Zearalenone (ZEA) is a secondary metabolite with estrogenic effects produced by Fusarium fungi and mainly occurs as a contaminant of grains such as corn and wheat. ZEA, to which weaned gilts are extremely sensitive, is the main Fusarium toxin detected in corn–soybean meal diets. Our aim was to examine the effects of ZEA on the growth performance, intestinal disaccharidase activity, and anti-stress capacity of weaned gilts. Twenty 42-day-old healthy Duroc × Landrace × Large White weaned gilts (12.84 ± 0.26 kg) were randomly divided into control and treatment (diet containing 1.04 mg/kg ZEA) groups. The experiment included a 7-day pre-trial period followed by a 35-day test period, all gilts were euthanized and small intestinal samples were collected and subjected to immunohistochemical and western blot analyses. The results revealed that inclusion of 1.04 mg/kg ZEA in the diet significantly reduced the activities of lactase, sucrase, and maltase in the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum of gilts. Similarly, the activities of superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase in the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum, and activities of catalase in the jejunum and ileum were reduced (p < 0.05). Conversely, the content of malondialdehyde in the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum, and the integrated optical density (IOD), IOD in single villi, and the mRNA and protein expression of heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) were significantly increased (p < 0.05). The results of immunohistochemical analyses revealed that the positive reaction of Hsp70 in the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum of weaned gilts was enhanced in the ZEA treatment, compared with the control. The findings of this study indicate the inclusion of ZEA (1.04 mg/kg) in the diet of gilts reduced the activity of disaccharidase enzymes and induced oxidative stress in the small intestine, thereby indicating that ZEA would have the effect of reducing nutrient absorption in these animals.

A high-sensitivity, low-cost, ultrathin, hollow fiber micro bubble structure was proposed; such a bubble can be used to develop a high-sensitivity strain sensor based on a Fabry–Perot interferometer (FPI). The micro bubble is fabricated at the fiber tip by splicing a glass tube to a single mode fiber (SMF) and then the glass tube is filled with gas in order to expand and form a micro bubble. The sensitivity of the strain sensor with a cavity length of about 155 μm and a bubble wall thickness of about 6 μm was measured to be up to 8.14 pm/με.

Establishing balanced and sustainable development is critical for improving banks’ capability and performance. Financial development has enormous significance in an environment of increasingly contestable international markets, and can be achieved by enhancing banking efficiency and performance. The bank efficiency is estimated through data envelopment analysis (DEA). By applying the quantile regression technique, this research examines the impact of revenue diversification (RD) on the bank efficiency (BE) of seven Asian emerging economies over 2008–2019. In this regard, non-performing loans (NPLs), non-interest income, capitalization, and gross domestic product (GDP) are taken as control variables. The empirical findings indicate that RD, market capitalization, non-interest income, and GDP have a significant positive impact on BE, whereas NPLs have a significant negative relationship with BE. These results have significant strategic implications for managers, regulators, and policymakers, who share a common interest in boosting financial sustainability and performance.

The microgrid is considered to have bright prospects in the future for its advantages of high economic benefits and environmentally friendly and alleviate the antinomy for energy's supply and demand. Due to the introduction of renewable energy such as wind power into the microgrid, the intermittent, random, and unpredictability of its output makes it difficult to control the frequency when the microgrid operates in the isolated islands. In order to reduce the frequency fluctuation, this paper proposes a secondary frequency control strategy for isolated microgrid based on the linear active disturbance rejection control (LADRC) technology. Extended state observer (ESO) is used to estimate the extended state online and compensate the disturbance estimation actively so that the disturbance can be eliminated quickly and the frequency stability can be maintained. In addition, considering the demand response, the influence of different demand response coefficients on frequency control is analyzed. By a series of trial declarations, the LADRC control strategy can effectively suppress the frequency oscillation, and after adding the demand responses, the response speed can be faster than the traditional frequency modulation, reflecting its better robustness and stability. The simulation based on the frequency response model of AC microgrid results shows the effectiveness of the proposed method. INDEX TERMS Renewable energy, islanding microgrid, LADRC, demand response, ESO.

The multi-energy system (MES) is believed to have bright prospects in the future for its advantages of high energy efficiency, flexible operation condition, and environmentally friendly. The heating network and the heat load play an important role in the MES and have great potentials in improving the system performance. In this paper, an optimal planning method is proposed for the MES that considers the thermal storage capacity of the heating network and the heat load. The objective includes the investment cost, the fuel cost, the grid cost, the maintenance cost, and the environmental cost. The constraints of the cogeneration, the heating network, and the heat load are all taken into consideration. The simulation based on the typical working conditions in annual operation is performed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed planning method. Four cases are set in order to comprehensively investigate the effect of the thermal storage capacity of the heating network and the heat load on the MES planning. The results indicate that the proposed method can decrease the capacity of the devices and reduce the fuel cost.INDEX TERMS Heat load, heating network, multi-energy system (MES), optimal planning, thermal storage capacity.