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The present study was conducted to determine effects of different forms of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, strain Y200007) on the growth performance, intestinal development, and systemic immunity in early-weaned piglets. A total of 96 piglets (14-d old, initial average body weight of 4.5 kg) were assigned to 4 dietary treatments: (1) basal diet without yeast (Control); (2) basal diet supplemented with 3.00 g/kg live yeast (LY); (3) basal diet supplemented with 2.66 g/kg heat-killed whole yeast (HKY); and (4) basal diet supplemented with 3.00 g/kg superfine yeast powders (SFY). Diets and water were provided ad libitum to the piglets during 3-week experiment. Growth performance of piglets was measured weekly. Samples of blood and small intestine were collected at days 7 and 21 of experiment. Dietary supplementation with LY and SFY improved G:F of piglets at days 1-21 of the experiment (P < 0.05) compared to Control group. Serum concentrations of growth hormone (GH), triiodothyronine (T3), tetraiodothyronine (T4), and insulin growth factor 1 (IGF-1) in piglets at day 21 of the experiment were higher when fed diets supplemented with LY and SFY than those in Control group (P < 0.05). Compared to Control group, contents of serum urea nitrogen of piglets were reduced by the 3 yeast-supplemented diets (P < 0.05). Diets supplemented with LY increased villus height and villus-to-crypt ratio in duodenum and jejunum of piglets (P < 0.05) compared to other two groups at day 7 of the experiment. Feeding diets supplemented with LY and SFY increased (P < 0.05) serum concentrations of IgA, IL-2, and IL-6 levels in piglets compared to Control. The CD4+/CD8+ ratio and proliferation of T-lymphocytes in piglets fed diets supplemented with LY were increased compared to that of Control group at day 7 of the experiment (P < 0.05). In conclusion, dietary supplementation with both LY and SFY enhanced feed conversion, small intestinal development, and systemic immunity in early-weaned piglets, with better improvement in feed conversion by dietary supplementation with LY, while dietary supplementation with SFY was more effective in increasing systemic immune functions in early-weaned piglets.

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Artificial liquid-repellent surfaces have attracted substantial scientific and industrial attention with a focus on creating functional topological features; however, the role of the underlying structures has been overlooked. Recent developments in micro-nanofabrication allow us now to construct a skin-muscle type system combining interfacial liquid repellence atop a mechanically functional structure. Specifically, we design surfaces comprising bioinspired, mushroom-like repelling heads and spring-like flexible supports, which are realized by three-dimensional direct laser lithography. The flexible supports elevate liquid repellency by resisting droplet impalement and reducing contact time. This, previously unknown, use of spring-like flexible supports to enhance liquid repellency provides an excellent level of control over droplet manipulation. Moreover, this extends repellent microstructure research from statics to dynamics and is envisioned to yield functionalities and possibilities by linking functional surfaces and mechanical metamaterials.

Environmental regulation has been confirmed to have an important impact on enterprise productivity, which is regarded as a crucial factor of enterprise duration. However, existing studies have paid little attention to how environmental regulation affects enterprise duration. Using firm‐level data from the Chinese Industrial Enterprises Database (2003–2007) and the stochastic frontier analysis method, we estimate enterprise total factor productivity (TFP) and its four decomposed components (scale efficiency change, technological change, factor allocation efficiency change, and technical efficiency change). Meanwhile, we adopt a comprehensive index to measure the environmental regulation intensity. Furthermore, we use the linear probability model and the proportional hazards model to investigate the effect of environmental regulation on enterprise duration through the mediating role of enterprise TFP. The results show that although environmental regulation per se negatively impacts on enterprise duration, environmental regulation can present a synthetic positive effect on enterprise duration due to its positive effect on enterprise TFP. Specifically, environmental regulation significantly mitigates the scale efficiency and technical efficiency of regulated enterprises. It also stimulates regulated enterprises' technological innovation and improves their factor allocation efficiency. In addition, state‐owned and large‐scale enterprises are more malleable when facing environmental regulations. We propose that the government should encourage enterprises to innovate and improve the allocation efficiency of production factors, so as to achieve the purpose of controlling environmental pollution in stages while extending enterprise duration.