Tea is made from the young leaves of Camellia sinensis, an evergreen, outbreeding tree species. The replacing of seedling with clonal plantations and the use of small numbers of parental plants in breeding programs could cause a decrease in the genetic diversity. The Tea Research Foundation of Central Africa (TRFCA), in Malawi, started tea breeding in 1956. This program has provided new cultivars with increased quality and yield over the first 40 years. However, recently the progress seems to have reached a plateau, suggesting that the maximum potential of the original genetic base has been reached. This study aimed at the evaluation of the genetic diversity within TRFCA cultivars, Malawian seedling accessions and cultivars currently used in China using morphological and microsatellite markers. In the morphological trait analysis, 186 seedling accessions and six TRFCA cultivars were accessed using six morphological traits. The morphological data were scored using two scoring methods, the range scoring method and the mean scoring method. Although the mean scoring method could not discriminate between all the accessions, it is in better agreement with the classification of an expert tea breeder. The six TRFCA cultivars were well distributed among the seedling accessions from Malawi. However, the results of the morphological study were not conclusive since the sample size of the TRFCA cultivars was too small. Microsatellite analysis of 41 TRFCA cultivars, 233 seedling accessions and 22 China origin cultivars revealed only moderate levels of inbreeding. The genetic relationship shows the TRFCA cultivars and the China origin cultivars in their own clusters. The FST values indicated significant differences between the TRFCA and China origin cultivars with all other groups. The allelic richness and the heterozygosity of the TRFCA cultivars are on the low end of the ranges of the groups studied. The TRFCA cultivars may benefit from the introduction of genetically distant tea plants into the breeding program since the level of heterozygosity within this group is relatively low. A second aim of this study is the identification of Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers that associate with traits of interest. Primers (17) were selected from previously trait associate plant studies. This selection did not increase the association rate of the primers. The traits that were investigated include Heliopeltis resistance, drought and cold tolerance. One of the tested primers RAPD8, associates with 6 of 8 drought tolerant cultivars. Another RAPD primer previously identified by Mishra and Sen-Mandi (2004) associated with only 4 of 8 drought tolerant cultivars in this study. Neither of the two primers associated with the 8 drought susceptible cultivars. Together these two primers could discriminate all 8 drought tolerant cultivars from the 8 susceptible cultivars and could possibly be used to identify drought tolerant plants. This study contributes to the knowledge of the genetic diversity of tea which may contribute to the management of genetic diversity within tea. In addition a possible trait associated RAPD marker for drought was identified that could be used in the selection for drought tolerant cultivars. AFRIKAANS : Tee word van die jong blare van die Camellia sinensis plant gemaak. Camellia Sinensis is ‘n immergroen boom spesie. Tans word die meeste van die saailing plantasies met klone plantasies vervang wat ‘n negatiewe uitwerking op die genetiese diversiteit van tee het. Tee ontwikkelingsprogramme beïnvloed ook die diversiteit negatief omdat ‘n klein hoeveelheid ouer plante gebruik word. Die Tee Navorsings van Sentrale Afrika (TRFCA) is in Malawi geleë en spesialiseer vanaf 1956 in tee kultivar ontwikkeling. Die kwaliteit en die opbrengs van die vrygestelde kultivars het oor die eerste 40 jaar van die program verbeter. Die vordering in hierdie program is besig om ‘n plato te bereik. ‘n Moontlike verduideliking hiervoor kan wees dat die maksimum kapasitieit van die bestaande genetiese basis bereik is. Die eerste doelwit van hierdie studie is om die genetiese diversitiet van die TRFCA kultivars, geselekteerde saailinge van Malawi en kulticars wat tans in China gekweek word te evalueer deur morfologiese en mikrosateliet merkers te gebruik. In die morfologiese evaluasie is 186 geselekteerde saailinge en ses TRFCA kultivars met behulp van ses morfologiese karaktereineskappe geëvalueer. Die data is geëvalueer deur die gebruik