken. Five growth traits were recorded for analyzing the association between IGFI gene polymorphism and performance. In both the Ningdu and Wanzhai Yellow breeds, body weight at 4 months was significantly higher with BB genotype than with AA genotype (p<0.05). Furthermore, body weight at 2 months in the Wanzhai Yellow breeds was also higher with BB genotype than with AA genotype (p<0.05). There were no differences among the genotypes for the other traits studied. Based on these results, it is necessary to do more studies on IGFI before making the IGFI locus into the application of maker-assisted selection programms.

Step-up switched-capacitor multilevel inverter employing multiple inputs with reduced switches

Wang, Yaoqiang,Wang, Zhe,Liu, Wenjun,Zhang, Yun,Wang, Kewen,Liang, Jun The Korean Institute of Power Electronics 2021 JOURNAL OF POWER ELECTRONICS Vol.21 No.7

A large device count, weak boosting capability, and DC voltage imbalance are common issues in conventional multilevel inverters. In this paper, a novel multilevel inverter is presented that can generate the desired number of output levels with reduced devices by using new switched-capacitor circuits (SCCs). The two input sources and capacitors in the SCC can be switched in parallel and series modes. In the parallel mode, the capacitor voltage of the SCC is charged to the DC source voltage, which inherently solves the capacitor voltage imbalance issue without any auxiliary circuits. In the series mode, the capacitor can be used as an alternative source, which helps achieve a high voltage gain. The multiple input sources of the SCC make the proposed topology suitable for application in renewable energy generation systems where several DC sources are available. Instead of an H-bridge module, a structure with two half-bridges and two switches is used as a polarity generation circuit at the load terminal. The input sources of two SCCs can be selected as symmetric and asymmetric patterns, which can result in a great number of output voltage levels. The circuit topology, operational principle, modulation strategy, capacitor analysis, and performance comparisons of the inverter are described in this paper. In addition, experimental results verify the feasibility and validity of the inverter.

Polymorphism of Growth Hormone Gene in 12 Pig Breeds and Its Relationship with Pig Growth and Carcass Traits

Wang, Wenjun,Huang, Lusheng,Gao, Jun,Ding, NengShui,Chen, Kefei,Ren, Jun,Luo, Ming Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2003 Animal Bioscience Vol.16 No.2

The polymorphism of the growth hormone gene in 12 pig breeds (total n=475) was detected by PCR-Apa I-RFLP, and allele A (449 bp, 101 bp and 55 bp) or allele B (316 bp, 133 bp, 101 bp and 55 bp) were observed. In these pig breeds, we found that European pig breeds had high frequencies of allele B, while Chinese native pig breeds had high frequencies of allele A. In addition, the role of porcine GH was investigated in 117 Nanchang White pigs and 361 Large Yorkshire pigs. Eight traits about growth and carcass were recorded for analyzing associations between GH gene polymorphism and performance quantitative traits. In the Nanchang White pigs, no significant difference was observed between different genotypes and different growth and carcass traits. In Large Yorkshire pigs, those with BB genotype had more lean percentage than pigs with AA genotype (p<0.05). Based on these results, we conclude that the GH locus should be further investigated in commercial breeds to determine its suitability for use in marker-assisted selection programmes.

Polymorphism of Insulin-like Growth Factor Binding Protein-4 Gene in 17 Pig Breeds and Its Relationship with Growth Traits

Wang, Wenjun,Hu, Xiaoxiang,Fei, Jin,Meng, Qinyong,Li, Ning Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2007 Animal Bioscience Vol.20 No.10

Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-4 (IGFBP-4) is a member of the IGF super family, and regulates the action of IGFs. The polymorphism of porcine IGFBP-4 gene in 17 pig breeds (total n = 570) was detected by PCR-SSCP, and alleles A and B were detected. In these pig breeds, it was found that exotic pig breeds carried high frequencies of allele A, while Chinese native pig breeds carried high frequencies of allele B. The role of porcine IGFBP-4 was investigated in 172 F2 offspring of a $Lantang{\times}Lantang $ population. Forty eight growth traits were recorded for analyzing the association between IGFBP-4 gene polymorphism and quantitative performance traits. In this resource family, pigs with AA genotype had higher fore-body weight, bone weight of mid-body, bone weight of rear-body, fore-leg weight and rear-leg weight than those pigs with BB genotype (p<0.05); while pigs which carried BB genotype had higher back-fat thickness at C point and lard weight than those pigs with AA genotype (p<0.05); pigs with AA genotype had higher body weight than those with BB genotype; for meat quality traits, pigs with AA genotype had higher meat color than those of BB genotype (p<0.01), and pigs with BB genotype had higher marbling than those of AA and AB genotypes (p<0.01 and p<0.05, respectively).Based on these results, it is necessary to do more studies on IGFBP-4 before using the IGFBP-4 locus for the application of marker-assisted selection programs.

Antibacterial Effect of Chitosan-Modified Fe₃O₄ Nanozymes on Acinetobacter baumannii

( Wang Wenjun ),( Wu Ziman ),( Shi Peiru ),( Wu Pinyun ),( Qin Peng ),( Yu Lin ) 한국미생물 · 생명공학회 2022 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.32 No.2

The aim of this study was to determine whether the antibacterial activity of chitosan-modified Fe₃O₄ (CS@Fe₃O₄) nanomaterials against Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) is mediated through changes in biofilm formation and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. For this purpose, the broth dilution method was used to examine the effect of CS@Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles on bacterial growth. The effects of CS@Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles on biofilm formation were measured using a semiquantitative crystal violet staining assay. In addition, a bacterial ROS detection kit was used to detect the production of ROS in bacteria. The results showed that CS@Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles had a significant inhibitory effect on the colony growth and biofilm formation of drug-resistant A. baumannii (p < 0.05). The ROS stress assay revealed significantly higher ROS levels in A. baumannii subjected to CS@Fe₃O₄ nanoparticle treatment than the control group (p < 0.05). Thus, we demonstrated for the first time that CS@Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles had an inhibitory effect on A. baumannii in vitro, and that the antibacterial effect of CS@Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles on drug-resistant A. baumannii was more significant than on drug-sensitive bacteria. Our findings suggest that the antibacterial mechanism of CS@Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles is mediated through inhibition of biofilm formation in drug-resistant bacteria, as well as stimulation of A. baumannii to produce ROS. In summary, our data indicate that CS@Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles could be used to treat infections caused by drug-resistant A. baumannii.