Conformal Anomaly Of Submanifold Observables In AdS/CFT Correspondence

We analyze the conformal invariance of submanifold observables associated with $k$-branes in the AdS/CFT correspondence. For odd $k$, the resulting observables are conformally invariant, and for even $k$, they transform with a conformal anomaly that is given by a local expression which we analyze in detail for $k=2$Comment: 11 p

Effect of sodium [36Cl]chlorate dose on total radioactive residues and residues of parent chlorate in swine

Sodium chlorate effectively reduces the numbers of gram-negative pathogens in gastrointestinal tracts of live animals when administered in the 24 to 72 hour period prior to slaughter

Tracking the intrusion of unwanted memories into awareness with event-related potentials

Involuntary retrieval of unwanted memories is a common symptom in several clinical disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder. With an aim to track the temporal dynamics of such memory intrusions, we recorded electrophysiological measures of brain activity while participants engaged in a Think/No-Think task. We presented the left hand word (the cue) of previously encoded word pairs in green or red font. We asked participants to think of the associated right hand word (the associate) when the cue appeared in green (Think condition) and to avoid thinking of the associate when the cue appeared in red (No-Think condition). To isolate cases when participants experienced an intrusive memory, at the end of each trial, participants judged whether the response had come to mind; we classified memories that came to mind during No-Think trials, despite efforts to stop retrieval, as intrusions. In an event-related potential (ERP) analysis, we observed a negative going slow wave (NSW) effect that indexed the duration of a trace in mnemonic awareness; whereas voluntary retrieval and maintenance of the associate was related to a sustained NSW that lasted throughout the 3-s recording epoch, memory intrusions generated short-lived NSWs that were rapidly truncated. Based on these findings, we hypothesize that the intrusion-NSW reflects the associate briefly penetrating working memory. More broadly, these findings exploit the high temporal resolution of ERPs to track the online dynamics of memory intrusions

Persistence of Salmonella typhimurium in porcine gut microflora

Chlortetracycline administration, at 55 mg/l, to a continuous flow culture of mixed porcine gut bacteria enhanced the rate of clearance of a chlortetracycline resistant Salmonella Typhimurium from the culture, although the Salmonella was eventually excluded from the culture by 8 days post challenge. As expected, chlortetracycline administration, at 110mg/l, to a continuous flow culture of mixed porcine gut bacteria had little effect on the persistence of a chlortetracycline resistant strain of Salmonella typhimurium

A comparative study on the effect of subtherapeutic tylosin administration on select feral or domestic porcine gut microflora grown in continuous-flow culture

Continuous now cultures of feral (culture FC) and domesticated (culture RPCF) pig gut microflora were established in steady state. Cultures, in duplicate, were continuously infused subtherapeutic (2S lJg/ml) levels of tylosin and sampled at intervals to assess effects on total culturable anaerobes, Bacteroides spp. and Enterococcus spp. via plating on serial 10-fold dilutions to anaerobic Brucella blood agar, Bacteroides bile esculin agar, and M Enterococcus agar supplemented without or with 100 lJg tylosin/ml, the later to assess bacterial sensitivity to tylosin Concentrations of total culturable anaerobes within culture FC decreased (P \u3c 0.05), albeit slightly, following 7 days tylosin administration. Concentrations of Bacteroides and Enterococcus decreased (P \u3c 0.05) to near or below detectable levels (1.0 log10 CFU/ml) in culture FC following 7 days tylosin administration, and tylosin-insensitive colonies were recovered at low numbers (~ 2 log10 CFU/ml) and did not persist

Analogies between the crossing number and the tangle crossing number

Tanglegrams are special graphs that consist of a pair of rooted binary trees with the same number of leaves, and a perfect matching between the two leaf-sets. These objects are of use in phylogenetics and are represented with straightline drawings where the leaves of the two plane binary trees are on two parallel lines and only the matching edges can cross. The tangle crossing number of a tanglegram is the minimum crossing number over all such drawings and is related to biologically relevant quantities, such as the number of times a parasite switched hosts. Our main results for tanglegrams which parallel known theorems for crossing numbers are as follows. The removal of a single matching edge in a tanglegram with $n$ leaves decreases the tangle crossing number by at most $n-3$, and this is sharp. Additionally, if $\gamma(n)$ is the maximum tangle crossing number of a tanglegram with $n$ leaves, we prove $\frac{1}{2}\binom{n}{2}(1-o(1))\le\gamma(n)<\frac{1}{2}\binom{n}{2}$. Further, we provide an algorithm for computing non-trivial lower bounds on the tangle crossing number in $O(n^4)$ time. This lower bound may be tight, even for tanglegrams with tangle crossing number $\Theta(n^2)$.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

