Transzendenz - Basis für Kreativität im Management

Wird ein Problem chronisch, könnte man dies als Mangel an Kreativität interpretieren. Die Antwort auf die Frage „wie könnte eine Problemlösung ohne schädliche Nebenwirkungen aussehen?“ fällt häufig allerdings nicht leicht. Der vorliegende Arbeitsbericht hat sich zur Aufgabe gemacht, für solche Problemlösungen die Aufmerksamkeit auf eine Tür zu lenken, die heutzutage tendenziell verschlossen ist. Die Empfehlung lautet, das gewohnte Denken zu transzendieren. Viele große Künstler und Wissenschaftler sind diesen Weg gegangen und haben auf diese Weise Kreatives hervorgebracht. So hat sich z.B. Johannes Brahms für seine Kompositionen in einen besonderen Zustand versetzt, der ihm „transzendentale Offenbarungen“ ermöglichte. Er erwähnte auch, dass jeder Mensch über solche Möglichkeiten verfügt, um auf diese Weise unkonventionelle Problemlösungen auf die Erde zu holen

Transzendenz - Basis für Kreativität im Management

Wird ein Problem chronisch, könnte man dies als Mangel an Kreativität interpretieren. Die Antwort auf die Frage „wie könnte eine Problemlösung ohne schädliche Nebenwirkungen aussehen?“ fällt häufig allerdings nicht leicht. Der vorliegende Arbeitsbericht hat sich zur Aufgabe gemacht, für solche Problemlösungen die Aufmerksamkeit auf eine Tür zu lenken, die heutzutage tendenziell verschlossen ist. Die Empfehlung lautet, das gewohnte Denken zu transzendieren. Viele große Künstler und Wissenschaftler sind diesen Weg gegangen und haben auf diese Weise Kreatives hervorgebracht. So hat sich z.B. Johannes Brahms für seine Kompositionen in einen besonderen Zustand versetzt, der ihm „transzendentale Offenbarungen“ ermöglichte. Er erwähnte auch, dass jeder Mensch über solche Möglichkeiten verfügt, um auf diese Weise unkonventionelle Problemlösungen auf die Erde zu holen

The Role of Soil Health and Fertility in Reclaiming Mined Peatland Areas

In Minnesota, American Peat Technology® (APT) harvests and manufactures reed-sedge peat products to be used in the agricultural and water remediation industries. Peat harvesting operations need a permit to mine from the MN Department of Natural Resources, which requires all disturbed areas be reclaimed. In 2016, APT began testing various reclamation techniques, including the use of live stakes, seed mixtures and donor soil to revegetate a final slope at their harvest area. Abnormal rainfall caused flooding of the site and the seed mix was washed off the slope. Live stake survival was estimated to be less than 5% after two growing seasons. No other treatments have been applied to the area and very little has grown on the site. Potential causes for the low stake survival and lack of vegetative growth include poor soil fertility, insufficient moisture or some form of chemical imbalance. The purpose of this work is to evaluate soil health and fertility in disturbed and undisturbed peatlands to determine potential causes for the lack of regrowth. Peat soils were collected along three transects within a grid on the previously harvested unvegetated slope. Grab samples were also collected from a vegetated and non-vegetated area that was previously disturbed about 15 years ago, and an area of undisturbed peatland. All samples were analyzed for pH, % organic matter, moisture content, cation exchange capacity, trace and major elemental concentrations, and nutrient availability to plants. Organic matter and pH in all samples ranged from 71.9% to 90.8% and 5.0 to 6.5, respectively. Plant-available nitrogen concentrations were highest in the near-surface samples collected in the vegetated disturbed area (23.5 to 27.8 ppm) compared to the non-vegetated disturbed area (7.3 to 14.9 ppm) and ranged from 8.1 to 37.2 ppm for the slope (highest concentration on the upper slope transect) and 0.3 to 1.2 ppm for the natural peatland. For plant-available concentrations of phosphorous and potassium, the range across all samples was 2 to 6 ppm and 6 to 30 ppm, respectively, with no discernable trends. Cation exchange capacity ranged 8.4 to 21.8 meq/100g across all samples

Characterization of Precipitates Associated with Bituminous Coal Mine Drainage, Northern Appalachian Region, USA

Changes in precipitate mineralogy, morphology, and major and trace elemental concentrations and associations throughout five coal mine drainage remediation systems in Pennsylvania and Maryland that treat discharges of varying chemistries were investigated. The precipitates are dominantly (>70%) goethite with minor amounts of other iron and/or manganese oxides and quartz. Crystallinity varies throughout an individual system and is a function of the treatment system and how rapidly ferrous iron oxidizes, precipitates, and settles. Precipitates formed earlier in the systems have the highest crystallinity; less crystalline precipitates are associated with enhanced sorption of trace metals. High surface area and vacancies within the goethite structure enable incorporation of metals from mine drainage polluted waters. Sorption affinities follow the order Al>Zn>Co=Ni>Mn. As pH increases in the individual treatment systems toward the pHpzc, arsenic sorption decreases and aluminum and transition metal sorption increases. Sulfate, sodium and ferrous iron potentially influence the sorption of trace metals.A sequential extraction procedure was developed to determine how trace elements are associated with the precipitates. Arsenic, cobalt, manganese, nickel and zinc are not released until the iron hydroxide phase is dissolved, indicating these metals are either tightly sorbed to the surface or incorporated into the hydroxide structure. Cobalt and nickel preferentially partition into a manganese oxide/hydroxide phase (if present), over the iron hydroxide phase. The stability of the precipitate controls the long-term mobility of trace metals. Associated trace metals will remain unavailable to the environment as long as the precipitate is not altered.Additionally, spatial and temporal variations between precipitates formed from a net-alkaline coal mine discharge were examined. The precipitates are all moderately crystalline goethite with minor variations in morphology and composition. They contain 20 - 30% more iron than the natural mined iron oxides examined in this study, and concentrations of manganese, nickel and zinc are up to three orders of magnitude lower than the natural iron oxides. Geochemical analysis indicates that mine drainage precipitates formed from net-alkaline waters are of a higher purity than natural iron oxides. Results of this study have implications for disposal, resource recovery, and the optimization of mine drainage passive remediation systems