van twee puntestelsels, ’n reeks puntestelsels en ‘n gemiddelde puntestelsel. Alhoewel die gemiddelde puntestelsel nie tussen al die plante kon onderskei nie, het dit ‘n beter groepering ten opsigte van sub-spesies (He was 0.6900) gegee. Die ses TRFCA kultivars is tussen die saailinge van Malawi versprei. Weens die klein hoeveelheid TRFCA kultivars is die gevolgtrekings van die morphologiese evaluasie nie betekenisvol nie. Mikrosateliet evaluasie is gedoen met 41 TRFCA kultivars, 233 geselekteerde saailinge en 22 Chinese kultivars. Gemiddelde vlakke van inteling is opgemerk. In die illustrasie van die genetiese verhouding tussen die plante is die TRFCA kultivars gegroepeer, so ook die Chinese kultivars. Die FST waardes toon betekenisvolle statisitiese verskille tussen TRFCA en die Chinese oorsprong kultivars en al die ander groepe. Die alleliese rykheid van die TRFCA kultivars was aan die onderpunt van die reeks. Hierdie resultate dui daarop dat die TRFCA ontwikkellingsprogram moontlik voordeel kan trek uit die byvoeging van ouer pante wat geneties divers is in die program. Dit mag ‘n positiewe uitwerking hê as gevolg van die ondergemiddelde vlak van die “heterozygosity” in die TRFCA kultivars. ‘n Tweede doelwit van die studie was die identifisering van moontlike “Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA” (RAPD) merkers wat met belangrike kenmerke geassosieer kan word. RAPD merkers (17) wat geïdentifiseer is in vorige kenmerkassosiasiestudies in ander gewassse is geselekteer. Die seleksie van hierdie merkers het nie die assosiasie persentasie verhoog nie. Die kenmerkke wat ondersoek is, was Heliopeltis weerstand, droogte toleransie en koue toleransie. Een van die merkers, RAPD8 assosieer met 6 van die 8 droogte toleransie kultivars. Die RAPD merker wat deur Mishra and Sen-Mandi (2004) geïdentifiseer is, assosieer met 4 van die 8 droogte toleransie kultivars. Beide die merkers assosieer met geen van die droogte sensitiewe kultivars nie. Gesamentlik kon die twee RAPD merkers al 8 van die droogte toleransie kultivars van die sensitiewe kultivars onderskei. Hierdie studie dra by tot die kennis van die genetiese diversitiet van tee wat kan lei to die beter bestuur wan die tee ontwikkelingsprogram. Veder is ‘n moontlike merker vir droogte toleransie geïdentifiseer wat gebruik kan word in die seleksie van moontlike droogte bestande kultivars. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Biochemistry / unrestricted

A trusted execution environment (TEE) is an isolated environment used for trusted execution. TEE solutions are usually proprietary and specific for a certain hardware specification, thereby limiting developers that use those TEEs. A potential solution to this issue is the use of open-source alternatives such as the TEE framework Keystone and the Reduced Instruction Set Computer V (RISC-V) hardware. These alternatives are rather young and are not as well established as the variants developed by ARM and Intel. To this end, the assurance in Keystone and RISC-V are analysed by studying a remote attestation assurance use case using the goal structuring notation (GSN) method. The aim is to investigate how GSN can be utilised to build assurance cases for TEEs on RISC-V. This thesis presents a process of how GSNs can be created to argue assurance for a TEE solution. Furthermore, Keystone operates under a specific threat model with made assumptions that may have a large impact depending on the use case. Therefore, Keystone is analysed to understand whether the framework mitigates existing vulnerabilities in TEEs. It is concluded that GSN is a viable method for arguing assurance in TEEs, providing great freedom in the creation of the GSN model. The freedom is also its weakness since the argument composition has a high impact on the argument. Furthermore, we conclude that Keystone mitigates multiple known vulnerabilities primarily through made assumptions in its threat model. These cases need to be considered by developers utilising Keystone to determine whether or not the assumptions are valid for their use case.

Die Broschüre stellt eine Auswahl von Pflanzen vor, die im Haus- und Kleingarten problemlos angebaut werden können, um daraus Kräutertee zuzubereiten. Besonders eingegangen wird auf die unterschiedlichen Zubereitungsformen der einzelnen Pflanzenteile und auf die Heilwirkung von Kräutertees. In der 2., überarbeiteten Auflage wurden seltene Teepflanzen und Pflanzen mit besonderer Süßkraft aufgenommen.

