Zu Bedeutung und möglichen Haftungsrisiken bei der Umsetzung von gesellschaftsrechtlichen Bürgerbeteiligungsmodellen bei Erneuerbare-Energien-Projekten

Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird ein Überblick über die unterschiedlichen gesellschaftsrechtlichen Modelle zur finanziellen Partizipation von Bürgern bei der Förderung von erneuerbaren Energien gegeben. In einführenden Worten wird aufgezeigt, dass dem Ausbau erneuerbarer Energien oftmals regionaler Widerstand der Bevölkerung begegnet. Um derartige Konflikte zu vermeiden, werden seit längerer Zeit Bürgerbeteiligungsmodelle diskutiert. Im Folgenden werden verschiedene Bürgerbeteiligungsmodelle skizziert. Der Verfasser erörtert daraufhin eingehend die gesellschaftsrechtlichen Beteiligungsmodelle und nimmt neben den gesellschaftsrechtlichen Haftungsrisiken auch die bei ihrer Umsetzung zu beachtenden kapitalmarktrechtlichen Bezüge aus der echten Prospekthaftung auf, die nur bei einer genossenschaftlichen Beteiligung ausscheidet. Mithin erfährt der Leser in der folgenden Bewertung die passenden Anwendungsbereiche der jeweiligen Modelle. In einer abschließenden Gesamtbetrachtung wird nochmals das primäre Ziel des Ausbaus lokaler regenerativer Energieerzeugung unter finanzieller Partizipation von Bürgern betont

The Directive on Antitrust Damages Actions and the European Leniency Program

Die Europäische Kronzeugenregelung ist eines der wichtigsten Instrumente des Europäischen Wettbewerbsrechts. Kartellmitgliedern werden Anreize geboten, damit sie illegale, für den Wettbewerb schädliche, geheime Absprachen gegenüber der Europäischen Kommission offenlegen. Ausschlaggebend für die Teilnahme am Kronzeugenprogramm ist für Kartelle unter anderem, ob ein in Aussicht stehender vollständiger oder teilweiser Erlass der Geldbuße das Risiko von zivilrechtlichen Schadensersatzansprüchen überwiegt. Seitens der Europäischen Kommission müssen Anreize zur Teilnahme am Kronzeugenprogramm, aber auch eine wirksame Rechtsdurchsetzung für Geschädigte implementiert werden. Mit der Kartellschadensersatzrichtlinie soll eine harmonisierte, effektive Durchsetzung von Schadensersatzansprüchen gewährleistet werden. Dieser Beitrag kommt zu dem Schluss, dass die Stärkung der Durchsetzung zivilrechtlicher Ansprüche nicht konsequent umgesetzt werden konnte, da eine gewisse Diskrepanz zwischen dem Schutzzweck der Richtlinie und der Erhaltung des Europäischen Kronzeugenprogramms besteht.The European Leniency Program constitutes an important part of the anti-cartel enforcement and thus of the protection of sound competition. By offering incentives to cartel members, illegal detrimental agreements can be detected and penalized in order to stop infringement of the internal market. Companies willing to participate in the European Leniency Program however have to evaluate whether the offered incentives, i.e. full or partial immunity from fines, outweighs the possible risk resulting from private enforcement. With the Directive on Antitrust Damages Actions, the harmonized, effective enforcement of antitrust damage claims shall be ensured. The possibility of private enforcement constitutes a major threat to leniency applicants. It is the European Commissions’ task and challenge to design an anti-cartel enforcement providing sufficient incentives for whistleblowers, while concurrently strengthening individuals suffering from cartels. The results show the dilemma and contradiction between the protection of the individual by strengthening the private enforcement and the need for an appealing leniency program

Mutations in the Satellite Cell Gene MEGF10 Cause a Recessive Congenital Myopathy with Minicores

We ascertained a nuclear family in which three of four siblings were affected with an unclassified autosomal recessive myopathy characterized by severe weakness, respiratory impairment, scoliosis, joint contractures, and an unusual combination of dystrophic and myopathic features on muscle biopsy. Whole genome sequence from one affected subject was filtered using linkage data and variant databases. A single gene, MEGF10, contained nonsynonymous mutations that co-segregated with the phenotype. Affected subjects were compound heterozygous for missense mutations c.976T > C (p.C326R) and c.2320T > C (p.C774R). Screening the MEGF10 open reading frame in 190 patients with genetically unexplained myopathies revealed a heterozygous mutation, c.211C > T (p.R71W), in one additional subject with a similar clinical and histological presentation as the discovery family. All three mutations were absent from at least 645 genotyped unaffected control subjects. MEGF10 contains 17 atypical epidermal growth factor-like domains, each of which contains eight cysteine residues that likely form disulfide bonds. Both the p.C326R and p.C774R mutations alter one of these residues, which are completely conserved in vertebrates. Previous work showed that murine Megf10 is required for preserving the undifferentiated, proliferative potential of satellite cells, myogenic precursors that regenerate skeletal muscle in response to injury or disease. Here, knockdown of megf10 in zebrafish by four different morpholinos resulted in abnormal phenotypes including unhatched eggs, curved tails, impaired motility, and disorganized muscle tissue, corroborating the pathogenicity of the human mutations. Our data establish the importance of MEGF10 in human skeletal muscle and suggest satellite cell dysfunction as a novel myopathic mechanism

