226 research outputs found

    MakerSpaces and Value Creation in Start-ups in Germany

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    Initiatives and projects such as the “Excellence Start-up Center.NRW” aim to increase the competitiveness of Germany through startups and has the explicit goal of creating new and sustainable jobs. In addition, so- called MakerSpaces are being created in parallel in many areas, which are considered as creative areas and are intended to support the construction of prototypes and the testing of hypotheses to create value for potential start-ups and to establish a valid business model. The question here is whether these initiatives and projects provide support for industrial value creation in Germany. This would require production and logistics to be considered when creating and developing new business models. Established methods of production research (e.g. simultaneous engineering) and logistics (e.g. supply chain management) should be taken into account. The results of a short survey – by questioning potential startups and advisors – show whether production and logistics are already considered in the consulting by the MakerSpaces or if there are further unmet needs

    A Vision of Digitalization in Supply Chain Management and Logistics

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    Digitalization requires a new form of management to master the transformation process of corporations and companies. The Dortmund Management Model structures the focus areas of the digital transformation along the management tasks goal, planning, decision, realization and monitoring as well as the common socio-technical subsystems technological, organizational and personnel - enriched by a fourth dimension: information. Additionally, the acceleration factors transformation, migration and change management are taken into account. This paper embraces a vision for a persistent management of production and supply chain networks in order to achieve a holistic Management 4.0. The emerging developments of technology, methods, tools and models in production and supply chain research are connected and merged into a big picture of digital supply chain management and logistics. The interfaces between management tasks show specific characteristics of digital business processes in particular, which are hereinafter exemplarily outlined: New business models and value-creation networks are based on adaption intelligent production systems, which are interconnected with digital models for continuous planning and reconfiguration. At the shop floor and between sites orders are completed by autonomous guided vehicles (AGV) with intelligent load carriers. Decentralized negotiations and decisions across company boundaries concluded with smart contracts are enabling reasonable and sustainable distribution of the value creation processes. Humans are still in the center of action – abilities are developed by integrated competence management, new learning approaches and human-centered assistance systems coupled with AI-based decision-making support. New types of organizations allow a synergetic collaboration of humans and machines. The benefit of integrating new production and transport technologies becomes assessable and accelerates the ongoing renewal of existing networks. This paper provides an overview of possible potential and connecting factors by linking different technological developments towards supply chain, logistics, production and management research and shows further research demands

    Genome stability of bovine in vivo-conceived cleavage-stage embryos is higher compared to in vitro-produced embryos.

