Why Forest Plantations Are Disputed? An Assessment of Locally Important Ecosystem Services from the Cryptomeria japonica Plantations in the Darjeeling Hills, India

This study explored locally important forest products generated from different plantation forests. A comparison was made between monoculture and mixed stands in terms of understory plant species richness and number of forest products collected by local communities in the Darjeeling Hills of India. The results showed that forest-dependent communities collect an array of forest products from mixed stands compared to the monoculture stands but understory plant species richness was not significantly different between these two types of forest plantations. This study suggests that a single management strategy alone (e.g., mixed species plantations), could not produce an array of forest products expected by local communities, which requires a mixture of different types of strategies. Limited plantation management activities that were confined during the first 3 years after plantation were the major determinants of such homogeneity in the Darjeeling hills

Pilotprojekt „Telenotarzt Bayern“

Steigende Einsatzzahlen im Rettungsdienst und zunehmender Ärztemangel erschweren die Sicherstellung der präklinischen notärztlichen Versorgung. Die Etablierung eines Telenotarztsystems über audiovisuelle Kommunikation mit einem Rettungswagen vor Ort kann das ‚arztfreie‘ Intervall am Notfallpatienten bei verlängerten Anfahrtszeiten des physikalischen Notarztes verkürzen. Durch delegierte medizinische Maßnahmen ergeben sich hieraus jedoch veränderte Aufgaben, Handlungsabläufe und medizinische Verantwortungen für das präklinische Rettungsdienstpersonal. Um die Auswirkungen (erprobt durch ein halbjähriges Pilotprojekt im Rettungsdienstbereich Straubing) auf die Arbeitsbelastung und -zufriedenheit sowie die wahrgenommene Qualität der Patientenversorgung und Zusammenarbeit mit dem Telenotarzt zu untersuchen und auszuwerten wurde ein u.a. ein eigens entwickelter Fragebogen entwickelt und verwendet. Die Ergebnisse werden in der vorliegenden Dissertation dargelegt und diskutiert. Stefan Schmerbeck promovierte am Institut für Notfallmedizin und Medizinmanagement der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität im Fach der Humanbiologie. Während des Studiums des beruflichen Lehramts begann der ausgebildete Notallsanitäter als freier Dozent in der rettungsdienstlichen Ausbildung. Aktuell ist der Oberbrandrat als Schulleiter einer Rettungsdienstschule einer Berufsfeuerwehr tätig

Introduction

Das Symposium bot die Gelegenheit eines professionellen Austauschs über das Thema Language and Migration aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven und aus der Sicht verschiedener sprachwissenschaftlicher Teildisziplinen.The 27th LIPP symposium offered the opportunity for professional exchange on the topic of Language and Migration from different perspectives and points of view of various linguistic disciplines

Die Gemeinde-Gebietsreform in Bayern

Die Gemeinde-Gebietsreform in Bayern : dargest. am Beisp. d. Eingemeindungen von Seebach u. Natternberg nach Deggendorf / Christa Hofmann ; Dagmar Schmerbeck. - Augsburg, 1979. - V, 96 S. - (Sozialwissenschaftliche Beiträge zu Methodologie, Raumforschung, Gesundheitsforschung ; 5

Financial assets in a heterogeneous agent general equilibrium model with aggregate and idiosyncratic risk

The financial economics profession has determined that identical agents in a dynamic, stochastic, general equilibrium (DSGE) model does not provide price and trading dynamics realized in financial markets. There has been quite a bit of research over the last three decades extending heterogeneity to the Lucas asset pricing framework, to address this issue. Once the assumption of homogeneous agents is relaxed, the problem becomes increasingly complex due to a state space including the wealth distribution, continuation utilities, and wealth distribution dynamics. To establish a more computationally feasible model, specical modifications have been made such as heterogeneity in idiosyncratic shocks and not risk aversion, including aggregate or idiosyncratic risk (but not both), or assuming no growth in the economy (steady state). In this research, I will define a DSGE model with heterogeneous agents. This heterogeneity will refer to differing CRRA utilities through risk aversion. The economy will have growth due to the assumed dividend process. Agents will face idiosyncratic and aggregate shocks in a complete markets setting. The framework of the provided algorithm will enable issues to be addressed beyond homogeneous agent models. The numerical simulation results of this model provide considerable asset price volatility and high trading volume. These results occur even in the complete markets setting, where investors are expected to fully insure. Given these dynamics from the simulations of the algorithm, I demonstrate the ability to calibrate this model to address specific financial economic issues, such as the equity premium puzzle. More importantly this exercise will assume realistic agent parameters of risk aversion and discount factors, relative to economic theory

Continuously reinforced concrete pavement with asphalt top layer or surface texture from diamond grinding

