It is Domestic, it Must Be Healthy: How Health Consciousness and Consumer Ethnocentrism Shape Healthiness Perception and Purchase Intentions of Domestic Food

Consumer ethnocentrism (CET), healthiness perception and health consciousness have been extensively researched in regard to consumer food choices. Literature on domestic food choices provides evidence that CET positively affects consumer preferences toward domestic food. However, the effect of health consciousness on domestic food choices has not yet received a ention. Our online study (N=227, convenience sample from Lithuanian population) closes this gap by showing that health consciousness is an important individual trait in domestic food choices beyond consumer ethnocentrism and represents the first study to analyze CET in light of food healthiness perception. All constructs were measured using established self-report scales. Empirical results obtained through structural equation modelling show that (1) health consciousness increases healthiness perception and willingness to buy domestic food. Moreover, (2) health consciousness is an important individual trait in domestic food choices beyond CET; (3) healthiness perception of domestic food has an impact on consumer purchase decisions; (4) CET has a positive impact on domestic food healthiness perception. The study provides managerial implications for domestic and foreign producers

The probiotic Escherichia coli strain Nissle 1917 (EcN) stops acute diarrhoea in infants and toddlers

In most cases, acute diarrhoea will become self-limiting during the first few days after onset. For young children, however, health risks may develop when the disease lasts longer than 3 days. The purpose of the present trial was to determine whether the stool frequency of infants and toddlers suffering from acute diarrhoea could be normalised more quickly by administering the probiotic Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) solution than by administering a placebo. The safety of EcN were also assessed. A total of 113 children (aged 2–47 months) with acute diarrhoea (> three watery or loose stools in 24 h) were randomised to either a group receiving the probiotic EcN suspension (n = 55) or a group receiving the placebo suspension (n = 58) in a confirmative, double-blind clinical trial. Depending on the age of patients, 1–3 ml per day of verum suspension (10(8) viable EcN cells per millilitre) or placebo were administered orally. The causes of the diarrhoea were viral rather than bacterial, but they were mainly unspecific infections. The median onset of treatment response (reduction of daily stool frequency to ≤ three watery or loose stools over at least 2 consecutive days) occurred more rapidly in the children receiving the EcN solution (2.5 days) than in those receiving the placebo (4.8 days), a significant difference (2.3 days; p = 0.0007). The number of patients showing a response was clearly higher (p < 0.0001) in the EcN group (52/55; 94.5%) than in the placebo group (39/58; 67.2%). EcN was found to be safe and well-tolerated, and it showed a significant superiority compared to the placebo in the treatment of acute diarrhoea in infants and toddlers. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00431-007-0419-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Quark Gluon Plasma Diagnostics in a Successive Equilibrium Scenario

The relativistic Fokker Planck equation has been used to study the evolution of the quark distribution in the quark gluon phase expected to be formed in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions. The effect of thermal masses for quarks and gluons is incorporated to take account of the in-medium properties. We find that the kinetic equilibrium is achieved before the system reaches the critical temperature of quark hadron phase transition. We find that chemical equilibrium is not achieved during this time. We have evaluated the electromagnetic probes of quark gluon plasma from the non-equilibrated quark gluon phase and compared them with those in completely equilibrated scenario. The hard QCD production rates for the electromagnetic ejectiles as well as the heavy quark production rates are also calculated.Comment: Submitted to Nucl. Phys.

Photon production from a thermalized quark gluon plasma: quantum kinetics and nonperturbative aspects

We study the production of photons from a quark gluon plasma in local thermal equilibrium by introducing a non-perturbative formulation of the real time evolution of the density matrix. The main ingredient is the real time effective action for the electromagnetic field to $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_{em})$ and to all orders in $\alpha_s$. The real time evolution is completely determined by the solution of a \emph{classical stochastic} non-local Langevin equation which provides a Dyson-like resummation of the perturbative expansion. The Langevin equation is solved in closed form by Laplace transform in terms of the thermal photon polarization. A quantum kinetic description emerges directly from this formulation. We find that photons with $k \lesssim 200 ~{Mev}$ \emph{thermalize} as plasmon quasiparticles in the plasma on time scales $t \sim 10-20 ~{fm}/c$ which is of the order of the lifetime of the QGP expected at RHIC and LHC. We then obtain the direct photon yield to lowest order in $\alpha_{em}$ and to leading logarithmic order in $\alpha_s$ in a \emph{uniform} expansion valid at all time. The yield during a QGP lifetime $t \sim 10 ~{fm}/c$ is systematically larger than that obtained with the equilibrium formulation and the spectrum features a distinct flattening for $k \gtrsim 2.5 ~{Gev}$. We discuss the window of reliability of our results, the theoretical uncertainties in \emph{any} treatment of photon emission from a QGP in LTE and the shortcomings of the customary S-matrix approach.Comment: 31 pages. To appear in Nucl. Phys. A. New section (VII) with response to and criticism of hep-ph/031222