Influence of light exposure on horizontal transmission of Salmonella typhimurium in weaned pigs

The objective of the following experiment was to examine the effect of light exposure on horizontal transmission of Salmonella typhimurium in weaned pigs. Twenty crossbred pigs (average BW = 15 kg) were housed in isolation rooms (10 pigs/room) and randomly assigned to one of two lighting regimes. Low (8 h light, 16 h dark) or High (16 h light, 8 h dark). Pigs were adjusted to their respective lighting treatments for six days and on the seventh day, two randomly selected pigs/room orally inoculated with 5 ml of tryptic soy broth containing 18 x 108 cfu Salmonella typhimurium/ml. Rectal swabs were collected from each pig daily over the next eight days for direct plating and plating following 24-h enrichment. On day nine, following inoculation of the seeder pigs, all pigs were euthanized and necropsied. Luminal contents were collected from the ileum, colon, cecum and rectum (quantification and qualification of inoculated strain) and tissue samples collected from the above gut segments as well as the tonsils, ileo-cecal lymph nodes, spleen and liver (qualification only)

Direct Policy Search for Multiobjective Optimization of the Sizing and Operation of Citizen Energy Communities

Citizen Energy Communities (CECs) are increasingly promoted in the European Union and beyond as a form of locally operated microgrids. While traditional microgrid research is often focused on an optimized operation, individual preferences regarding conflicting objectives are becoming more important in such communities. In this study, we present an evolutionary algorithm that has previously been used for a multiobjective operation of microgrids and include the perspective of heat consumption and initial sizing decisions using direct policy search. This way, the developed tool can be used by CEC planners to integrate conflicting objectives of residents in the installation phase. We introduce the algorithm formulation and demonstrate its functionality on a case study for different ambient conditions. The results show the opportunities to size and operate CECs through the presented algorithm

Effects of commercial selenium products on glutathione peroxidase activity and semen quality in stud boars

The aim of this study was to determine how dietary supplementation of inorganic and organic selenium affects the selenium concentration and glutathione peroxidase activity in blood and sperm of sexually mature stud boars. Twenty-four boars of the Large White, Landrace, Pietrain and Duroc breeds of optimal breeding age (on average 2.5 years old) were used. The study lasted 90 days. The boars were randomly assigned to one of three dietary treatment groups: T1 = control; no added selenium (n = 8 boars), T2 = added 0.3 ppm inorganic selenium (sodium selenite, Microgran (R) Se 1% BMP) (n = 8 boars), and T3 = added 0.3 ppm organic selenium (Se-yeast, Sel-Plex 2000 (R)) (n = 8 boars). The concentration of selenium was determined in whole blood and semen, while the activity of glutathione peroxidase (GPx) was measured in blood plasma and semen. In order to measure GPx activity in semen, reactivation of the enzymatic GPx activity was performed. The determined selenium concentration in blood was lowest in the non-supplemented group of boars. Blood plasma GPx activity was higher in boars fed organic selenium than in boars fed a diet without supplemented selenium. While the supplementation of sodium selenite significantly increased GPx activity in boar semen. The highest-concentration of selenium in semen at the end of the trial was determined in the group of boars supplemented with organic selenium, somewhat lower in boars fed supplemented inorganic selenium, and the lowest in the non-supplemented group of boars. The only significant difference between the selenite and Se-yeast diet supplementation was observed in the Se concentration of the semen. The supplementation of selenium affected semen quality, and organic selenium improved the progressive motility of the spermatozoa and increased their resistance in hypo-osmotic and thermal tests. The storage ability of short term preserved semen was improved by organic selenium supplementation, as well as also increasing the fertility rate in gilts

Influence of ractopamine supplementation on Salmonella in feeder pigs

The objective of the current study was to determine the effect of ractopamine supplementation on gut populations and fecal shedding of Salmonella in growing pigs