The Icy Springs Bridge in Coalville, Utah carries 2nd South Street over the Weber River west of Interstate 80. The bridge is owned by Coalville City and was originally constructed in 1965 as a single-span 51-foot long bridge using prestressed concrete double-tee girders. In the fall of 2013 the original bridge was replaced with a new 80-foot long single span bridge using prestressed concrete decked bulb-tee girders. The original girders were salvaged and transported to the Systems, Materials, and Structural Health Lab (SMASH Lab) where a series of tests were performed to determine the total losses in the prestressing of the strands, the flexural and shear capacities of the girders, and the punching shear capacity of the reinforced concrete deck. The results of these tests were compared to the values calculated using methods outlined in the 2012 American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Load and Resistance Factor Design (AASHTO LRFD) Bridge Design Specifications, the current bridge design code used by most departments of transportation, and a finite element model using the computer program ANSYS. For the shear and punching shear test results, the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications was conservative and was able to predict the type of failure that occurred. However, the tested flexural results were below the calculated flexural capacities using the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications. A finite element model was created and calibrated to the test results for the various loading and support conditions. The actual tested material properties were compared to the material properties used in the finite element analyses to determine the difference between the actual girders and the theoretical models. Funding for this project was provided by the Utah Transportation Center.

Widespread adoption of phased array technologies has been hindered primarily by the high cost associated Transmitter/Receiver (T/R) modules. In conventional phased arrays, these vital elements often comprise up to fifty-percent of the entire array's expense. Recent development of a new type of phased array - the Electronically Steerable Passive Array Radiator (ESPAR) - is underway at laboratories around the globe. This innovative concept utilizes mutual coupling to excite neighboring (passive) elements placed in the near field of a center-driven (active) radiator. Using this method, T/R modules are only required for the active radiators. The radiation pattern of an ESP AR is controlled electronically by means of variable reactive loading of the passive antenna elements. In order to attain the full range of beam steering offered by this array, a broad range of reactance is required at the input port of each passive antenna. This thesis presents a varactor-based reactive network design that can accurately and reliably produce a wide range of reactance. The purpose of this research was to design a network compatible with the requirements of the ESP AR phased array, which is in development at the Antennas, RF, and Microwave Integrated Systems CARMI) laboratory at the University of Central Florida. To this end, an elaborate survey weighing different varactor-based reactive network and DC bias tee designs was conducted. This study took into account the practical issues and limiting factors that arose during design and implementation of such a network. While this specific network design was constrained to operate at 3 GHz, the proposed design methodology may be applied to realize reactive networks at other frequencies. This flexibility allows incorporation into similar ESPAR's and a plethora of other relevant devices.

Tea Tree Oil eller TTO som det förkortas, är en olja som utvinns ur en australiensisk buske vid det latinska namnet Melaleuca alternifolia. Oljan har sedan många år använts som antiinflammatoriskt och bakteriedödande ämne. Denna litteraturstudie gjordes på 13 artiklar som svarade på tre sökningar i databasen PubMed. Artiklarna påvisar att TTO har en viss antibakteriell förmåga och kan fungera som antimykotiskt medel, men fler in vivo studer behövs för att säkerställa TTO:s effekt på olika parodontala åkommor.

In dieser Studie sind die Massenvolumina und die Innenvolumina rechter und linker Ventrikel von 36 Patienten (15 Frauen und 21 Männer, im Alter zwischen 24 und 82 Jahren, mittleres Alter 54 Jahre) mittels transösophagealer Echokardiographie (TEE, HP SONOS 1500 mit einen rotierenden 5Mhz Schallkopf) und Magnetresonanztomographie (MRT, 1,5T Ganzkörper-MRT - ACS, Philips. T1-gewichtete Turbo-Gradientenecho-Sequenz) untersucht worden. Ziel ist es beide Untersuchungsmethoden auf Übereinstimmungen und Unterschiede bei Messung von Massenvolumina und Innenvolumina beider Ventrikel unter Berücksichtigung von Sinusrhythmus (26 Ventrikel) und Vorhofflimmern (18 Ventrikel) zu überprüfen. Dabei werden sowohl die Innenvolumina, die freien Wände und die Septen jeweils in der Enddiastole und in der Endsystole verglichen als auch die abgeleiteten Parameter, Ejektionsfraktionen und Schlagvolumina. Beide Methoden werden mit der Scheibchen-Summationsmethode aus jeweils vier Einzelmessungen verglichen. Die graphische und statistische Auswertung erfolgt mittels Bland-Altmann-Plot. Im T-Test für unverbundene Stichproben stellt sich kein signifikanter Unterschied zwischen linken und rechten sowie zwischen großen und kleinen Ventrikeln heraus. Es besteht ein signifikanter Unterschied zwischen Ventrikeln mit Vorhofflimmern und Sinusrhythmus, so dass wir hier einen Vergleich aufstellen. Die enddiastolischen Messungen der Innenvolumina und freien Wände zeigen deutliche Diskrepanzen der Ventrikel mit Sinusrhythmus und Vorhofflimmern - um etwa das Doppelte der Standardabweichung und des systematischen Fehlers. Die enddiastolischen Septen sind annährend gleich gut dargestellt. In der Endsystole liefern die Messungen der Innenvolumina, der freien Wände und der Septen annähernd gleiche Ergebnisse wie in der Enddiastole. Die errechneten Ejektionsfraktionen