77 research outputs found
m-Payment systems: Technologies and business models
No full textIn only a few ten years payment systems have undergone an incredible evolution passing from a physical transfer of cash to transactions exchanging money as digital data. Mobile Payment (m-payment) refers to one type of electronic payment, performed through mobile devices, such as mobile phones, smartphones, and tablets. To ensure trust and avoid frauds severe security requirements must be imposed. In addition, interoperability and privacy requirements, as well as speed of execution and ease-of-use are mandatory requirements, too. Several technical solutions have been proposed, associated to generally incompatible business models. From the end-users point of view, the result of a m-payment transaction is just one transfer of money from customer to merchant. However, to get this simple result, m-payments use a plethora of sophisticated technologies, including SMS, NFC, high-frequency sound waves, software apps. The heterogeneity of m-payment systems and economic models is an important challenge for their diffusion in the next years. Having described the main requirements, technical characteristics and different business models of m-payment, this paper underlines relationship of technological and business approach to m-payment systems
Effect of long term dietary supplementation of lippia citriodora extract on semen quality traits in brown hare (Lepus europaeus).
No full textThere is an internationally growing interest concerning application of natural extract sources in animal production area in order to improve the husbandry welfare and the performance. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of dietary supplementation with a natural extract of Lippia citriodora, containing verbascoside as main component, on some quality traits of semen of hare, monitoring also the welfare status of animals. Hares were randomly divided into four groups of 3 animals each, homogeneous by age and body weight, and fed ad libitum and free access to water until the end of the trial. Animals were fed for 240 days a commercial diet assigned to four dietary treatments: control diet (CON) and the diet supplemented with g.kg- of natural extract (low natural extract – LNE) or .5 g kg- of natural extract (medium natural extract – MNE) or 2 g.kg- of natural extract (high natural extract – HNE). All hares were subjected to the following experimental measurements: weekly relief of feed intake, body weight and blood samples at 0 and at 240 day of trial, and semen collection at 80, 20 and 240 days of trial. The body weight of the hares and their feed intake were not affected by the experimental treatment. At the end of the trial, sperm volume, pH and sperm concentration values were not effected by Lippia citriodora extract treatment, and the mean values recorded were 0.543 ml, 7.4 and 263.25 06 per ejaculate, respectively. The dietary treatment negatively affected (P < 0.05) the sperm motility values in LNE, MNE and HNE groups. In conclusion, the results of the present work underline a possible negative effect of the Lippia citriodora extract on the semen quality characteristics, besides the improvement in welfare status of the treated hares, reflected in a better lipid profile and an improved plasma oxidative markers
Poultry Meat Quality in Antibiotic Free Production Has Improved by Natural Extract Supplement
No full textModern consumers are conscious of the relationship between meat quality and animal
welfare. Today, slow-growing chickens are associated with a higher broiler welfare. The present work
aims to evaluate the effect of dietary natural extract supplementation with polyphenols and seaweed
mixtures (PPE) on breast and thigh muscles quality parameters in Hubbard JA57 slow growth chicken
in antibiotic-free production. Five hundred Hubbard female chickens (250 from control and 250 from
experimental group) were housed on floor pens (10 pens/treatment, 25 birds/pen) and assigned to
two experimental groups: a control group (CON) receiving a commercial diet and another group
receiving the same diet supplemented with 0.3% of polyphenols and seaweed mixtures (PPE). Dietary
supplementation with PPE did not affect (p > 0.05) growth performances. The breast pH tended
to be lower (p = 0.062) in PPE groups. The protein content of breast muscles resulted higher in
PPE samples (p < 0.05) than controls. The thigh muscles from PPE group showed a lower (p < 0.05)
malondialdehyde content than CON during refrigerated storage. In conclusion, the PPE supplement
improves breast muscle protein content and oxidative stability of thigh muscle. This feeding practice
is suggested to enhance the nutritional and technological parameters of meat Hubbard slow growth
chicken in antibiotic-free production
Effect of dietary &lt;i&gt;Lippia citriodora&lt;/i&gt; extract on productive performance and meat quality parameters in hares (&lt;i&gt;Lepus europaeus Pall.&lt;/i&gt;)
No full textAbstract. Three different dietary doses of Lippia citriodora natural extract were tested in order to verify their effect on productive performance and the meat quality of intensively-reared hare (Lepus europaeus Pall.). The 240 day-trial was conducted on 20 male hares, divided into 4 homogeneous groups of 5 animals each. A control group received a basal diet without any supplementation, and the other three experimental groups received a natural extract of Lippia citriodora, titrated in verbascoside, in the following amounts: 1 g, 1.5 g and 2 g of natural extract/kg feed in the low (LNE), medium (MNE), and high natural extract (HNE) groups, respectively. Natural extract enhanced the quality of the meat: there was a significant decrease (P<0.05) in saturated fatty acids and a significant increase (P<0.05) in mono- and poly-unsaturated fatty acids. The oxidative stability of the meat improved, thus highlighting a possible link between the decrease (P<0.05) in TBARS values and an increase (P<0.05) in lipid vitamin content. The cholesterol content of the meat decreased markedly (P<0.01) after the dietary verbascoside treatment, thus improving the health benefits of the meat. These results clearly show the important role of Lippia citriodora extract, titrated in verbascoside, in improving the quality of the meat of intensively-reared hares. In addition the present paper underlines how the use of natural antioxidant in the animal feeding system may provide healthier and low-oxidized products to the final consumer.
