Think globally, act locally - reducing environmental impacts of transport

This paper presents a pragmatic approach for reducing the environmental impacts of transport in the German Federal State Saxony. The aim is to use the potential of pricing measures for effectively reducing environmental impacts of transport. They are combined with less-effective but more accepted non-pricing measures in a policy package. The development of this approach starts with the calculation of the current external costs of transport in the case study area. Second, a policy package reducing these external costs is composed. Third, the development of the external costs is assessed and compared in two scenarios, a BAU-scenario and the policy scenario where measures reducing the environmental impacts of transport are implemented. Fourth, the public and political acceptability of this policy package are investigated. The results show that it is possible to develop a policy package that is effective for reducing the environmental impacts as well as acceptable to the public and politicians. Therefore, such a package approach is suitable to guide future political decisions and actions towards a more sustainable transport sector

Mesoionische Sechsringheterocyclen, III Reaktionen o-chinoider Verbindungen mit 6-Oxo-6H-1,3-diazin-1-ium-4-olaten

Mesoionische 6-Oxo-6H-1,3-diazin-1-ium-4-olate 9 reagieren mit Tetrachlor-o-benzochinon (2, R = Cl) unter Bildung von 1:1-Addukten 12, die sich formal von den Ketentautomeren 13 von 9 ableiten. Die Struktur von 12f wurde durch eine Röntgenstrukturanalyse geklärt

Vervollständigung der Zeitreihen des StUK während der Betriebsphase und Ermittlung von Veränderungen des Benthos durch Ausweitung des anlagenbezogenen Effektmonitorings - Schlussbericht zum Projekt "Ökologische Begleitforschung am Offshore-Testfeldvorhaben alpha ventus zur Evaluierung des Standarduntersuchungskonzepts des BSH (StUKplus)" im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit

The standard concept for the investigation of the impacts of offshore wind turbines on the marine environment (StUK) of the German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) prescribes extensive investigations on the benthic communities of the seafloor as well as on the fouling assemblages on the underwater structures of offshore wind turbines. The construction of the test site alpha ventus allowed for the first time for testing the appropriate-ness of these investigations. In the present sub-project of the StUKplus research project, the investigations according to StUK3 (BSH, 2007) were spatially and temporally extended in order to test for effects on the benthic system which could otherwise not be revealed by the StUK procedures. In the first work package of the sub-project an additional complete sam-pling campaign according to StUK was performed in the second year of the operational phase of the wind farm. The results of this work package indicate differential temporal variations of the benthic communities and of sedimentological parameters inside the wind farm and in a reference area outside the wind farm. However, the differences were mainly temporary fluctuations while persistent effects of the construction and operation of the wind farm on the benthos were not evident. Solely the biomass and species richness of the fouling assemblage on the underwater structures increased continuously since the construction of the turbines. In the second work package the turbine-related effect monitoring of the benthic communities of the seafloor was extended to the entire distance between two neighbouring turbines. No ef-fects of the turbines on the benthos and the sediment could be detected in this work package. The spatial resolution of the turbine-related effect monitoring was inadequate for detecting processes which occur in the vicinity of the turbine foundations. In none of the two work packages did the spatial and temporal extension of the benthos monitoring provide additional findings. However, deficiencies of the benthos ecological investigations according to StUK3 became evident and improvements could be deduced

Grüne Gentechnik und ökologische Landwirtschaft

Weltweit findet sich als Rechtsnorm in allen entsprechenden Verbraucherschutzgesetzen die Vorgabe, in der ökologischen Landwirtschaft keine gentechnisch veränderten Organismen einzusetzen. Auf europäischer Ebene enthalten weder die EU-Öko-Verordnung noch die Saatgutverkehrsrichtlinien Regelungen, aufgrund derer Schutzmaßnahmen zur Verhinderung oder Vermeidung von GVO-Einkreuzungen in ökologische Kulturen vorgeschrieben werden können. Eine Prüfung der neuen Freisetzungsrichtlinie ergibt aber, dass bei der Genehmigung zum Inverkehrbringen als „besondere Bedingungen für die Verwendung und Handhabung“ eines GVO auch Maßnahmen zum Schutz vor Sachschäden durch GVO-Einkreuzung vorgeschrieben werden können. Als Maßnahmen zum Schutz vor Sachschäden werden hauptsächlich Sicherheitsabstände zwischen Feldern mit GVO-Pflanzen und ökologisch bewirtschafteten Kulturen sowie zusätzlich gentechnikfreie Gebiete diskutiert. Bei der Analyse der Datenlage zur Definition von Sicherheitsabständen treten viele Lücken in der empirischen Datenbasis zu Tage, sodass sich hier dringender Forschungsbedarf abzeichnet. Es werden pragmatisch Hinweise zu Sicherheitsabständen abgeleitet. Gentechnikfreie Gebiete resp. geschlossene Anbaugebiete werden in Zusammenhang mit der Saatgutproduktion vorgeschlagen. Bisher ermöglicht nur das Zivilrecht in Deutschland einen privaten Ausgleich der Rechts- und Interessensphären der Bio-Bauern und der Nutzer transgener Sorten. § 906 BGB lässt sich hier als zentrale Steuerungsnorm des Umweltprivatrechts heranziehen. Dessen System von Unterlassungs- und Ausgleichsansprüchen ist hochkomplex und wird nur schwer zu einer zufriedenstellenden Koexistenz beitragen können. Eine Lösung wäre daher eine wirksame Selbstorganisation des Wirtschaftszweigs der Saatgutindustrie, die transgene Pflanzen züchtet und das Saatgut in Verkehr bringt. Sollte diese nicht möglich sein, bietet sich eine öffentlich-rechtliche Regelung an. Dazu könnten gehören: Die Einrichtung eines Anbaukatasters, die Einführung einer guten fachlichen Praxis des GVO-Anbaus (GfP), die Festlegung einer Instruktionspflicht auf der Saatgutverpackung sowie der Schutz der ökologischen Saatgutproduktion