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    STUDY QUESTION Is the rate and nature of chromosome instability (CIN) similar between bovine in vivo-derived and in vitro-cultured cleavage-stage embryos? SUMMARY ANSWER There is a major difference regarding chromosome stability of in vivo-derived and in vitro-cultured embryos, as CIN is significantly lower in in vivo-derived cleavage-stage embryos compared to in vitro-cultured embryos. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY CIN is common during in vitro embryogenesis and is associated with early embryonic loss in humans, but the stability of in vivo-conceived cleavage-stage embryos remains largely unknown. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION Because human in vivo preimplantation embryos are not accessible, bovine (Bos taurus) embryos were used to study CIN in vivo. Five young, healthy, cycling Holstein Friesian heifers were used to analyze single blastomeres of in vivo embryos, in vitro embryos produced by ovum pick up with ovarian stimulation (OPU-IVF), and in vitro embryos produced from in vitro matured oocytes retrieved without ovarian stimulation (IVM-IVF). PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS Single blastomeres were isolated from embryos, whole-genome amplified and hybridized on Illumina BovineHD BeadChip arrays together with the bulk DNA from the donor cows (mothers) and the bull (father). DNA was also obtained from the parents of the bull and from the parents of the cows (paternal and maternal grandparents, respectively). Subsequently, genome-wide haplotyping and copy-number profiling was applied to investigate the genomic architecture of 171 single bovine blastomeres of 16 in vivo, 13 OPU-IVF and 13 IVM-IVF embryos. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE The genomic stability of single blastomeres in both of the in vitro-cultured embryo cohorts was severely compromised (P < 0.0001), and the frequency of whole chromosome or segmental aberrations was higher in embryos produced in vitro than in embryos derived in vivo. Only 18.8% of in vivo-derived embryos contained at least one blastomere with chromosomal anomalies, compared to 69.2% of OPU-IVF embryos (P < 0.01) and 84.6% of IVM-IVF embryos (P < 0.001). LARGE SCALE DATA Genotyping data obtained in this study has been submitted to NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO; accession number GSE95358) LIMITATIONS REASONS FOR CAUTION There were two main limitations of the study. First, animal models may not always reflect the nature of human embryogenesis, although the use of an animal model to investigate CIN was unavoidable in our study. Second, a limited number of embryos were obtained, therefore more studies are warranted to corroborate the findings. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS Although CIN is also present in in vivo-developed embryos, in vitro procedures exacerbate chromosomal abnormalities during early embryo development. Hence, the present study highlights that IVF treatment compromises embryo viability and should be applied with care. Additionally, our results encourage to refine and improve in vitro culture conditions and assisted reproduction technologies. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S) The study was funded by the Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology (IWT) (TBM-090878 to J.R.V. and T.V.), the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO; G.A093.11 N to T.V. and J.R.V. and G.0392.14 N to A.V.S. and J.R.V.), the European Union's FP7 Marie Curie Industry-Academia Partnerships and Pathways (IAPP, SARM, EU324509 to J.R.V., T.V., O.T, A.D., A.S. and A.K.) and Horizon 2020 innovation programme (WIDENLIFE, 692065 to J.R.V., O.T., T.V., A.K. and A.S.). M.Z.E., J.R.V. and T.V. are co-inventors on a patent application ZL913096-PCT/EP2014/068315-WO/2015/028576 (‘Haplotyping and copy-number typing using polymorphic variant allelic frequencies’), licensed to Cartagenia (Agilent Technologies

    Long-term and transgenerational effects of cryopreservation on rabbit embryos

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    The short-term effects of cryopreservation and embryo transfer are well documented (reduced embryo viability, changes in pattern expression), but little is known about their long-term effects. We examined the possibility that embryo vitrification and transfer in rabbit could have an impact on the long-term reproductive physiology of the offspring and whether these phenotypes could be transferred to the progeny. Vitrified rabbit embryos were warmed and transferred to recipient females (F0). The offspring of the F0 generation were the F1 generation (cryopreserved animals). Females from F1 generation offspring were bred to F1 males to generate an F2 generation. In addition, two counterpart groups of noncryopreserved animals were bred and housed simultaneously to F1 and F2 generations (CF1 and CF2, respectively). The reproductive traits studied in all studied groups were litter size (LS), number born alive at birth (BA), and postnatal survival at Day 28 (number of weaned/number born alive expressed as percentage). The reproductive traits were analyzed using Bayesian methodology. Features of the estimated marginal posterior distributions of the differences between F1 and their counterparts (F1 - CF1) and between F2 and their counterparts (F2 - CF2) in reproductive characters found that vitrification and transfer procedures cause a consistent increase in LS and BA between F1 and CF1 females (more than 1.4 kits in LS and more than 1.3 BA) and also between F2 and CF2 females (0.96 kits in LS and 0.94 BA). We concluded that embryo cryopreservation and transfer procedures have long-term effects on derived female reproduction (F1 females) and transgenerational effects on female F1 offspring (F2 females).Lavara García, R.; Baselga Izquierdo, M.; Marco Jiménez, F.; Vicente Antón, JS. (2014). Long-term and transgenerational effects of cryopreservation on rabbit embryos. Theriogenology. 81(7):988-992. doi:10.1016/j.theriogenology.2014.01.030S98899281

    Effects of Female Dietary Restriction in a Rabbit Growth Line During Rearing on Reproductive Performance and Embryo Quality

