Entwicklung von nachhaltigen Verfahren zur Abwehr von Feldmäusen (Microtus arvalis)

Feldmäuse (Microtus arvalis) können schwere Schäden in der europäischen Landwirtschaft verursachen und werden bei Bedarf mit Rodentiziden bekämpft. Nicht-chemische, großflächig anwendbare Alternativen stehen nicht zur Verfügung, was besonders im ökologischen Anbau ein Problem ist. Potenziell geeignete nachhaltige Methoden wurden im Labor entwickelt und in Feldversuchen an Feldrändern angewendet: 1) Pflugfurche mit Repellentien auf abbaubarem Trägermaterial (Dispenser); 2) Pflugfurche mit „Selbstbedienungsfallen“ für Prädatoren, die mit einem attraktiven Feldmaus-Köder bestückt sind. Eine am Markt verfügbare Selbstbedienungsfalle ist die Standby-Box (Andermatt Biocontrol AG). Dieser Fallen-Typ wurde mit der im Projekt entwickelten Fangwanne verglichen, die an die Form der Pflugfurche angepasst ist. In Feldversuchen stellte sich heraus, dass die Fangwanne zwei entscheidende Vorteile hat. Durch die obere Öffnung 1) können Langschwanzmäuse entkommen (weniger Beifang); 2) haben Vögel Zugang zu Feldmäusen in der Falle. Dementsprechend konnten mehr Prädatoren und Feldmaus-Entnahmen bei den Fangwannen beobachtet werden. In Gehegeversuchen unterschied sich die Fängigkeit beider Fallen nicht. Die Fängigkeit der Feldmäuse kann durch einen attraktiven Köder erhöht werden. Im Labor wurden 22 Naturstoffe gescreent. Mit den drei erfolgversprechendsten Stoffen Bisabolol, Eugenol und Maltol als Attraktantien und einer Luzerne-Getreidemischung als Köder-Basis wurden drei neue Köder in Pelletform formuliert. In Gehegeversuchen konnte der Maltol-Köder die Fängigkeit um 60% im Vergleich zum Kontroll-Köder (Pellets ohne Attraktanz) erhöhen. Die Köderaufnahme war jedoch bei den Kontroll-Pellets bei allen drei Varianten höher. Als geeignetes Feldmaus-Repellent wurden 17 Stoffe im Labor gescreent und die vier erfolgversprechendsten Stoffe Benzaldehyd, Fichtennadel-, Karottensamen- (KS) und Schwarzer Pfefferöl (SP) im Gehege getestet. Mit Schwarzer Pfefferöl konnten die geringste Migrationsrate und mit der Kombination aus SP + KS die geringste Futteraufnahme erzielt werden. Als Dispenser setzte sich das Zellstoffband vor den Zellstoffkugeln und dem Tongranulat durch. Die Repellent-Variante mit SP + KS auf Zelluloseband sowie die Fangwannen mit dem Maltol-Köder wurden in Feldversuchen in Pflugfurchen am Feldrand ausgebracht und mit zwei experimentellen Kontrollen verglichen 1) Zinkphosphid-Applikation in unterirdische, künstliche Tunnel mit der Mäuseköderlegemaschine WUMAKI C9 und 2) kein Management. In dem über drei aufeinanderfolgenden Jahren durchgeführten Feldversuchsprogramm kam es auf keinem der jeweils fünf Versuchsstandorte zu einer Feldmaus-Massenvermehrung. Durch das geringe Feldmausauftreten im Zeitraum 2015/16-2017/18 sind Aussagen zur Wirksamkeit der Management-Methoden unter Feldbedingungen nicht möglich. Wenn die Barrierewirkung während einer Massenvermehrung verifiziert werden kann, wäre dies ein Schritt zu einem ökologisch verträglichen und nachhaltigen Feldmaus-Management

