Concept to Support a Cost Effective Implementation of Information Technology Service Management according to ISO 20000

Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) delivers IT-based services to organizations. It supports the attainment of business goals by aligning IT activities with business requirements. ITSM is usually implemented by following a process oriented approach that is further specified by dedicated frameworks like the ISO 20000 standard and the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) of the Office of Government Commerce. Due to cost effectiveness considerations a complete implementation of such frameworks is not necessarily required, since opportunities for improvements can be located in a limited set of process areas, depending on each organization’s individual case. In order to follow this approach, a concept is presented that supports the cost effective implementation of ITSM. It is based on sharing specific knowledge that eases the identification of relevant objectives within ITSM frameworks and furthermore supports the identification of dependencies for implementation planning. Results of the conducted validation case indicate the concept’s fitness for purpose

20P. Concept for Identification of Improvement Opportunities Provided by ITSM Frameworks to Address Specific Needs of Organizations

Process improvements within ITSM are guided by prescriptions of frameworks like ITIL and ISO 20000. Since improvements cause costs, they need to be beneficial to the respective organization. This means to implement ITSM process improvement frameworks according to the specific needs of organizations. In this research in progress a concept is presented that supports this approach by sharing knowledge to facilitate process improvements. The concept is successfully validated by an industry case for the ISO 20000 standard

Longer Growing Seasons Cause Hydrological Regime Shifts in Central European Forests

In this study, we present evidence for a hydrological regime shift in upland central European forests. Using a combination of long-term data, detailed field measurements and modelling, we show that there is a prolonged and persistent decline in annual runoff:precipitation ratios that is most likely linked to longer growing seasons. We performed a long term (1950-2018) water balance simulation for a Czech upland forest headwater catchment calibrated against measured streamflow and transpiration from deciduous and coniferous stands. Simulations were corroborated by long-term (1965-2018) borehole measurements and historical drought reports. A regime shift from positive to negative catchment water balances likely occurred in the early part of this century. Since 2007, annual runoff:precipitation ratios have been below the long-term average. Annual average temperatures have increased, but there have been no notable long term trends in precipitation. Since 1980, there has been a pronounced April warming, likely leading to earlier leaf out and higher annual transpiration, making water unavailable for runoff generation and/or soil moisture recharge. Our results suggest a regime shift due to second order effects of climate change where increased transpiration associated with a longer growing season leads to a shift from light to water limitation in central European forests. This will require new approaches to managing forests where water limitation has previously not been a problem

Ecohydrological consequences of tree removal in an urban park evaluated using open data, free software and a minimalist measuring campaign

With ongoing global climate change and an increasingly urbanized population, the importance of city parks and other forms of urban vegetation increases. Trees in urban parks can play an important role in mitigating runoff and delivering other ecosystem services. Park managers, E-NGOs, citizen scientists and others are increasingly called upon to evaluate the possible consequences of changes in park management such as, e.g., tree removal. Here, we present an unorthodox approach to hydrological modelling and its potential use in local policy making regarding urban greenery. The approach consists of a minimalist field campaign to characterize vegetation and soil moisture status combined with a novel model calibration using freely available data and software. During modelling, we were able to obtain coefficients of determination (R2) of 0.66 and 0.73 for probe-measured and simulated soil moisture under tree stand and park lawn land covers respectively. The results demonstrated that tree cover had a significant positive effect on the hydrological regime of the locality through interception, transpiration and effects on soil moisture. Simulations suggested that tree cover was twice as effective at mitigating runoff than park lawn and almost seven times better than impervious surfaces. In the case of a potential replacement of tree vegetation in favour of park lawn or impervious surfaces an increase in runoff of 14% and 81% respectively could be expected. The main conclusion drawn from our study was that such an approach can be a very useful tool for supporting local decision-making processes as it offers a freely available, cheap and relatively easy-to-use way to describe the hydrological consequences of landcover change (e.g., tree removal) with sufficient accuracy.OA-hybri

Ecohydrological consequences of tree removal in an urban park evaluated using open data, free software and a minimalist measuring campaign