haben sowohl bei Sinusrhythmus als auch bei Vorhofflimmern gleich gut Standardabweichungen und systematische Fehler. Ähnlich verhält es sich bei den Daten der Schlagvolumina. Absolut betrachtet liefern beide volumetrischen Messmethoden bei Ventrikeln mit Sinusrhythmus und Vorhofflimmern akzeptable Ergebnisse, da die Differenzen nur wenige Milliliter betragen. / This study compares the feasibility of calculating the masses and the inner volumes the of right and left heart ventricles in 36 patients (15 female and 21 male, ages between 24 and 82 years, mean 54 years) with transesophageal echocardiography (TEE, HP SONOS 1500 with a rotating 5Mhz transducer) and cardiac MRI (1,5Tesla whole body MRI, ACS Philips with a Synergy Cardiac Coil, T1-Turbo Gradient Echo). We want to compare both methods in calculating the inner volumes, the septal and the free myocardial masses in endsystolic and enddiastolic phases as well as the ejection fraction (EF) and the stroke volume (SV) in ventricles with sinusrhythm (n=26) and with atrial fibrillation (n=18). Both methods are evaluated by a disc-summation method from a mean value of four different measurement. The statistic analysis is done with a Bland-Altmann-Plot. The T-test shows no significant difference between big and small or right and left ventricular masses, but it shows a significant difference in the measured data of ventricles with sinusrhythm and those with atrail fibrillation. A subgroup analysis is performed on the latter. The standard error of mean and the systemic mistake of the inner- and myocardial-volumes differ about double the size with ventricles in atrial fibrillation from those with sinusrhythm. The septal volumes show no differences in both subgroups. The endsystolic measurements are about equal from those in the enddiastolic phase. The EF and the SV have equal standard error of means and systemic mistakes in both subgroups of sinusrhythm and atrial fibrillation. In conclusion both methods are equally reliable in the volumetric measurement of ventricles with sinusrhythm and atrial fibrillation, because the absolute value differs just a few milliliters.

Avec l'émergence de nouvelles technologies telles que le NFC (Communication à champ proche) et l'accroissement du nombre de plates-formes mobiles, les téléphones mobiles vont devenir de plus en plus indispensables dans notre vie quotidienne. Ce contexte introduit de nouveaux défis en termes de sécurité et de respect de la vie privée. Dans cette thèse, nous nous focalisons sur les problématiques liées au respect de la vie privée dans les services NFC ainsi qu’à la protection des données privées et secrets des applications mobiles dans les environnements d'exécution de confiance (TEE). Nous fournissons deux solutions pour le transport public: une solution utilisant des cartes d'abonnement (m-pass) et une autre à base de tickets électroniques (m-ticketing). Nos solutions préservent la vie privée des utilisateurs tout en respectant les exigences fonctionnelles établies par les opérateurs de transport. À cette fin, nous proposons de nouvelles variantes de signatures de groupe ainsi que la première preuve pratique d’appartenance à un ensemble, à apport nul de connaissance, et qui ne nécessite pas de calculs de couplages du côté du prouveur. Ces améliorations permettent de réduire considérablement le temps d'exécution de ces schémas lorsqu’ils sont implémentés dans des environnements contraints par exemple sur carte à puce. Nous avons développé les protocoles de m-passe et de m-ticketing dans une carte SIM standard : la validation d'un ticket ou d'un m-pass s'effectue en moins de 300ms et ce tout en utilisant des tailles de clés adéquates. Nos solutions fonctionnent également lorsque le mobile est éteint ou lorsque sa batterie est déchargée. Si les applications s'exécutent dans un TEE, nous introduisons un nouveau protocole de migration de données privées, d'un TEE à un autre, qui assure la confidentialité et l'intégrité de ces données. Notre protocole est fondé sur l’utilisation d’un schéma de proxy de rechiffrement ainsi que sur un nouveau modèle d’architecture du TEE. Enfin, nous prouvons formellement la sécurité de nos protocoles soit dans le modèle calculatoire pour les protocoles de m-pass et de ticketing soit dans le modèle symbolique pour le protocole de migration de données entre TEE. / The increasing number of worldwide mobile platforms and the emergence of new technologies such as the NFC (Near Field Communication) lead to a growing tendency to build a user's life depending on mobile phones. This context brings also new security and privacy challenges. In this thesis, we pay further attention to privacy issues in NFC services as well as the security of the mobile applications private data and credentials namely in Trusted Execution Environments (TEE). We first provide two solutions for public transport use case: an m-pass (transport subscription card) and a m-ticketing validation protocols. Our solutions ensure users' privacy while respecting functional requirements of transport operators. To this end, we propose new variants of group signatures and the first practical set-membership proof that do not require pairing computations at the prover's side. These novelties significantly reduce the execution time of such schemes when implemented in resource constrained environments. We implemented the m-pass and m-ticketing protocols in a standard SIM card: the validation phase occurs in less than 300ms whilst using strong security parameters. Our solutions also work even when the mobile is switched off or the battery is flat. When these applications are implemented in TEE, we introduce a new TEE migration protocol that ensures the privacy and integrity of the TEE credentials and user's private data. We construct our protocol based on a proxy re-encryption scheme and a new TEE model. Finally, we formally prove the security of our protocols using either game-based experiments in the random oracle model or automated model checker of security protocols.