Fünf Aufsätze über Anreizverträge

This thesis comprises five studies analyzing incentive contracts in complex production situations in which performance and payment play a seminal role. The first chapter analyzes which distribution norms are relevant in complex team production situations using a laboratory experiment. Chapter two and three investigate the effects of various monetary performance incentives physicians, whose performance is difficult to measure in the field, on their provision behavior using a laboratory experiment. The fourth chapter analyzes the impact of non-monetary performance incentives for physicians on the quality of care by also utilizing a laboratory experiment. The last chapter represents a theoretical model incorporating both financial and non-financial performance incentives for physicians, and explores whether the latter can reduce costs and increase quality in the health care market.Diese Doktorarbeit umfasst fünf Studien, die Anreizverträge in komplexen Produktionssituationen analysieren, in denen Performanz und Entlohnung eine wichtige Rolle spielen. Das erste Kapitel analysiert anhand eines Laborexperiments welche Aufteilungsnormen in komplexen Team-Produktionssituationen relevant sind. Kapitel zwei und drei untersuchen die Effekte von unterschiedlichen monetären Performanz-Anreizen für Ärzte, deren Performanz im Feld schwierig zu messen ist, auf ihr Leistungserbringungsverhalten in einem Laborexperiment. Das vierte Kapitel analysiert den Einfluss von nicht-monetären Performanz-Anreizen für Ärzte auf die Behandlungsqualität ebenfalls anhand eines Laborexperiments. Das letzte Kapitel stellt ein theoretisches Modell dar, das finanzielle und nicht-finanzielle Performanz-Anreize für Ärzte beinhaltet und untersucht, ob letztere im Gesundheitswesen Kosten senken und Qualität verbessern können

Psychosoziale Gesundheit erfordert Gegenwärtigkeit – eine Betrachtung aus spiritueller bzw. achtsamer Sicht

Leo A. Nefiodow, einer der angesehensten Vordenker der Informationsgesellschaft, verweist auf die großen Schäden und Verluste, die uns momentan durch psychische Störungen wie beispielsweise Angst, Depressionen, Burnout und ihre Folgen wie Gewalt, Kriminalität, Drogenmissbrauch und Erkrankungen entstehen. Die Förderung psychosozialer Gesundheit wäre somit geeignet, sowohl das Wohlbefinden des einzelnen Menschen zu verbessern als auch der Wirtschaft und der gesamten Gesellschaft einen Entwicklungsschub zu verleihen. Im Rahmen des Arbeitspapiers geht es darum, Möglichkeiten des Gegensteuerns aus dem Blickwinkel von Achtsamkeit vorzustellen. U. a. am praktischen Beispiel einer Schule wird versucht, das Wirkprinzip von Achtsamkeit zur Förderung psychosozialer Gesundheit in einer sozialen Einheit zu verdeutlichen

Leaching of FGD Byproducts Using a CSTX

Leaching studies of coal utilization byproducts (CUB) are often performed to determine the compatibility of the material in a particular end-use or disposal environment. Typically, these studies are conducted using either a batch or a fixed-bed column technique. Fixed-bed columns offer the advantage of a continuous flow of effluent that provides elution profiles with changing elution volume and pH. Unfortunately, clogs can form in fixed-bed leaching columns, either because of cementitious properties of the material itself, such as is seen for fluidized bed combustion (FBC) fly ash, or because of precipitate formation, such as can occur when a high-calcium ash is subjected to sulfate-containing leachates. Also, very fine-grained materials, such as gypsum, do not provide sufficient permeability for study in a fixed-bed column. A continuous, stirred-tank extractor (CSTX) is being used as an alternative technique that can provide the elution profile of column leaching but without the low permeability problems. The CSTX has been successfully employed in the leaching of flue gas desulfurization products that would not be sufficiently permeable under traditional column leaching conditions. The results indicate that the leaching behavior depends on a number of factors, including (but not limited to) solubility and neutralization capacity of the mineral phases present, sorption properties of these phases, behavior of the solubilized material in the tank, and the type of species in solution. In addition, leaching to near-exhaustion of a wallboard produced from FGD gypsum has allowed the isolation of a highly adsorptive phase. This phase appears to be present in at least some FGD gypsums and accounts for the immobilization of trace metals such as arsenic, cobalt, lead, and mercury