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    [EN] Maternal diet prior to mating has an effect on reproductive performance. We analysed the effect of maternal dietary restriction during rearing on reproductive performance, the embryo development and foetal growth. Females were categorized in two groups: (i) does with ad libitum access to feed or (ii) restricted. Two experiments were performed: (i) after 1 month, receptive females from both experimental groups were artificially inseminated and the reproductive performance was recorded during three reproductive cycles; at the first insemination, the body weight and perirenal fat thickness were recorded, and (ii) females from both experimental groups were inseminated, and 24 h later, embryos were recovered and transferred to recipient females from a maternal line. Later, embryonic implantation was assessed at day 14 by laparoscopy and foetal growth was monitored by ultrasound examination. In experiment 1, no differences in kindling rate was found, but prolificacy was showed to be higher in ad libitum does, which also were heavier than restricted ones. In experiment 2, no differences among does either in body weight, in perirenal fat thickness or in reproductive performance (ovulation rate and embryo recovery rate) were related to differences in feed intake. However, despite similar embryonic implantation losses, embryos from restricted females demonstrated higher foetal and gestational losses. Embryos from restricted does presented lower foetal growth than embryos from ad libitum does. Therefore, our results demonstrated that nutrition before first conception in a rabbit line selected for growth rate may impact on the embryo and results in a disturbance in gestational losses and foetal growth over all reproductive life.This work was supported by the Spanish Research Project (CICYT AGL2014-53405-C2-1-P). C. Naturil-Alfonso was supported by a research grant from Generalitat Valenciana (Programa VALI+d, ACIF/2013/296). R. Lavara acknowledges the partial support received from Generalitat Valenciana under VALid+ programme (APOST/2014/034) and from MICINN under the posdoctoral programme FPDI-2013-16707. English text version was revised by N. Macowan English Language Service.Naturil Alfonso, C.; Lavara García, R.; Vicente Antón, JS.; Marco Jiménez, F. (2016). Effects of Female Dietary Restriction in a Rabbit Growth Line During Rearing on Reproductive Performance and Embryo Quality. Reproduction in Domestic Animals. 51(1):114-122. https://doi.org/10.1111/rda.12653S114122511Anguita, B., Paramio, M.-T., Jiménez-Macedo, A. R., Morató, R., Mogas, T., & Izquierdo, D. (2008). Total RNA and protein content, Cyclin B1 expression and developmental competence of prepubertal goat oocytes. 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Acute fasting before conception affects metabolic and endocrine status without impacting follicle and oocyte development and embryo gene expression in the rabbit. Reproduction, Fertility and Development, 23(6), 759. doi:10.1071/rd10298Gosden, R., Krapez, J., & Briggs, D. (1997). Growth and development of the mammalian oocyte. BioEssays, 19(10), 875-882. doi:10.1002/bies.950191007Igosheva, N., Abramov, A. Y., Poston, L., Eckert, J. J., Fleming, T. P., Duchen, M. R., & McConnell, J. (2010). Maternal Diet-Induced Obesity Alters Mitochondrial Activity and Redox Status in Mouse Oocytes and Zygotes. PLoS ONE, 5(4), e10074. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010074Leroy, J. L. M. R., Valckx, S. D. M., Jordaens, L., De Bie, J., Desmet, K. L. J., Van Hoeck, V., … Bols, P. E. J. (2015). Nutrition and maternal metabolic health in relation to oocyte and embryo quality: critical views on what we learned from the dairy cow model. 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The effect of divergent selection for uterine capacity on fetal and placental development at term in rabbits: Maternal and embryonic genetic effects1. Journal of Animal Science, 82(4), 1046-1052. doi:10.2527/2004.8241046xNaturil-Alfonso, C., Marco-Jiménez, F., Jiménez-Trigos, E., Saenz-de-Juano, M., Viudes-de-Castro, M., Lavara, R., & Vicente, J. (2015). Role of Embryonic and Maternal Genotype on Prenatal Survival and Foetal Growth in Rabbit. Reproduction in Domestic Animals, 50(2), 312-320. doi:10.1111/rda.12493Parr, R. A., Davis, I. F., Fairclough, R. J., & Miles, M. A. (1987). Overfeeding during early pregnancy reduces peripheral progesterone concentration and pregnancy rate in sheep. Reproduction, 80(1), 317-320. doi:10.1530/jrf.0.0800317Petrere, J. (1993). Food Restriction during Organogenesis in Rabbits: Effects on Reproduction and the Offspring. 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    Role of Embryonic and Maternal Genotype on Prenatal Survival and Foetal Growth in Rabbit