In modern computing environments, hardware resources are commonly shared, and parallel computation is more widely used. Users run their services in parallel on the same hardware and process information with different confidentiality levels every day. Running parallel tasks can cause privacy and security problems if proper isolation is not enforced. Computers need to rely on a trusted root to protect the data from malicious entities. Intel proposed the Software Guard eXtension (SGX) to create a trusted execution environment (TEE) within the processor. SGX allows developers to benefit from the hardware level isolation. SGX relies only on the hardware, and claims runtime protection even if the OS and other software components are malicious. However, SGX disregards any kind of side-channel attacks. Researchers have demonstrated that microarchitectural sidechannels are very effective in thwarting the hardware provided isolation. In scenarios that involve SGX as part of their defense mechanism, system adversaries become important threats, and they are capable of initiating these attacks. This work introduces a new and more powerful cache side-channel attack that provides system adversaries a high resolution channel. The developed attack is able to virtually track all memory accesses of SGX execution with temporal precision. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate our attack to recover cryptographic AES keys from the commonly used implementations including those that were believed to be resistant in previous attack scenarios. Our results show that SGX cannot protect critical data sensitive computations, and efficient AES key recovery is possible in a practical environment. In contrast to previous attacks which require hundreds of measurements, this is the first cache side-channel attack on a real system that can recover AES keys with a minimal number of measurements. We can successfully recover the AES key from T-Table based implementations in a known plaintext and ciphertext scenario with an average of 15 and 7 samples respectively.

Die gesundheitsfördernden Eigenschaften von grünem Tee sind weitgehend akzeptiert. Den Teecatechinen, insbesondere dem Epigallocatechin-3-gallat (EGCG), werden zahlreiche positive Effekte zugesprochen (z. B. antioxidativ, antikanzerogen, antiinflammatorisch, Blutdruck und Cholesterinspiegel senkend). Die Mechanismen, die zu einer Reduktion der in Tierversuchen beschriebenen Körper- und Fettmasse führen, sind nicht ausreichend geklärt. Ziel dieser Arbeit bestand darin, die kurz- und mittelfristigen Wirkungen einer TEAVIGO®-Applikation (mind. 94 % EGCG) am Mausmodell im Hinblick auf den Energie- und Fettstoffwechsel sowie die Expression daran beteiligter Gene in wichtigen Organen und Geweben zu untersuchen. In verschiedenen Tierversuchen wurde männlichen C57BL/6-Mäusen eine Hochfettdiät (HFD) mit und ohne Supplementation (oral, diätetisch) des entkoffeinierten Grüntee-Extraktes TEAVIGO® in unterschiedlichen Dosierungen gefüttert. Es wurden sowohl kurz- als auch mittelfristige Wirkungen des EGCG auf die Energiebilanz (u. a. indirekte Tierkalorimetrie) und Körperzusammensetzung (NMR) sowie die exogene Substratoxidation (Stabilisotopentechnik: Atemtests, Inkorporation natürlicher 13C-angereicherter Triglyceride aus Maiskeimöl in diverse Organe/Gewebe) und Gen-expression (quantitative real-time PCR) untersucht. Die Applikationsform und ihre Dauer riefen unterschiedliche Wirkungen hervor. Mäuse mit diätetischer Supplementation zeigten bereits nach kurzer Zeit eine verminderte Körperfettmasse, die bei weiterer Verabreichung auch zu einer Reduktion der Körpermasse führte. Beide Applikationsformen resultieren, unabhängig von der Dauer der Intervention, in einer erhöhten Energieausscheidung, während die Futter- und Energieaufnahme durch EGCG nicht beeinflusst wurden. Der Energieverlust war von einer erhöhten Fett- und Stickstoffausscheidung begleitet, deren Ursache die in der Literatur beschriebene Interaktion und Hemmung digestiver Enzyme sein könnte. Besonders unter postprandialen Bedingungen wiesen EGCG-Mäuse erniedrigte Triglycerid- und