Saving the European eel : how morphological research can help in effective conservation management

The European eel (Anguilla anguilla) is a critically endangered species, whose recruitment stocks have declined to nearly 1% compared to the late 70s. An amalgam of factors is responsible for this, among them migration barriers, pollution, habitat loss, parasite infection, and overfishing. A lot of recent studies focus on aspects that can increase the mature silver eel escapement rate, such as identifying migration barriers and developing passageways or addressing the impact of pollution on the eel’s health. However, little attention is given to the eel’s morphology in function of management measures. Worryingly, less than 50% of the currently installed management plans reach their goals, strongly indicating that more information is needed about the eel’s ecology and behavior. Functional morphological studies provide insights on how species perform behaviors crucial for survival, such as feeding and locomotion, but also in how environmental changes can affect or limit such behaviors. Consequently, functional morphology represents an important biotic component that should be taken into account when making conservation decisions. Hence, here, we provide an overview of studies on the eel’s morphology that do not only demonstrate its relation with ecology and behavior, but also provide information for developing and installing proper and more specific management measures

The Impact of Euro Introduction on the Vertical Price Transmission in the German Food Market - Does Money Illusion Matter?

In this paper the impact of the introduction of the Euro on the vertical price transmission in German food markets is analyzed. It is hypothesized that following the introduction of the Euro the presence of money illusion might have lead to higher real prices, and if so it is likely accompanied by higher margins between respective wholesale and retail prices. While other studies have mainly focused on the behavior of average prices, here reactions at the individual store level are investigated. For cucumber and carrots the vertical price relationships between retail and wholesale prices are estimated by employing an error correction approach, which is enhanced to test for structural breaks with a flexible time frame using a F-max approach. The results indicate significant changes in the vertical price relationships for one forth of the retailers under study. Though significant the directions of changes do not uniquely fit the theoretical predictions for money illusion. Thus, the majority of German food retailers has not used the introduction of the Euro to increase their mark ups.Financial Economics, Industrial Organization,

DOES MONEY ILLUSION MATTER? THE IMPACT OF EURO ON THE VERTICAL TRANSMISSION OF FOOD PRICE IN GERMANY

In this paper the impact of the introduction of the Euro on the vertical price transmission in German food markets is analyzed. It is hypothesized that the presence of money illusion might have lead to higher real prices as a result of the Euro, and if so it must be accompanied with a higher margin between the respective wholesale and retail price. While generally studies focus on the behavior of average prices, in this study the reactions of individual retailers are investigated. For lettuce and chicken the vertical price relationships between retail and wholesale prices are estimated by an error correction approach, which is extended to test for structural breaks with a flexible time frame. The results indicate no impact of the Euro for most of the retail stores. However, about every fifth grocery store did react to the new currency by generally increasing its mark up significantly. This leads to the conclusion that money illusion might have a significant impact on the real adjustment of prices.Marketing,

Startup of a reactive distillation process with a decanter

The startup of a reactive distillation process for the production of propyl acetate including a decanter is studied. A simulation model is presented which describes the whole startup from a cold and empty state and takes into account the liquid phase split in the decanter. The simulation model is successfully validated with own dynamic experimental data. Different startup strategies are developed and analysed in simulation studies showing the high influence of the initial charging of decanter and reboiler on the startup time

Continuing vocational education and training (CVET) for fire brigades : the start of a series of seminars to professionalise CVET teaching

Der vorliegende Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit den Lehrenden in der betrieblichen Weiterbildung und deren pädagogischem Professionalisierungsbedarf. Beschrieben wird ein von der Feuerwehr- und Rettungsdienstakademie der Branddirektion Frankfurt am Main (FRA) und dem Fachbereich Erziehungswissenschaften der Goethe-Universität entwickeltes Konzept zur Aus- und Weiterbildung pädagogisch tätiger FeuerwehrbeamtInnen, das 2012 erstmals umgesetzt wird. Bislang existierten hierfür weder in Deutschland noch in Österreich einheitliche Vorgaben. Ausgehend von den Bedürfnissen der Feuerwehren und geleitet von theoretischen Positionen der Erwachsenenbildung wird mit dem Konzept nicht zuletzt auch eine lernende Organisation zu verwirklichen versucht. Der Beitrag erläutert Ausgangslage, pädagogische Grundhaltung, Ziele und Ergebnisse der Voruntersuchung und skizziert die konkreten Modulinhalte und den Seminarablauf. Fazit der Autoren: Analog zu der bereits begonnenen Entwicklung in Wirtschaftsunternehmen wird das Niveau der pädagogischen Kenntnisse von lehrendem Personal auch bei den Feuerwehren steigen müssen. (DIPF/Orig.)This article deals with teachers in CVET and their need to professionalise their teaching. It describes a concept to train and further develop the skills of fire brigade employees involved in education. Developed by the Academy for Fire and Rescue Services of the Fire Protection Authorities of the City of Frankfurt am Main (Feuerwehr- und Rettungsdienstakademie der Branddirektion Frankfurt am Main – FRA in German) and the Faculty of Educational Sciences at Goethe University, it was implemented for the first time in 2012. Previously there had been no uniform standards in either Germany or Austria. Based on the needs of fire brigades and guided by adult education theories, this concept is being used to establish a learning organisation. The article explains the starting point, educational principle, objectives and results of the pre-investigation and outlines the actual content of the modules and the seminar schedule. The conclusion of the authors: analogous to the development that has already started in companies, the level of educational knowledge of teachers in fire brigades must also increase. (DIPF/Orig.