Shear viscosity in ϕ4\phi^4 theory from an extended ladder resummation

We study shear viscosity in weakly coupled hot $\phi^4$ theory using the CTP formalism . We show that the viscosity can be obtained as the integral of a three-point function. Non-perturbative corrections to the bare one-loop result can be obtained by solving a decoupled Schwinger-Dyson type integral equation for this vertex. This integral equation represents the resummation of an infinite series of ladder diagrams which contribute to the leading order result. It can be shown that this integral equation has exactly the same form as the Boltzmann equation. We show that the integral equation for the viscosity can be reexpressed by writing the vertex as a combination of polarization tensors. An expression for this polarization tensor can be obtained by solving another Schwinger-Dyson type integral equation. This procedure results in an expression for the viscosity that represents a non-perturbative resummation of contributions to the viscosity which includes certain non-ladder graphs, as well as the usual ladders. We discuss the motivation for this resummation. We show that these resummations can also be obtained by writing the viscosity as an integral equation involving a single four-point function. Finally, we show that when the viscosity is expressed in terms of a four-point function, it is possible to further extend the set of graphs included in the resummation by treating vertex and propagator corrections self-consistently. We discuss the significance of such a self-consistent resummation and show that the integral equation contains cancellations between vertex and propagator corrections.Comment: Revtex 40 pages with 29 figures, version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Heavy ion collisions with non-equilibrium Dirac-Brueckner mean fields

The influence of realistic interactions on the reaction dynamics in intermediate energy heavy ion collisions is investigated. The mean field in relativistic transport calculations is derived from microscopic Dirac-Brueckner (DB) self-energies, taking non-equilibrium effects, in particular the anisotropy of the local phase space configurations, into account. Thus this approach goes beyond the local density approximation. A detailed analysis of various in-plane and out-of-plane flow observables is presented for Au on Au reactions at incident energies ranging from 250 to 800 A.MeV and the results are compared to recent measurements of the FOPI collaboration. An overall good agreement with in-plane flow data and a reasonable description of the out-of-plane emission is achieved. For these results the intrinsic momentum dependence of the non-equilibrium mean fields is important. On the other hand, the local density approximation with the same underlying DB forces as well as a standard non-linear version of the $\sigma\omega$ model are less successful in describing the present data. This gives evidence of the applicability of self energies derived from the DB approach to nuclear matter also far from saturation and equilibrium.Comment: 63 pages Latex, using Elsevier style, 20 ps-figures, to appear in Nucl. Phys.

Dyson-Schwinger Equations: Density, Temperature and Continuum Strong QCD

Continuum strong QCD is the application of models and continuum quantum field theory to the study of phenomena in hadronic physics, which includes; e.g., the spectrum of QCD bound states and their interactions; and the transition to, and properties of, a quark gluon plasma. We provide a contemporary perspective, couched primarily in terms of the Dyson-Schwinger equations but also making comparisons with other approaches and models. Our discourse provides a practitioners' guide to features of the Dyson-Schwinger equations [such as confinement and dynamical chiral symmetry breaking] and canvasses phenomenological applications to light meson and baryon properties in cold, sparse QCD. These provide the foundation for an extension to hot, dense QCD, which is probed via the introduction of the intensive thermodynamic variables: chemical potential and temperature. We describe order parameters whose evolution signals deconfinement and chiral symmetry restoration, and chronicle their use in demarcating the quark gluon plasma phase boundary and characterising the plasma's properties. Hadron traits change in an equilibrated plasma. We exemplify this and discuss putative signals of the effects. Finally, since plasma formation is not an equilibrium process, we discuss recent developments in kinetic theory and its application to describing the evolution from a relativistic heavy ion collision to an equilibrated quark gluon plasma.Comment: 103 Pages, LaTeX, epsfig. To appear in Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics, Vol. 4

pQCD-based Approach to Parton Production and Equilibration in High-Energy Nuclear Collisions

A pQCD-based model for parton production and equilibration in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions is reviewed. The model combines pQCD processes including initial and final state radiations together with string phenomenology for nonperturbative soft processes. Nuclear effects on the initial parton production, such as multiple parton scattering and nuclear shadowing of parton distribution functions are considered. Comparisons with existing data are made and further tests of the model to constrain model parameters are proposed. With the obtained space-time history of the parton production, evolution of the minijet gas toward a fully equilibrated parton plasma is studied. Direct probes of the early parton dynamics, such as pre-equilibrium photon and dilepton production, open charm production, $J/\psi$ suppressionand jet quenching are also reviewed.Comment: With minor modifications to appear in Physics Report