Adhoc Setup of an Online Mental Health Self-Help Program During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Description of the Development and Implementation Processes and Analysis of Its Users’ and Usage Profiles

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic hit Austria in March 2020. This led to a considerable reduction in outpatient psychiatric therapies. People with mental disorders as well as with newly emerging mental health issues found themselves with very limited treatment options. Within only a few days our hospital set up an online mental health self-help program which went online in its first version on the first day of the lockdown in Austria. The process of this development and implementation process alongside with the user’s and usage data for the program are presented here.MethodsA small core team initiated the development of the program on a low-budget basis and using mostly freely available digital resources. The program had to be free of costs for its users and easy to navigate. Each self-help module contains a text description of the topic, a self-rating questionnaire and several psychoeducational 2–5 min videos. These videos explain, e.g., interactions of mental stress and the immune system or the vicious circle of anxiety. Additional videos provide easy to learn techniques like breathing and relaxation exercises.ResultsWe illustrate the implementation of this program following the replicating effective program (REP) model. We provide a detailed description of the implementation process starting from a simple website to a smartphone-based application with registered user area and instantaneous reporting of self-rating questionnaire results to users. The described process could be used as a model for the setup of similar programs in a very short time. As an indicator of acceptance, we report 46,100 unique video views and 3,937 completed questionnaires in the first year of use. The most accessed videos were those on anxiety, relaxation and resilience. Analysis of the sociodemographic user data indicate that they were mostly young (< 45 years; 59.7%), females (77.5%) and previously mentally healthy individuals (74.5%). An example of the collected psychometric questionnaire data over time is given.ConclusionWe show that it is possible to set up an online mental health self-help program ad hoc and without extensive prior planning, which enabled us to dynamically respond to a new situation. We are now planning on keeping the program active for a longer period of time to supplement and expand traditional treatment settings also outside the COVID-19 pandemic

Modellhaftes Demonstrationsnetzwerk zur Ausweitung und Ver-besserung des Anbaus und der Verwertung von Leguminosen mit Schwerpunkt Erbsen und Ackerbohnen in Deutschland.

Ziel des Demonstrationsnetzwerkes Erbse/Bohne (DemoNetErBo) war es, Anbau und Verwertung von Erbsen und Ackerbohnen in Deutschland auszuweiten und zu verbessern. Um dieses Ziel zu erreichen arbeiteten bundesweit Partner aus den Bereichen Landwirtschaft, Züchtung, Handel, Ver-arbeitung, Beratung, landwirtschaftlichen Institutionen und Verbänden zusammen. Parallel zum De-monstrationsnetzwerk fanden im Rahmen der Eiweißpflanzenstrategie Forschungsprojekte statt, an denen auch einige Netzwerkpartner beteiligt waren. Das Netzwerk führte einen intensiven Wissens-transfer durch, daran wirkten verschiedene Akteure entlang der Wertschöpfungskette mit. Aufgebaut war das Netzwerk aus mehreren überregionalen Koordinationseinheiten mit verschiede-nen Schwerpunkten: Projektkoordination, Wertschöpfungsmanagement konventionell und ökolo-gisch, Beratungskoordination sowie Koordination des Wissenstransfers. Auf Bundeslandebene wur-den über die Länderorganisationen Demonstrationsbetriebe in das Netzwerk eingebunden und von Projektberaterinnen und Projektberatern betreut. Im Netzwerk arbeiteten bis zu 75 landwirtschaftli-che Demonstrationsbetriebe mit. Diese brachten ihr langjähriges Know-How zu Anbau und Verwer-tung von Erbsen und Ackerbohnen in das Netzwerk ein. Zudem standen die Demonstrationsbetriebe beispielhaft für verschiedene Wertschöpfungsketten, wie interne hofeigene Fütterung, zwischenbe-trieblicher Handel, externe Vermarktung an den Landhandel oder an regionale und überregionale Verarbeiter für Futter- und Lebensmittel sowie Saatguterzeugung. Im Rahmen des Projektes fanden mehr als 370 Veranstaltungen statt: 114 Feldtage, 128 Feldbege-hungen sowie 130 Sonstige Veranstaltungen (Vortragsveranstaltungen, Workshops, Teilnahme an Messen). Durch das Netzwerk wurden über 340 Veröffentlichungen (z.B. Artikel für Fachzeitschrif-ten oder -portale) in den Medien platziert. Akteure entlang der Wertschöpfungskette wurden durch die Arbeit des Demonstrationsnetzwerkes Erbse/Bohne vernetzt. Kontinuierlich wurden Impulse zu Anbau und Verwertung wechselseitig in das Netzwerk und aus dem Netzwerk heraus an die verschiedenen Akteure vermittelt. Im Laufe des Projektes ist der Anbau von Erbsen und Ackerbohnen angestiegen. Auch die Nachfrage nach heimi-schen Hülsenfrüchten steigt kontinuierlich an, sowohl aus dem Futtermittelsektor als auch zuneh-mend aus dem Lebensmittelbereich. Das Demonstrationsnetzwerk Erbse/Bohne wurde gefördert durch das Bundesministerium für Er-nährung und Landwirtschaft aufgrund eines Beschlusses des Deutschen Bundestages im Rahmen der BMEL Eiweißpflanzenstrategie

Fördernde und hemmende Faktoren beim Aufbau von Wertschöpfungsketten für Körnererbsen und Ackerbohnen

Um den Einsatz von Ackerbohnen und Körnererbsen sowohl in der Tier- als auch in der Humanernährung zu fördern und zu optimieren, wurden kritische Erfolgsfaktoren erarbeitet, die sich positiv oder negativ auf die Etablierung von Wertschöpfungsketten vom Anbau über Verarbeitung bis hin zur Vermarktung auswirken