Glycogengehalte in der Leber auf, was auf eine eingeschränkte intestinale Absorption der Nährstoffe hindeutet. Transkriptanalysen ergaben im Darm eine verminderte Expression von Fettsäuretransportern, während die Expression von Glucosetransportern durch EGCG erhöht wurde. Weiterhin reduzierte EGCG, nach Umstellung von Standard- auf eine maiskeimölhaltige Hochfettdiät, die Inkorporation natürlicher 13C-angereicherter Triglyceride in diverse Organe und Gewebe – insbesondere Leber, viszerales und braunes Fettgewebe sowie Skelettmuskel. Die Analyse der 13C-Anreicherung im Atem der Mäuse und die Energieumsatzmessungen ergaben nach kurzer Applikation eine erhöhte Fettoxidation, die im weiteren Verlauf der Intervention auf eine erhöhte Kohlenhydratoxidation umgeschaltet wurde. Weiterhin war die orale Applikation von EGCG bei gleichzeitiger Fütterung einer Hochfettdiät von makroskopischen und mikroskopischen degenerativen Veränderungen der Leber begleitet. Diese Effekte wurden nach diätetischer Supplementation der Hochfettdiät mit EGCG nicht beobachtet. Zusammenfassend zeigen die Ergebnisse, dass die Körpergewichts- und Fettgewebs-abnahme durch diätetisches EGCG sich durch eine herabgesetzte Verdaulichkeit der Nahrung erklären lässt. Dies führte zu verschiedenen kurz- und mittelfristigen Veränderungen in der Fettverteilung und im Fettmetabolismus. / The health-promoting properties of green tea are widely accepted. Tea catechins, particularly epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), are attributed to many positive effects (anti-oxidative, anti-cancerogen, anti-inflammatory, blood pressure and cholesterol lowering). Mechanisms leading to a reduction of body mass and fat mass in animal experiments are not fully elucidated. The aim of this study was to examine multiple effects of TEAVIGO® application (at least 94% EGCG) in a mouse model in terms of energy and fat metabolism. Expressions of genes involved in these processes were also determined in different organs and tissues. In several animal studies, male C57BL/6 mice were fed a high fat diet supplemented with decaffeinated TEAVIGO® (oral, dietetic) at different dosages. Short- and medium-term effects of EGCG were investigated on energy balance (indirect animal calorimetry), body composition (NMR), exogenous substrate oxidation (stable isotopes: breath tests, incorporation of naturally 13C-enriched triglycerides from corn oil into various organs/tissues), and gene expression (quantitative real-time PCR). Type of application and its duration elicited different effects. Supplemented mice already showed a reduced body fat mass after short- and medium-term treatment. Further administration lead to a reduction of body weight. Regardless of the duration of intervention, both types of application resulted in an increased energy excretion, while food and energy intake was not affected by EGCG. Fecal energy loss was accompanied by an increased fat and nitrogen excretion, which was probably due to an inhibition of digestive enzymes. Fed mice displayed a decreased triglyceride and glycogen content in liver suggesting a reduced absorption of nutrients in the intestine. This was supported by a decreased expression of intestinal fatty acid transporters. However, expression of glucose transporters was increased after short- and medium term application. Furthermore, EGCG attenuated incorporation of naturally 13C-enriched triglycerides into various organs and tissues – particularly liver, visceral and brown adipose tissue, and skeletal muscle. Analysis of 13C-enrichment in breath and measurement of energy expenditure revealed an initial increased fat oxidation, which was switched to an increased carbohydrate oxidation over time. Besides, a combination of oral administration of EGCG and high fat feeding was accompanied by macroscopic and microscopic deleterious changes in liver. These effects were not observed after dietary supplementation of EGCG. Altogether, reduction in body mass and fat mass by EGCG can be explained by a decreased food digestibility leading to various short- and medium-term changes in fat distribution and lipid metabolism.