In der Vergangenheit stiegen die Verkehrsbelastung und der Anteil des Schwerverkehrs auf deutschen Straßen und Autobahnen nahezu stetig. Dies wird sich auch in der Zukunft fortsetzen. Um auch zukünftig Mobilität gewährleisten zu können, sind Bauweisen mit maximaler Nutzungsdauer und minimalen Erhaltungsaufwendungen erforderlich. In Deutschland werden Betonfahrbahndecken als unbewehrte direkt befahrene Betonfahrbahnplatten mit Querfugen in regelmäßigen Abständen gefertigt und für Nutzungsdauern von 30 Jahren konzipiert. Die Querfugen stellen dabei den schwächsten Bereich in der Konstruktion dar. Betonfahrbahndecken können auch als Durchgehend Bewehrte Betonfahrbahndecke gefertigt werden. Dabei stellt sich ein freies Rissbild mit schmalen Plattenstreifen ein. Um eine Querkraftübertragung zu sichern, wird die Rissöffnungsweite durch die Anordnung einer durchgehenden Längsbewehrung beschränkt. Die Erfahrungen zeigen, dass mit dieser Bauweise eine längere Nutzungsdauer und ein höherer Fahrkomfort erreicht werden und weniger Erhaltungsmaßnahmen erforderlich sind. Durchgehend Bewehrte Betondecken eignen sich besonders gut für eine Asphaltüberbauung, da es keine Querfugen als Störstellen gibt. Diese Komposition hat das Potenzial für eine Nutzungsdauer von 50 Jahren und erfordert geringere Kosten, wenn man den gesamten Lebenszyklus betrachtet. Um baupraktische Erfahrungen zu sammeln, wurde im Jahr 2011 auf der Bundesautobahn (BAB) A 94 bei Forstinning in Bayern eine Versuchsstrecke eingerichtet. Diese besteht aus drei Abschnitten von je etwa 4 km Länge: Durchgehend Bewehrte Betondecke mit DSH-V-Überbauung, unbewehrte Betondecke in Plattenbauweise mit DSH-V-Überbauung und unbewehrte Betondecke in Plattenbauweise mit Grinding-Oberfläche. Erste Ergebnisse bezüglich Rissbildung, Bewegungen an den Endspornen, Haftverhalten des Blacktopping und der Schallmessungen liegen vor.For many years, the traffic volumes and percentage of heavy traffic an German roads and motorways have steadily increased and this trend is expected to continue in the future. To guarantee mobility in the future, road construction with a maximum service life and a minimum of necessary maintenance are needed. In Germany, concrete pavements are traditionally built with unreinforced Jointed Plain Concrete (JPC), designed for a service life of 30 years. However, it is well known that the transverse joints in JPC pavements are the weakest aspect of this method. There is another way to build concrete pavement: Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement (CRCP). With CRCP, cracking freely occurs, and because of the reinforcement, smaller "slabs" occur. Load transfer is provided through aggregate interlock that is facilitated by the continuous longitudinal reinforcement. Experience so far has shown that CRCP achieves a longer service life, has better ride quality, and less maintenance is needed compared to JPC pavements. CRCP is especially suitable for this purpose because there are no discontinuities in the form of transverse joints in the construction. These composite pavements have the potential for a service life of 50 years, and the life cycle costs will be Iower than the current standard. To raise awareness of the potential benefits of this pavement, test sections along motorway A 94 near Forstinning in Bavaria were constructed in 2011. This trial consisted of three parts: CRCP with a thin hot-mix asphalt top layer, unreinforced jointed plain concrete with a thin hot-mix asphalt top layer, unreinforced jointed plain concrete with a thin hot-mix asphalt top layer and unreinforced jointed plain concrete with surface texture from diamond grinding. The first results from this research are with respect to cracking of the CRCP, movement at the terminal anchors, and adhesion between the asphalt and concrete

Institutions for sustainable governance of forests: Equity, robustness and cross-level interactions in Mawlyngbna, Meghalaya, India

This study adopts Ostrom’s Social-Ecological Systems (SES) framework in empirical fieldwork to explain how local forestry institutions affect forest ecosystems and social equity in the community of Mawlyngbna in North-East India. Data was collected through 26 semi-structured interviews, participatory timeline development, policy documents, direct observation, periodicals, transect walks, and a concurrent forest-ecological study in the village. Results show that Mawlyngbna's forests provide important sources of livelihood benefits for the villagers. However, ecological disturbance and diversity varies among the different forest ownership types and forest-based livelihood benefits are inequitably distributed. Based on a bounded rationality approach, our analysis proposes a set of causal mechanisms that trace these observed social-ecological outcomes to the attributes of the resource system, resource units, actors and governance system. We analyse opportunities and constraints of interactions between the village, regional, and state levels. We discuss how Ostrom’s design principles for community-based resource governance inform the explanation of robustness but have a blind spot in explaining social equity. We report experiences made using the SES framework in empirical fieldwork. We conclude that mapping cross-level interactions in the SES framework needs conceptual refinement and that explaining social equity of forest governance needs theoretical advances

Institutions for sustainable forest governance: Robustness, equity, and cross-level interactions in Mawlyngbna, Meghalaya, India

This study adopts Ostrom’s Social-Ecological Systems (SES) framework in empirical fieldwork to explain how local forestry institutions affect forest ecosystems and social equity in the community of Mawlyngbna in North-East India. Data was collected through 26 semi-structured interviews, participatory timeline development, policy documents, direct observation, periodicals, transect walks, and a concurrent forest-ecological study in the village. Results show that Mawlyngbna's forests provide important sources of livelihood benefits for the villagers. However, ecological disturbance and diversity varies among the different forest ownership types and forest-based livelihood benefits are inequitably distributed. Based on a bounded rationality approach, our analysis proposes a set of causal mechanisms that trace these observed social-ecological outcomes to the attributes of the resource system, resource units, actors and governance system. We analyse opportunities and constraints of interactions between the village, regional, and state levels. We discuss how Ostrom’s design principles for community-based resource governance inform the explanation of robustness but have a blind spot in explaining social equity. We report experiences made using the SES framework in empirical fieldwork. We conclude that mapping cross-level interactions in the SES framework needs conceptual refinement and that explaining social equity of forest governance needs theoretical advances