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    [EN] The aim of this work was to evaluate the influence of maternal and embryonic genotype on prenatal survival and foetal growth during pregnancy. Embryos were recovered at 48 h of gestation from two different donor lines (R = 46 and A = 40) and transferred to nulliparous recipient does (26 R and 24 A). Each recipient doe received six embryos into one oviduct from line R, and six embryos form line A into the other. Laparoscopy was performed at Day 14 to determine implantation rate. Recipient females were slaughter at Days 14, 24 and 30 (12, 24, and 14, respectively) to determine the number of live foetuses and the weight of live foetuses, foetal placenta and maternal placenta. A transcriptome analysis was performed to search for differences between foetal placentas at Days 14 and 24 of development. Prenatal survival at Days 14, and 24 was affected by embryonic genotype and determined by maternal genotype at Day 30. Foetal weight at Day 14 was influenced by both genotypes, being the weight higher for group A/A (0.29 0.01 g vs 0.19 0.01 g, for group R/R). However, both genotypes were determinant for foetal placenta weight at Day 24, while those genotypes affected maternal placenta weight at Day 30. Nevertheless, no differences in foetal placenta at transcriptome level and progesterone and IGF-I plasma levels in recipient does were found. In conclusion, results indicate that the influence of embryo and maternal genotype on the prenatal survival and growth seems to be changing over gestation.Naturil Alfonso, C.; Marco Jiménez, F.; Jiménez Trigos, ME.; Saenz De Juano Ribes, MDLD.; Viudes De Castro, MP.; Lavara García, R.; Vicente Antón, JS. (2015). Role of Embryonic and Maternal Genotype on Prenatal Survival and Foetal Growth in Rabbit. Reproduction in Domestic Animals. (50):312-320. doi:10.1111/rda.12493S3123205

    Embryo vitrification in rabbits: Consequences for progeny growth

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    [EN] The objective of this research is to examine if there are any effects of the rederivation procedures on rabbit growth pattern and on weight of different organ in adults. For this purpose, three experiments were conducted on two different groups of animals (control group and vitrified transferred group) to evaluate the possible effect of embryo manipulation (vitrification and transfer procedures) on future growth traits. The first experiment studies body weight from 1 to 9 weeks of age from the two groups. The second experiment describes the growth curve of progeny from experimental groups and analyzes their Gompertz curve parameters, including the estimation of adult body weight. The third experiment has been developed to study if there are any differences in different organ weight in adult males from the two experimental groups. In general, the results indicate that rederivation procedures had effect on the phenotypic expression of growth traits. The results showed that rabbit produced by vitrification and embryo transfer had higher body weight in the first four weeks of age than control progeny. Results from body weight (a parameter) and b parameter estimated by fitting the Gompertz growth curve did not show any difference between experimental groups. However, differences related with growth velocity (k parameter of the Gompertz curve) were observed among them, showing that the control group had higher growth velocity than the vitrified transferred group. In addition, we found that liver weight at 40th week of age exhibits significant differences between the experimental groups. The liver weight was higher in the control males than in the VF males. Although the present results indicate that vitrification and transfer procedures might affect some traits related with growth in rabbits, further research is needed to assess the mechanisms involved in the appearance of these phenotypes and if these phenotypes could be transferred to the future progeny.This study was supported by the Generalitat Valenciana research program (Prometeo II 2014/036) and Spanish Research Projects (CICYT AGL2011-29831-C03-01; AGL2014-53405-C2-1-P). Lavara R. acknowledges the partial support received from Generalitat Valenciana under VALid+ program (APOST/2014/034) and from Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under subprogramme "Formacion posdoctoral" (FPDI-2013-16707).Lavara García, R.; Baselga Izquierdo, M.; Marco Jiménez, F.; Vicente Antón, JS. (2015). Embryo vitrification in rabbits: Consequences for progeny growth. Theriogenology. 84(5):674-680. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.theriogenology.2015.04.025S67468084
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