Kostenmessung der Prozesse öffentlicher Liefer-, Dienstleistungs- und Bauaufträge aus Sicht der Wirtschaft und der öffentlichen Auftraggeber

Für 300 Mrd. Euro kaufen jährlich die über 30.000 Vergabestellen von Bund, Land und Kommunen Waren und Dienstleistungen ein, mit zum Teil lang andauernden und komplexen Vergabeverfahren. Wie hoch die Verfahrenskosten bei der Vergabe von öffentlichen Aufträgen sowohl auf Seiten der Unternehmen als auch der Vergabestellen sind und wie sie reduziert werden können ist Gegenstand einer Studie im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Technologie, an deren Erstellung das IfM Bonn beteiligt war. Auf Basis des international angewandten Standard-Kosten-Modells (SKM) zur Berechnung von Bürokratiekosten wurde ermittelt, dass mit der Vergabe öffentlicher Aufträge in Deutschland pro Jahr Verfahrenskosten in Höhe von 19 Mrd. Euro anfallen. Mit einem Großteil der 30 identifizierten Vorschläge zur Vereinheitlichung und Verschlankung des Vergaberechts, vor allem organisatorische Maßnahmen, können die Prozesskosten jedoch um bis zu 20 % gesenkt werden. --

Standardising Visual Control Devices for Tsetse Flies: Central and West African Species <i>Glossina palpalis palpalis</i>

Background: Glossina palpalis palpalis (G. p. palpalis) is one of the principal vectors of sleeping sickness and nagana in Africa with a geographical range stretching from Liberia in West Africa to Angola in Central Africa. It inhabits tropical rain forest but has also adapted to urban settlements. We set out to standardize a long-lasting, practical and cost-effective visually attractive device that would induce the strongest landing response by G. p. palpalis for future use as an insecticide impregnated tool in area-wide population suppression of this fly across its range. Methodology/Principal Findings: Trials were conducted in wet and dry seasons in the Ivory Coast, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola to measure the performance of traps (biconical, monoconical and pyramidal) and targets of different sizes and colours, with and without chemical baits, at different population densities and under different environmental conditions. Adhesive film was used as a practical enumerator at these remote locations to compare landing efficiencies of devices. Independent of season and country, both phthalogen blue-black and blue-black-blue 1 m2 targets covered with adhesive film proved to be as good as traps in phthalogen blue or turquoise blue for capturing G. p. palpalis. Trap efficiency varied (8–51%). There was no difference between the performance of blue-black and blue-blackblue 1 m2 targets. Baiting with chemicals augmented the overall performance of targets relative to traps. Landings on smaller phthalogen blue-black 0.25 m2 square targets were not significantly different from either 1 m2 blue-black-blue or blue-black square targets. Three times more flies were captured per unit area on the smaller device. Conclusions/Significance:Blue-black 0.25 m2 cloth targets show promise as simple cost effective devices for management of G. p. palpalis as they can be used for both control when impregnated with insecticide and for population sampling when covered with adhesive film

Fine discrimination of volatile compounds by graphene-immobilized odorant-binding proteins

Abstract We describe the fabrication and performance of a biosensor for odorants, using wildtype and engineered mutants of the Italian honeybee (Apis mellifera ligustica) odorant binding protein 14 (OBP14), immobilized onto a reduced graphene oxide field-effect transistor (rGO-FET). The binding properties of the protein when immobilized on the biosensor are similar to those measured in solution, thus providing a method for measuring affinities to small molecules as an alternative to the current fluorescence assay. Out of the 14 chemicals tested, the best ligands for wildtype OBP14 were eugenol, homovanillic acid and related compounds sharing a phenol-methoxy backbone. Other chemicals, including methyl eugenol, showed affinities to OBP14 100–1000 times lower. We have also tested two mutants of OBP14. The first, bearing a HisTag at its N-terminus for better orientation on the sensor surface, showed only minor differences in its binding properties for chemicals when compared to the wildtype. The second contained an additional disulfide bond between helices α3 and α6, thus reducing the dynamics of OBP14 and leading to a higher affinity for eugenol. These data also demonstrate that it is feasible to produce biosensors with desired ligand specificities by introducing selected mutations into the structure of OBPs or other active proteins

Der Freiberger Dom: Architektur als Sprache

Das Lehr-Lern-Projekt beinhaltet die Ableitung und Erprobung von Handlungsempfehlungen und Werkzeugen für interdisziplinäre Praxis- und Forschungsprojekte anhand einer Projektarbeit, welche auf die Erstellung einer Besucher-App für den Freiberger Dom zielt