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Ocular tissues and fluids oxidative stress in hares fed on verbascoside supplement
No full textThe influence of a prolonged diet supplemented with the powerful antioxidant verbascoside on the oxidative state of 20 healthy hares eye fluids and tissues has been studied. Verbascoside was dosed at 2, 3, 4 mg/die and the impact on the oxidative state of ocular tissues and fluids was tested by TBARS (thio barbituric acid reactive substances) and TEAC (trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity) assays. The percentage of change in antioxidant activity increased largely in retina and lenses at a daily verbascoside dose of 3 mg, whereas for optic nerve and vitreous humor the higher antioxidant capacity was measured at 4 mg/die verbascoside dose. The present findings demonstrate that verbascoside supplementation is able to protect ocular tissue and fluids from naturally occurring oxidation and that its protective effect depends on the daily dose, being maximum up to 3 mg/die
Corneal epithelial wound healing promoted by verbascoside-based liposomal eyedrops
No full textDifferent liposomal formulations were prepared to identify those capable of forming eyedrops for corneal diseases. Liposomes with neutral or slightly positive surface charge interact very well with the cornea. Then these formulations were loaded with verbascoside to heal a burn of corneal epithelium induced by alkali. The cornea surface affected involved in wound was monitored as a function of time. Experimental results were modeled by balance equation between the rate of healing, due to the flow of phenylpropanoid, and growth of the wound. The results indicate a latency time of only three hours and furthermore the corneal epithelium heals in 48 hours. Thus, the topical administration of verbascoside appears to reduce the action time of cells, as verified by histochemical and immunofluorescence assays
Verbascoside-Rich Plant Extracts in Animal Nutrition
No full textIn recent years, the search for dietary intervention with natural products able to sustain
animal health and decrease environmental impact, has raised the number of studies pertaining to the
use of plants’ secondary metabolites. In fact, in livestock, there is a clear relationship between the
animals’ antioxidant status and the onset of some diseases that negatively affect animal welfare, health,
and productive performance. An interesting compound that belongs to the secondary metabolites
family of plants, named phenylpropanoids, is verbascoside. The genus Verbascum, which includes
more than 233 plant species, is the genus in which this compound was first identified, but it has also
been found in other plant extracts. Verbascoside exhibits several properties such as antioxidant, antiinflammatory,
chemopreventive, and neuroprotective properties, that have been evaluated mainly in
in vitro studies for human health. The present work reviews the literature on the dietary integration
of plant extracts containing verbascoside in livestock. The effects of dietary plant extracts containing
verbascoside on the productive performance, antioxidant status, blood parameters, and meat quality
in several animal species were evaluated. The present data point out that dietary plant extracts
containing verbascoside appear to be a favorable dietary intervention to enhance health, antioxidant
status, and product quality in livestock
Long Term Dietary Supplementation with Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Charolais Beef Cattle Reared in Italian Intensive Systems: Nutritional Profile and Fatty Acids Composition of Longissimus lumborum Muscle
No full textRecently, the quality of beef has received great attention, and health concerns have been
focused on fatty acid composition in relation to dietary requirements. The present work aims to
evaluate the effect of omega-3 fatty acids (FA) lipid supplement in beef diet on the nutritional
characteristics of Longissimus lumborum (LL) muscle. One hundred and eighty Charolais beef were
divided in two groups: the control group (CON) received a basal diet and the second one (TR) an
isoenergetic diet containing the omega-3 supplement. Dietary treatment did not affect (p > 0.05)
growth performances, carcass characteristics and LL colour indices. Cholesterol content resulted
lower (p < 0.001) in LL muscle from TR group than CON. The omega-3 FA and conjugated linoleic
acid content were higher (p < 0.001) in LL muscle from TR than CON. As expected, LL muscle from
TR group showed an increased value of malondialdehyde than CON during refrigerated storage,
anyway, remaining within the threshold value of 1 mg/kg meat. In conclusion, the lipid supplement,
rich in omega-3 FA improves the fatty acid profile and decreases cholesterol content of LL muscle.