Data Aggregation and Vertical Price Transmission: An Experiment with German Food Prices

The impact of cross sectional aggregation over individual retail stores on the estimation and testing of vertical price transmission between the wholesale and retail levels is investigated using a unique data set of individual retail prices in Germany. Systematic differences between the results of estimations using aggregated data on the one hand, and disaggregated data on the other, are discussed theoretically and confirmed empirically. The results suggest that estimation with aggregated data generates misleading conclusions about price transmission behavior at the level of the individual units (i.e. retail stores) that underlie these aggregates.Aggregation, Vertical Price Transmission, Food Prices, Germany, Demand and Price Analysis, Marketing, L11, D40,

THE IMPACT OF DATA AGGREGATION ON THE MEASUREMENT OF VERTICAL PRICE TRANSMISSION: EVIDENCE FROM GERMAN FOOD PRICES

The impact of cross sectional aggregation over individual retail stores on the estimation and testing of vertical price transmission is investigated using a unique data set of individual retail prices. Systematic differences between the results of estimations using aggregated data on the one hand, and disaggregated data on the other, are discussed theoretically and confirmed empirically. The results suggest that results based on aggregated data generally cannot be used to draw conclusions about price transmission behaviour at the level of the individual data that underlies aggregates.Demand and Price Analysis,

An Exploratory Study about Microblogging Acceptance at Work

Microblogging is the new Web 2.0 hype in the media. Techies, politicians, family members and many more use Twitter to keep in touch with their interest groups, their voters or their friends and relatives. We wanted to know whether Twitter can also keep us aware about our team colleagues, how this improves teamwork and finally why Twitter is accepted and used in teams. Based on an action research study about Twitter usage in a team of seven researchers and the findings of prior literature, we attempt to extend the unified theory of technology acceptance (Venkatesh 2003) and adapt it to the specific context of microblogging in teams. Extending the performance expectancy construct, we propose two groups of factors inherent to social software that should be integrated into the UTAUT: the task characteristics of other users and the individual motivations for using social software

DESIGN AND IMPACT OF AWARENESS FUNCTIONS - A STUDY ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA IN VIRTUAL TEAMS

The usage of social media in leisure time settings has become a prominent research topic. However, less research has been done on the design of social media in collaboration settings. In this study, we investigate how social media can support asynchronous collaboration in virtual teams and specifically how they can increase activity awareness. On the basis of an open source social networking platform, we present two prototype designs: a standard platform with basic support for information processing, communication and process ? as suggested by Zigurs and Buckland (1998) ? and an advanced platform with additional support for activity awareness via special feed functions. We argue that the standard platform already conveys activity awareness to a certain extent, however, that this awareness can be increased even more by the feeds in the advanced platform. Both prototypes are tested in a field experiment and evaluated with respect to their impact on perceived activity awareness, coordination and satisfaction. We show that the advanced design increases coordination and satisfaction through increased perceived activity awareness

Windthrow damage in Picea abies is associated with physical and chemical stem wood properties

On 26 December 1999, the windstorm "Lothar” hit large parts of western and central Europe. In Switzerland, windthrow losses reached 12.7Miom3 of timber, corresponding to 2.8 times the annual national timber harvest. Although these exceptional losses were due to extreme peak velocities, recent changes in tree nutrition may have increased forest susceptibility. Previous controlled environment experiments revealed that wood density (associated with wood stiffness) tends to increase in elevated CO2, and to decrease when N-availability is enhanced (e.g., by soluble N-deposition). Such changes in wood quality could theoretically influence the risk of wind damage. We used the "Lothar” windstorm as a "natural experiment” to explore links between damage and wood properties. In 104 windthrow sites across the Swiss Plateau, more than 1,600 wood cores from (1) broken, (2) uprooted and (3) still standing (not damaged) spruce trees (Picea abies) were collected in February and March 2000. Wood properties, treering width and chemistry of the wood samples were analysed. Broken trees showed wider treerings in the decade 1990-99 compared to non-broken trees (either uprooted or undamaged trees). Broken trees also showed lower non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) concentration in sapwood, reflecting active structural carbohydrate sinks associated with fast growth. There was also a trend for higher tissue N-concentrations in broken trees. No significant differences between damage types were found in wood density and wood shrinkage during desiccation. We conclude that stem breakage risk of P. abies is associated with a stimulation of growth in the past decade and with changes in tree nutritional status. However, the risk for windthrow of whole spruce trees (uprooted but not broken) was not related to the studied wood parameter