210 research outputs found
Preselection of Electronic Services by Given Business Service Based on Measuring Semantic Heterogeneity within the Application Area of Logistics
According to the service orientation design paradigm there are business (BS) and electronic services (ES). BS encapsulate business concerns. ES encapsulate computing systems, information systems and software applications. In environments with a high number of BS and ES the decision on which ES provides the most suitable support for a certain BS is not a trivial task. The objective of the thesis is to provide models, methods, and techniques for preselection of ES for a given BS. Preselection is about reducing the large amount of ES to a significant smaller amount under the consideration of a particular BS
Effects of broccoli extract and various essential oils on intestinal and faecal microflora and on xenobiotic enzymes and the antioxidant system of piglets
Objective: Since the ban of antibiotics as growth promoting feed additives in
the EU in 2006 research in alternatives has gained importance. Phytogenic feed
additives represent a heterogenous class of different plant derived substances
that are discussed to improve the health of farm animals by direct and
indirect antioxidant effects and by influencing microbial eubiosis in the
gastrointestinal tract. Consequently our study aimed to investigate the
influence of broccoli extract and the essential oils of tur- meric, oregano,
thyme and rosemary, as selected individual additives, on intestinal and faecal
microflora, on xenobiotic enzymes, and on the antioxidant system of piglets.
Methods: 48 four weeks old male weaned piglets were assigned to 6 groups of 8.
The piglets were housed individually in stainless steel pens with slatted
floor. The control group (Con) was fed a diet without an additive for 4 weeks.
The diet of group BE contained 0.15 g/kg sulforaphane in form of a broccoli
extract. 535, 282, 373 and 476 mg/kg of the essential oils of turmeric (Cuo),
oregano (Oo), thyme (To) and rosemary (Ro) were added to the diets of the
remaining 4 groups to stan-dardise supplementation to 150 mg/kg of the oilsâ
key terpene compounds ar-turmerone, carvacrol, thymol and 1,8-cineole. The
composition of bacterial microflora was examined by cultivating samples of
jejeunal and colonic mucosa and of faeces under specific conditions. The mRNA
expression of xenobiotic and antioxidant enzymes was determined by reversing
transcrip- tase real time detection PCR (RT-PCR). Total antioxidant status was
assayed using the Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity (TEAC), and lipid
peroxidation was determined by measuring thiobarbioturic acid reactive
substances (TBA- RS). Results: Compared to Con piglets all additives
positively influenced weight gain and feed conversion in week 1. Over the
whole trial period no significant differences in performance parameters
existed between the experimental groups. Compared to group Con performance of
Ro piglets was, however, slightly impaired. Com- pared to Con piglets Cuo, Oo
and To increased the ratio of Lactobacilli:E. coli attached to the jejunal
mucosa, whereas BE and Ro impaired this ratio slightly. In contrast in colonic
mucosa Ro improved Lactobacilli:E. coli ratio. In faecal samples an
improvement of Lactobacilli:E. coli ratio could be analysed for To and Ro. Ro
was the only additive that reduced the incidence rate of piglets tested
positive for enterotoxic E. coli (ETEC). All additives significantly increased
jejunal TEAC and reduced TBA-RS. In the liver BE, Cuo, Oo and To increased
TEAC in tendency and Ro significantly. Liver TBA-RS were slightly reduced by
all additives compared to Con piglets. Whereas the influence of BE, To and Ro
on jejunal TEAC mainly was derived from the induction of xenobiotic and
antioxidant enzymes (indirect antioxidant effects), Cuo and Oo influenced TEAC
by direct antioxidant effects. Discussion and Conclusions: Our results have
shown: That within the labiatae oils Oo and To have the potential to improve
performance slightly. That phytogenic substances have a small but not sig-
nificant influence on intestinal microflora. That phytogenic feed additives
up-regulate the anti- oxidant system of piglets either by direct or by
indirect antioxidant effects and that they may thereby improve health status.