This feeding practice is suggested to enhance the nutritional value of meat from beef reared in
intensive condition, improving the consumer’s health
On the GNSS augmentation services for the ERTMS train control and Connected Car applications: technical synergies and opportunities
No full textThe Rail and Road transportation systems are evolving to progressively introduce automation with the ultimate goal of autonomous driving. The expectations are to improve efficiency and to guarantee higher level of safety. As transport networks will evolve towards high mobility, vehicles will become connected and self-positioned opening new challenges to comply with stringent safety requirements. Although vehicles are increasingly equipped with multiple advanced onboard positioning sensors, GNSS corrections allow to minimize the confidence error and to standardize the on board units. In the ERTMS (European Railways Train Management System) GNSS positioning must comply with the Tolerable Hazard Rate of 10E-9/hour at system level. Similar requirements are targeted by the connected cars when the management of vehicles is performed by a centralized authority as in the ERTMS system. Both ERTMS and Connected Car applications rely on the knowledge of the vehicle’s position with similar integrity levels. Considering also that rail and roads are frequently close to each other’s sharing the same operational environment, a multimodal augmentation network has been designed in the HELMET project to satisfy the new market needs. The aim of this paper is to assess the technical feasibility and the economic sustainability of this multi-modal augmentation network designed for the rail and road applications. The prerequisites are to reuse existing and future EGNSS infrastructures - without creating a direct dependence on themselves - to guarantee the interoperability and to allow a stepped deployment in line with the plans of the rail and road infrastructure managers. The paper includes the results of a recently concluded field test and the requirements of RFI – the Italian railways infrastructure manager who is managing a working group with rail industries to contributing to a standardizable and interoperable GNSS-based ERTMS system. Follow up activities to consolidate results for an operational system are on-going
Dietary supplementation with Lauraceae and Chlorellaceae in growing rabbits: effects on meat quality parameters
No full textIn recent years, following the official ban on growth promoters, there has been a significant shift in research towards using dietary natural substances to support animal health and performances. The present study evaluated the effects of Laurus nobilis leaves (LAU) and Chlorella vulgaris (CHLO) dietary supplementation in rabbits on meat quality parameters. The trial was conducted at the National Agricultural and Food Centre (Luzianky, Slovak Republic) on 75 weaned New Zealand rabbits (35 days old, average body weight 1.1 kg), randomly divided into three groups: the control group (CTR) received a commercial pellet diet, the CHLO group received the same diet supplemented with 0.1% dried Chlorella algae powder and the LAU group received the control diet supplemented with 0.1% dried bay leaves powder. After 60 days, rabbits were slaughtered at about 2.8 kg of live weight and Longissimus dorsi (LD) muscles were collected (10 animals per treatment) for determination of meat quality parameters. The chemical composition and the fatty acid composition were determined using the Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) method. No differences (P>0.05) in dry matter, protein and ash content were observed. The ether extract of LD muscle resulted lower (P<0.001) in CHLO (0.70 ± 0.04%) than in CTR (0.94 ± 0.04%) and LAU (0.94 ± 0.05%) groups. The LD muscle fatty acid composition was influenced by dietary treatments. The LAU group showed a higher percentage (P<0.05) of saturated (36.2 ±0.21 CTR vs 37.1 ± 0.10 LAU vs 36.5 ± 0.15 CHLO), monounsaturated (37.4 ±1.85 CTR vs 44.3 ± 0.25 LAU vs 36.6 ± 1.8 CHLO), polyunsaturated (6.8 ± 0.19 CTR vs 7.6 ± 0.25 LAU vs 6.7 ± 0.29 CHLO) and omega 6 fatty acids (6.2 ± 0.19 CTR vs 7.0 ± 0.24 LAU vs 6.0 ± 0.29 CHLO) compared to the CTR and CHLO groups. Omega-3 fatty acids (P<0.05) were higher in both CHLO (0.53 ± 0.01) and LAU (0.51 ± 0.01) groups than in CTR (0.48 ± 0.01). The health-promoting atherogenic and thrombogenic indices were lower in the LAU group than the other two experimental groups. Supplementation with Chlorella vulgaris powder affected the fat content of the meat. Laurus nobilis had a positive effect on the fatty acid composition of the LD muscle, enhancing its health benefits. Further studies are required to confirm the present data and evaluate the effect of these supplements on meat sensory profile.
Research supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency, Contract No. APVV-20-0037
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