Homogeneous datasets of triple negative breast cancers enable the identification of novel prognostic and predictive signatures

Background: Current prognostic gene signatures for breast cancer mainly reflect proliferation status and have limited value in triple-negative (TNBC) cancers. The identification of prognostic signatures from TNBC cohorts was limited in the past due to small sample sizes. Methodology/Principal Findings: We assembled all currently publically available TNBC gene expression datasets generated on Affymetrix gene chips. Inter-laboratory variation was minimized by filtering methods for both samples and genes. Supervised analysis was performed to identify prognostic signatures from 394 cases which were subsequently tested on an independent validation cohort (n = 261 cases). Conclusions/Significance: Using two distinct false discovery rate thresholds, 25% and <3.5%, a larger (n = 264 probesets) and a smaller (n = 26 probesets) prognostic gene sets were identified and used as prognostic predictors. Most of these genes were positively associated with poor prognosis and correlated to metagenes for inflammation and angiogenesis. No correlation to other previously published prognostic signatures (recurrence score, genomic grade index, 70-gene signature, wound response signature, 7-gene immune response module, stroma derived prognostic predictor, and a medullary like signature) was observed. In multivariate analyses in the validation cohort the two signatures showed hazard ratios of 4.03 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.71–9.48; P = 0.001) and 4.08 (95% CI 1.79–9.28; P = 0.001), respectively. The 10-year event-free survival was 70% for the good risk and 20% for the high risk group. The 26-gene signatures had modest predictive value (AUC = 0.588) to predict response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, however, the combination of a B-cell metagene with the prognostic signatures increased its response predictive value. We identified a 264-gene prognostic signature for TNBC which is unrelated to previously known prognostic signatures

India, Germany and Europe: a Spatial Perspective at SDG 3 on Good Health and Well-Being

Responding to crucial challenges in urban and rural development led the United Nations decide on the New Urban Agenda as well as the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In order to understand the spatial patterns, which SDGs produce, a national and supranational spatial perspective is taken on SDG 3 “Good health and Well-Being”. Progress in health concomitantly affects several pathways of development in a country. Persistent improvements in the life expectancy at birth ascertain significant progress towards health care in any country. The development in the respective health system is validated by improving health-related indicators, such as institutional deliveries, infant and child mortality rates, full immunisation and nutrition. Sub-goal 3.7 addresses the universal access to sexual and reproductive health care services, including family planning, information and education. Adolescent pregnancy leading to teenage parenthood is an obviously global concern affecting low- and high-income countries in the same way. Alternating maps illustrate the spatial perspective on SDG 3 in India, Germany and Europe by taking manifold national as well as supranational views wherever feasible

India, Germany and Europe: a Spatial Perspective at SDG 4 on Quality Education

Responding to crucial challenges in urban and rural development led the United Nations decide on the New Urban Agenda as well as the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In order to understand the spatial patterns, which SDGs produce, a national and supranational spatial perspective is taken on SDG 4 "Quality Education". SDG 4 highlights the human right on education and requests institutions to ensure inclusive and equal access to education for all. In many countries, one can note gender differences related to schooling at all levels or at graduation. Education in general and the education of females in particular influences largely the social and economic development of countries, ranging from health and birth control to a higher economic output of enterprises lead by mixed teams. The chapters visualise the spatial analysis of SDG 4, respectively on school graduates, female school graduates and scholar exclusion. Alternating maps illustrate the spatial perspective on SDG 4 in India, Germany and Europe by taking manifold national as well as supranational views wherever feasible