That within the labiatae oils Oo has a high direct antioxidant potential
whereas Ro potently induces xenobiotic and antioxidant enzymes. That broccoli
extract is an attractive new phytogenic additive, improving antioxidant status
by indirect antioxidant effects. That defined combinations of selected
phytogenic substances may produce additive effects. That health promoting
effects of phytogenic additives in the future should be studied systematically
under the challenge with pathogenic microorganisms or food derived to-xins
Last glacial millennial-scale hydro-climate and temperature changes in Puerto Rico constrained by speleothem fluid inclusion ÎŽO and ÎŽH values
We present speleothem fluid inclusion ÎŽ18Of and ÎŽ2Hf values from Larga Cave, Puerto Rico, that cover the interval between 46.2 and 15.3 ka on the millennial scale, including the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and several stadial and interstadial cycles. The data set can be divided in two main clusters of stable isotope compositions of the fluid inclusion water with respect to the global meteoric water line (GMWL), which coincide with strong variations in the water content of the stalagmite. In particular, this clustering is found to be climate related, where one cluster comprises samples from cold and dry periods, such as the Heinrich and Greenland stadials (HSs and GSs), as well as parts of the LGM, which exhibit very high ÎŽ18Of and ÎŽ2Hf values. We interpret this enrichment as being caused by evaporation inside the cave due to enhanced cave ventilation during these colder and drier times. In contrast, in most samples corresponding to warmer and wetter Greenland interstadials (GIs), but also for some from HS 2 and 3, the ÎŽ18Of and ÎŽ2Hf values plot on the meteoric water line and modification of fluid inclusion water due to âin-caveâ evaporation are found to be negligible.
Consequently, variations of recent glacial hydro-climate and temperatures in the western tropical Atlantic can be constrained. In general, ÎŽ18Of values from fluid inclusions are up to 3 â° higher than those of modern drip water, which is interpreted as a weaker atmospheric convective activity during the last glacial period. In addition, reconstructed temperatures suggest an average cooling of 2â3 âŠC during the LGM compared to modern cave temperatures. Reconstructed cave temperatures yield an average cooling of â1.4 ± 2.8 âŠC for HS 2 and â3.6 ± 2.2 âŠC for HS 3. Higher ÎŽ18Of values of these samples further suggest that the drip water was dominated by orographic rainfall and/or cold fronts, along with weak or even absent convective activity. In contrast, during intersta-dial phases, reconstructed temperatures reached nearly modern values, and convective activity was comparable to or only slightly weaker than today
Acute effects of orexigenic antipsychotic drugs on lipid and carbohydrate metabolism in rat
This study aims to investigate whether orexigenic antipsychotic drugs may induce dyslipidemia and glucose disturbances in female rats through direct perturbation of metabolically active peripheral tissues, independent of prior weight gain. Methods In the current study, we examined whether a single intraperitoneal injection of clozapine or olanzapine induced metabolic disturbances in adult female outbred SpragueâDawley rats. Serum glucose and lipid parameters were measured during time-course experiments up to 48 h. Real-time quantitative PCR was used to measure specific transcriptional alterations in lipid and carbohydrate metabolism in adipose tissue depots or in the liver. Results Our results demonstrated that acute administration of clozapine or olanzapine induced a rapid, robust elevation of free fatty acids and glucose in serum, followed by hepatic accumulation of lipids evident after 12â24 h. These metabolic disturbances were associated with biphasic patterns of gluconeogenic and lipid-related gene expression in the liver and in white adipose tissue depots. Conclusion Our results support that clozapine and olanzapine are associated with primary effects on carbohydrate and lipid metabolism associated with transcriptional changes in metabolically active peripheral tissues prior to the development of drug-induced weight gain
Bulletin der deutschen Slavistik 23.2017
Bulletin der deutschen Slavistik 23, 201
The Muon g-2
The muon anomalous magnetic moment is one of the most precisely measured
quantities in particle physics. In a recent experiment at Brookhaven it has
been measured with a remarkable 14-fold improvement of the previous CERN
experiment reaching a precision of 0.54ppm. Since the first results were
published, a persisting "discrepancy" between theory and experiment of about 3
standard deviations is observed. It is the largest "established" deviation from
the Standard Model seen in a "clean" electroweak observable and thus could be a
hint for New Physics to be around the corner. This deviation triggered numerous
speculations about the possible origin of the "missing piece" and the increased
experimental precision animated a multitude of new theoretical efforts which
lead to a substantial improvement of the prediction of the muon anomaly
a_mu=(g_mu-2)/2. The dominating uncertainty of the prediction, caused by strong
interaction effects, could be reduced substantially, due to new hadronic cross
section measurements in electron-positron annihilation at low energies. Also
the recent electron g-2 measurement at Harvard contributes substantially to the
progress in this field, as it allows for a much more precise determination of
the fine structure constant alpha as well as a cross check of the status of our
theoretical understanding.Comment: 134 pages, 68 figure
Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in âs = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector
A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fbâ1 of protonâproton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at âs = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements
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