Invasive fungal infections in neutropenic enterocolitis: A systematic analysis of pathogens, incidence, treatment and mortality in adult patients

BACKGROUND: Neutropenic enterocolitis is a life-threatening complication most frequently occurring after intensive chemotherapy in acute leukaemias. Gramnegative bacteria constitute the most important group of causative pathogens. Fungi have also been reported, but their practical relevance remains unclear. The guidelines do not address concrete treatment recommendations for fungal neutropenic enterocolitis. METHODS: Here, we conducted a metaanalysis to answer the questions: What are frequency and mortality of fungal neutropenic enterocolitis? Do frequencies and microbiological distribution of causative fungi support empirical antimycotic therapy? Do reported results of antimycotic therapy in documented fungal neutropenic enterocolitis help with the selection of appropriate drugs? Following a systematic search, we extracted and summarised all detail data from the complete literature. RESULTS: Among 186 articles describing patients with neutropenic enterocolitis, we found 29 reports describing 53 patients with causative fungal pathogens. We found no randomised controlled trial, no good quality cohort study and no good quality case control study on the role of antifungal treatment. The pooled frequency of fungal neutropenic enterocolitis was 6.2% calculated from all 860 reported patients and 3.4% calculated from selected representative studies only. In 94% of the patients, Candida spp. were involved. The pooled mortality rate was 81.8%. Most authors did not report or perform antifungal therapy. CONCLUSION: In patients with neutropenic enterocolitis, fungal pathogens play a relevant, but secondary role compared to bacteria. Evidence concerning therapy is very poor, but epidemiological data from this study may provide helpful clues to select empiric antifungal therapy in neutropenic enterocolitis

Kernel Charge Equilibration: Efficient and Accurate Prediction of Molecular Dipole Moments with a Machine-Learning Enhanced Electron Density Model

State-of-the-art machine learning (ML) interatomic potentials use local representations of atomic environments to ensure linear scaling and size-extensivity. This implies a neglect of long-range interactions, most prominently related to electrostatics. To overcome this limitation, we herein present a ML framework for predicting charge distributions and their interactions termed kernel Charge Equilibration (kQEq). This model is based on classical charge equilibration models like QEq, expanded with an environment dependent electronegativity. In contrast to previously reported neural network models with a similar concept, kQEq takes advantage of the linearity of both QEq and Kernel Ridge Regression to obtain a closed-form linear algebra expression for training the models. Furthermore, we avoid the ambiguity of charge partitioning schemes by using dipole moments as reference data. As a first application, we show that kQEq can be used to generate accurate and highly data-efficient models for molecular dipole moments

MOSYRUR - Water balance analysis in the Rur basin

In this report the current results of the research activities in the MOSYRUR project are summarized. The targets of the first project phase (2002-2004) were the analysis of the quantitative status of the water resources in the catchment of the Rur ($\sim$2350 km$^{2}$) and the indication of the water balance at different scales. Process orientated investigations and simulations were performed at the small meso-scale test area "Zwischenscholle" (20 km$^{2}$) using the TRACE model. For the model application the potential evapotranspiration was calculated, Pedotransfer functions were utilized in order to derive the soil hydraulic properties and borehole measurements of groundwater levels were spatially and temporally interpolated in order to define the vertical boundary conditions. A one-dimensional and a three-dimensional TRACE application were performed for the period 1.12.1983 to 31.11.1993. The one-dimensional TRACE application was validated using a lysimeter experiment dataset spanning the period from 25.11.1988 to 13.8.1990. The actual evapotranspiration is slightly underestimated, while the amount of drainage is slightly overestimated. Nevertheless the calculated model performance measures indicate that all relevant processes and state variables (evapotranspiration, drainage and soil moisture) are well described. The measured actual evapotranspiration for the whole modelling period is 990 mm, whereas TRACE calculates an amount of 977 mm. The deviation between the measured drainage amount of 158 mm and the amount predicted with TRACE (163 mm) is equal to an error of 3.4 %. A decrease in soil moisture during the first spring at 85 cm depth is not that well reproduced, which might be attributed to a plant compensation mechanism. Probably the plant adapts to the low soil moisture near the surface by taking out more water at deeper soil layers. The validation of the three-dimensional TRACE application showed that the groundwater levels measured at the field scale are, basically, well reproduced. Wells were selected, which are located rather in the middle of the test area than close to the boundary, since the model results and measured heads are supposed to be very similar near the boundary, where the measurements are used for the imposed boundary condition. The RMSE of these wells ranges between 0.33 and 0.68, which is adequate since no calibration of the model was carried out. The large-scaled GIS-supported GROWA model was applied for balancing water components at the catchment scale . For the model application datasets were used that were mainly provided by the geological survey of NRW and the [...

Molecular tools for cell and systems biology

The sequencing of the genomes of key organisms and the subsequent identification of genes merely leads us to the next real challenge in modern biology—revealing the precise functions of these genes. Further, detailed knowledge of how the products of these genes behave in space and time is required, including their interactions with other molecules. In order to tackle these considerable tasks, a large and continuously expanding toolbox is required to probe the functions of proteins on a cellular level. Here, the currently available tools are described and future developments are projected. There is no doubt that only the close interplay between the life science disciplines in addition to advances in engineering will be able to meet the challenge