1,282 research outputs found
Organic pig farmers and researchers working in eight European countries on animal Health, welfare and Nutrition to reduce environmental impact
The project “ProPIG” analyses the relationship between animal health, welfare and environmental impacts on 75 organic pig farms and the effect of farming systems on those. After development of on-farm assessment protocols a prospective cohort study is carried out across three housing system (outdoor, partly outdoor, indoor with concrete outside run) in eight European countries with the aim to improve the situation
ANIPLAN
Farm specific strategies to reduce environmental impact by improving health, welfare and nutrition of organic pigs
ProPIG
Farm specific strategies to reduce environmental impact by improving health, welfare and nutrition of organic pigs
Guanosine nucleotides regulate B2 kinin receptor affinity of agonists but not of antagonists: Discussion of a model proposing receptor precoupling to G protein
The effect of nucleotides on binding of the B2 kinin (BK) receptor agonist {[}H-3]BK and the antagonist {[}H-3]NPC17731 to particulate fractions of human foreskin fibroblasts was studied. At 0 degrees C, particulate fractions exhibited a single class of binding sites with a Kd of 2.3 nM for {[}H-3]BK and a K-d Of 3.8 nM for the antagonist {[}H-3]NPC17731. Incubation with radioligands at 37 degrees C for 5 min gave a reduction of agonist, as well as antagonist, binding that was between 0-40% depending on the preparation, even in the absence of guanosine nucleotides. As shown by Scatchard analysis, this reduction in specific binding was due to a shift in the affinity of at least a fraction of the receptors. The presence at 37 degrees C of the guanine nucleotides GTP, GDP and their poorly hydrolyzable analogs left {[}H-3]-NPC17731 binding unaffected, but reduced the receptor affinity for {[}H-3]BK to a K-d Of about 15 nM. The maximal number of receptors, however, was unchanged. This affinity change was strongly dependent on the presence of bivalent cations, in particular Mg2+. It was reversed by incubation at 0 degrees C, The rank order of the guanosine nucleotides for {[}H-3]BK binding reduction was GTP{[}gamma S] = Gpp{[}NH]p > GTP = GDP > GDP{[}beta S]. GMP, ATP, ADP and AMP showed no influence on agonist binding. A model for the interaction of the B2 kinin receptor with G proteins is discussed
An In Depth Study into Using EMI Signatures for Appliance Identification
Energy conservation is a key factor towards long term energy sustainability.
Real-time end user energy feedback, using disaggregated electric load
composition, can play a pivotal role in motivating consumers towards energy
conservation. Recent works have explored using high frequency conducted
electromagnetic interference (EMI) on power lines as a single point sensing
parameter for monitoring common home appliances. However, key questions
regarding the reliability and feasibility of using EMI signatures for
non-intrusive load monitoring over multiple appliances across different sensing
paradigms remain unanswered. This work presents some of the key challenges
towards using EMI as a unique and time invariant feature for load
disaggregation. In-depth empirical evaluations of a large number of appliances
in different sensing configurations are carried out, in both laboratory and
real world settings. Insights into the effects of external parameters such as
line impedance, background noise and appliance coupling on the EMI behavior of
an appliance are realized through simulations and measurements. A generic
approach for simulating the EMI behavior of an appliance that can then be used
to do a detailed analysis of real world phenomenology is presented. The
simulation approach is validated with EMI data from a router. Our EMI dataset -
High Frequency EMI Dataset (HFED) is also released
A CVD diamond detector for (n,alpha) cross section measurements
Copyright owned by the author(s) under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike LicenceIn astrophysics, the determination of the optical alpha-nucleus potential for low alpha-particle energies, crucial in understanding the origin of the stable isotopes, has turned out to be a challenge. Theory still cannot predict the optical potentials required for the calculation of the astrophysical reaction rates in the Hauser-Feshbach statistical model and there is scant experimental information on reactions with alpha particles at the relevant astrophysical energies. Measurements of (n,alpha) cross-sections offer a good opportunity to study the alpha channel. At the n_TOF experiment at CERN, a prototype detector, based on the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond technology, has been recently developed for (n,alpha) measurements. A reference measurement of the 10B(n,alpha)7Li reaction was performed in 2011 at n_TOF as a feasibility study for this detector type. The results of this measurement and an outline for future experiments are presented here
Combining brain-computer interfaces and assistive technologies: state-of-the-art and challenges
In recent years, new research has brought the field of EEG-based Brain-Computer Interfacing (BCI) out of its infancy and into a phase of relative maturity through many demonstrated prototypes such as brain-controlled wheelchairs, keyboards, and computer games. With this proof-of-concept phase in the past, the time is now ripe to focus on the development of practical BCI technologies that can be brought out of the lab and into real-world applications. In particular, we focus on the prospect of improving the lives of countless disabled individuals through a combination of BCI technology with existing assistive technologies (AT). In pursuit of more practical BCIs for use outside of the lab, in this paper, we identify four application areas where disabled individuals could greatly benefit from advancements in BCI technology, namely,“Communication and Control”, “Motor Substitution”, “Entertainment”, and “Motor Recovery”. We review the current state of the art and possible future developments, while discussing the main research issues in these four areas. In particular, we expect the most progress in the development of technologies such as hybrid BCI architectures, user-machine adaptation algorithms, the exploitation of users’ mental states for BCI reliability and confidence measures, the incorporation of principles in human-computer interaction (HCI) to improve BCI usability, and the development of novel BCI technology including better EEG devices
Surgery groups of the fundamental groups of hyperplane arrangement complements
Using a recent result of Bartels and Lueck (arXiv:0901.0442) we deduce that
the Farrell-Jones Fibered Isomorphism conjecture in L-theory is true for any
group which contains a finite index strongly poly-free normal subgroup, in
particular, for the Artin full braid groups. As a consequence we explicitly
compute the surgery groups of the Artin pure braid groups. This is obtained as
a corollary to a computation of the surgery groups of a more general class of
groups, namely for the fundamental group of the complement of any fiber-type
hyperplane arrangement in the complex n-space.Comment: 11 pages, AMSLATEX file, revised following referee's comments and
suggestions, to appear in Archiv der Mathemati
Probing Spin-Polarized Currents in the Quantum Hall Regime
An experiment to probe spin-polarized currents in the quantum Hall regime is
suggested that takes advantage of the large Zeeman-splitting in the
paramagnetic diluted magnetic semiconductor zinc manganese selenide
(ZnMnSe). In the proposed experiment spin-polarized electrons are
injected by ZnMnSe-contacts into a gallium arsenide (GaAs) two-dimensional
electron gas (2DEG) arranged in a Hall bar geometry. We calculated the
resulting Hall resistance for this experimental setup within the framework of
the Landauer-B\"uttiker formalism. These calculations predict for 100%
spininjection through the ZnMnSe-contacts a Hall resistance twice as high as in
the case of no spin-polarized injection of charge carriers into a 2DEG for
filling factor . We also investigated the influence of the equilibration
of the spin-polarized electrons within the 2DEG on the Hall resistance. In
addition, in our model we expect no coupling between the contact and the 2DEG
for odd filling factors of the 2DEG for 100% spininjection, because of the
opposite sign of the g-factors of ZnMnSe and GaAs.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure
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