With ongoing global climate change and an increasingly urbanized population, the importance of city parks and other forms of urban vegetation increases. Trees in urban parks can play an important role in mitigating runoff and delivering other ecosystem services. Park managers, E-NGOs, citizen scientists and others are increasingly called upon to evaluate the possible consequences of changes in park management such as, e.g., tree removal. Here, we present an unorthodox approach to hydrological modelling and its potential use in local policy making regarding urban greenery. The approach consists of a minimalist field campaign to characterize vegetation and soil moisture status combined with a novel model calibration using freely available data and software. During modelling, we were able to obtain coefficients of determination (R-2) of 0.66 and 0.73 for probe-measured and simulated soil moisture under tree stand and park lawn land covers respectively. The results demonstrated that tree cover had a significant positive effect on the hydrological regime of the locality through interception, transpiration and effects on soil moisture. Simulations suggested that tree cover was twice as effective at mitigating runoff than park lawn and almost seven times better than impervious surfaces. In the case of a potential replacement of tree vegetation in favour of park lawn or impervious surfaces an increase in runoff of 14% and 81% respectively could be expected. The main conclusion drawn from our study was that such an approach can be a very useful tool for supporting local decision-making processes as it offers a freely available, cheap and relatively easy-to-use way to describe the hydrological consequences of landcover change (e.g., tree removal) with sufficient accuracy. (C) 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V

Who Is at Risk for Diagnostic Discrepancies? Comparison of Pre- and Postmortal Diagnoses in 1800 Patients of 3 Medical Decades in East and West Berlin

<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Autopsy rates in Western countries consistently decline to an average of <5%, although clinical autopsies represent a reasonable tool for quality control in hospitals, medically and economically. Comparing pre- and postmortal diagnoses, diagnostic discrepancies as uncovered by clinical autopsies supply crucial information on how to improve clinical treatment. The study aimed at analyzing current diagnostic discrepancy rates, investigating their influencing factors and identifying risk profiles of patients that could be affected by a diagnostic discrepancy.</p> <h3>Methods and Findings</h3><p>Of all adult autopsy cases of the Charité Institute of Pathology from the years 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003 and 2008, the pre- and postmortal diagnoses and all demographic data were analyzed retrospectively. Based on power analysis, 1,800 cases were randomly selected to perform discrepancy classification (class I-VI) according to modified Goldman criteria. The rate of discrepancies in major diagnoses (class I) was 10.7% (95% CI: 7.7%–14.7%) in 2008 representing a reduction by 15.1%. Subgroup analysis revealed several influencing factors to significantly correlate with the discrepancy rate. Cardiovascular diseases had the highest frequency among class-I-discrepancies. Comparing the 1988-data of East- and West-Berlin, no significant differences were found in diagnostic discrepancies despite an autopsy rate differing by nearly 50%. A risk profile analysis visualized by intuitive heatmaps revealed a significantly high discrepancy rate in patients treated in low or intermediate care units at community hospitals. In this collective, patients with genitourinary/renal or infectious diseases were at particularly high risk.</p> <h3>Conclusions</h3><p>This is the current largest and most comprehensive study on diagnostic discrepancies worldwide. Our well-powered analysis revealed a significant rate of class-I-discrepancies indicating that autopsies are still of value. The identified risk profiles may aid both pathologists and clinicians to identify patients at increased risk for a discrepant diagnosis and possibly suboptimal treatment intra vitam.</p> </div

Stanovení základních složek hydrologické bilance lesního mikropovodí v pahorkatinné oblasti

The water-balance of forested microwatersheds was addressed with the main goal being the evaluation of temporal dynamics of intraday flowrate in relation to woody vegetation. The work was solved on two watersheds with different vegetation conditions but similar natural conditions, in TFE MF Křtiny. The effect of woody vegetation on flowrate was evaluated from following continuously parameters - flowrate, air temperature, rainfall, stand transpiration and soil moisture - all measured continuously during dry periods of the growing season on 2010 - 2012. The results indicate that under described conditions, the flowrate is mainly affected by transpiration processes of woody vegetation. Depending on daytime stand transpiration causes either a decrease in flowrate (on average up to 20% during the day) or an inverse increase during the night

How to support carbon sequestration and recreational potential at the same time

In recent years, planting trees to protect the climate has become very popular both in the world and here in the Czech Republic. The Paris Agreement in December 2015 and the resulting Nationally Determined Contributions significantly supported the need for the creation and improvement of carbon accounting methods for investments into the forest sector. Appropriately chosen and well-executed tree planting offers a natural, ecological, relatively cheap, and above all simple way to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere as well a number of other environmental benefits. One of these benefits is the positive effects on human well-being and landscape aesthetics both of which is commonly utilized to support recreational potential. However, understanding the financial value of environmental benefits (ecosystem functions) of natural ecosystems and woody vegetation has been an ongoing challenge that still limits the full utilization of close-to-nature landscape management up to this day. Here we show how carbon sequestration potential of individual trees can be evaluated which can in return serve as a motivation tool for conscious tree planting in the rural landscape during all steps of decision making process.Published Versio