Electricity Market Design 2030-2050: Moving Towards Implementation

Climate change and ambitious emission-reduction targets call for an extensive decarbonization of electricity systems, with increasing levels of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and demand flexibility to balance the variable and intermittent electricity supply. A successful energy transition will lead to an economically and ecologically sustainable future with an affordable, reliable, and carbon-neutral supply of electricity. In order to achieve these objectives, a consistent and enabling market design is required. The Kopernikus Project SynErgie investigates how demand flexibility of the German industry can be leveraged and how a future-proof electricity market design should be organized, with more than 80 project partners from academia, industry, governmental and non-governmental organizations, energy suppliers, and network operators. In our SynErgie Whitepaper Electricity Spot Market Design 2030-2050 [1], we argued for a transition towards Locational Marginal Prices (LMPs) (aka. nodal prices) in Germany in a single step as a core element of a sustainable German energy policy. We motivated a well-designed transition towards LMPs, discussed various challenges, and provided a new perspective on electricity market design in terms of technological opportunities, bid languages, and strategic implications. This second SynErgie Whitepaper Electricity Market Design 2030-2050: Moving Towards Implementation aims at further concretizing the future German market design and provides first guidelines for an implementation of LMPs in Germany. Numerical studies –while not being free of abstractions –give evidence that LMPs generate efficient locational price signals and contribute to manage the complex coordination challenge in (long-term) electricity markets, ultimately reducing price differences between nodes. Spot and derivatives markets require adjustments in order to enable an efficient dispatch and price discovery, while maintaining high liquidity and low transaction costs. Moreover, a successful LMP implementation requires an integration into European market coupling and appropriate interfaces for distribution grids as well as sector coupling. Strategic implications with regard to long-term investments need to be considered, along with mechanisms to support RES investments. As a facilitator for an LMP system, digital technologies should be considered jointly with the market design transition under an enabling regulatory framework. Additional policies can address distributional effects of an LMP system and further prevent market power abuse. Overall, we argue for a well-designed electricity spot market with LMPs, composed of various auctions at different time frames, delivering an efficient market clearing, considering grid constraints, co-optimizing ancillary services, and providing locational prices according to a carefully designed pricing scheme. The spot market is tightly integrated with liquid and accessible derivatives markets, embedded into European market coupling mechanisms, and allows for functional interfaces to distribution systems and other energy sectors. Long-term resource adequacy is ensured and existing RES policies transition properly to the new market design. Mechanisms to mitigate market power and distributional effects are in place and the market design leverages the potential of modern information technologies. Arapid expansion of wind andsolar capacity will be needed to decarbonize the integrated energy system but will most likely also increase the scarcity of the infrastructure. Therefore, an efficient use of the resource "grid" will be a key factor of a successful energy transition. The implementation of an LMPs system of prices with finer space and time granularity promises many upsides and can be a cornerstone for a futureproof electricity system, economic competitiveness, and a decarbonized economy and society. Among the upsides, demand response (and other market participants with opportunity costs) can be efficiently and coherently incentivized to address network constraints, a task zonal systems with redispatch fail at. The transition to LMPs requires a thorough consideration of all the details and specifications involved in the new market design. With this whitepaper, we provide relevant perspectives and first practical guidelines for this crucial milestone of the energy transition

Climbing as an Add-On Treatment Option for Patients with Severe Anxiety Disorders and PTSD: Feasibility Analysis and First Results of a Randomized Controlled Longitudinal Clinical Pilot Trial

Background: Exercise has considerable effects on physical and psychological health. Anxiolytic effects of climbing exercise have been found in people suffering from depression. However, there are no studies on patients with severe anxiety disorders or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) practicing climbing as add-on treatment. Additionally, many studies on physical therapy fail to use adequate active control groups. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the feasibility of a four-week climbing exercise program for patients with anxiety disorders or PTSD in comparison to a standard exercise treatment and a social control group. Methods: Outpatients diagnosed with anxiety disorders or PTSD (F 40, F 41, F 43.1 according to ICD-10) were randomly assigned to (a) climbing exercise (n = 27), (b) Nordic walking exercise (n = 23), or (c) control condition (n = 23) providing the same amount of social contact for eight sessions of 90 minutes each. Psychological parameters (symptom severity, worry symptoms, self-efficacy, quality of life) and biological parameters were assessed at the beginning and at the end of the four-week program. Additionally, follow-up assessments were conducted three and six months after the program ended. Results: Sixty outpatients (75% female) aged 18–65 years with a longstanding history of a mental disorder (>10 years) and classified as treatment-resistant (95%) and with averaging 3.8 psychiatric comorbidities completed the pilot trial. After participation, symptoms of anxiety disorders were significantly reduced (p = 0.003), and health-related characteristics significantly improved (depression symptoms: p < 0.001, worry symptoms: p < 0.001, self-efficacy: p < 0.001, quality of life-physical health: p = 0.002, quality of life-psychological health: p = 0.006) in all groups. The feasibility of conducting climbing exercises for the patient groups could be demonstrated, and a general acceptance in the groups was recorded. No significant time-by-group interactions were found. At the completion of the program, psychological parameters improved, while biological parameters remained the same in all three groups. Conclusions: Participation in the climbing group as well as in Nordic walking and social contact groups demonstrated beneficial results in patients with anxiety disorders and PTSD with severe mental burden. Nevertheless, climbing did not show any additional clinically relevant benefits compared to Nordic walking or social contact. Studies with larger sample sizes and qualitative insights are needed to further evaluate the possible benefits of climbing in this population