Assessing the Disruptiveness of New Energy Technologies - An Ex-Ante Perspective

For those organizations that experience disruption, they usually understand the situation when it is already too late. The real challenge to any theory, especially if it is of high relevance for managers, is how it performs predictively. Can the theory of disruptive technologies be used not only to analyze cases ex post but to predict the potential disruptive technologies ex ante? Established companies are skeptical of the idea of disruptiveness, because of the difficulty of making predictions given the ex post nature of the theory. In this regard the goal of this report is to provide a general measure of disruptiveness and develop a framework that can assess technologies whether they have the potential to be proven disruptive. The developed assessment framework captures the essential characteristic and holistic success factors for disruptive technologies based on the theory of Christensen and a number of clarifications as seen in the literature. The framework is applied and validated by assessing the disruptive potential of five renewable energy technologies (wind energy, solar energy, biomass, hydro power, geothermal) in the power generation, heating and transportation sectors of four European countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Germany and Romania). The results show the applicability of the framework and give insights into technology and country specific determinants of energy market sector disruptions. (authors' abstract)Series: Working Papers / Institute for Strategic Management / Energy & Strategy Think Tan

Bell violation with entangled photons, free of the fair-sampling assumption

The violation of a Bell inequality is an experimental observation that forces one to abandon a local realistic worldview, namely, one in which physical properties are (probabilistically) defined prior to and independent of measurement and no physical influence can propagate faster than the speed of light. All such experimental violations require additional assumptions depending on their specific construction making them vulnerable to so-called "loopholes." Here, we use photons and high-efficiency superconducting detectors to violate a Bell inequality closing the fair-sampling loophole, i.e. without assuming that the sample of measured photons accurately represents the entire ensemble. Additionally, we demonstrate that our setup can realize one-sided device-independent quantum key distribution on both sides. This represents a significant advance relevant to both fundamental tests and promising quantum applications

Autologous bone graft versus demineralized bone matrix in internal fixation of ununited long bones

Background Non-unions are severe complications in orthopaedic trauma care and occur in 10% of all fractures. The golden standard for the treatment of ununited fractures includes open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) as well as augmentation with autologous-bone-grafting. However, there is morbidity associated with the bone-graft donor site and some patients offer limited quantity or quality of autologous-bone graft material. Since allogene bone-grafts are introduced on the market, this comparative study aims to evaluate healing characteristics of ununited bones treated with ORIF combined with either iliac-crest-autologous-bone-grafting (ICABG) or demineralized-bone-matrix (DBM). Methods and results From 2000 to 2006 out of sixty-two consecutive patients with non-unions presenting at our Level I Trauma Center, twenty patients had ununited diaphyseal fractures of long bones and were treated by ORIF combined either by ICABG- (n = 10) or DBM-augmentation (n = 10). At the time of index-operation, patients of the DBM-group had a higher level of comorbidity (ASA-value: p = 0.014). Mean duration of follow-up was 56.6 months (ICABG-group) and 41.2 months (DBM-group). All patients were clinically and radiographically assessed and adverse effects related to bone grafting were documented. The results showed that two non-unions augmented with ICABG failed osseous healing (20%) whereas all non-unions grafted by DBM showed successful consolidation during the first year after the index operation (p = 0.146). No early complications were documented in both groups but two patients of the ICABG-group suffered long-term problems at the donor site (20%) (p = 0.146). Pain intensity were comparable in both groups (p = 0.326). However, patients treated with DBM were more satisfied with the surgical procedure (p = 0.031). Conclusion With the use of DBM, the costs for augmentation of the non-union-site are more expensive compared to ICABG (calculated difference: 160 €/case). Nevertheless, this study demonstrated that the application of DBM compared to ICABG led to an advanced outcome in the treatment of non-unions and simultaneously to a decreased quantity of adverse effects. Therefore we conclude that DBM should be offered as an alternative to ICABG, in particular to patients with elevated comorbidity and those with limited availability or reduced quality of autologous-bone graft material. Introductio

Characterization of Anti-Cancer Activities of Violacein: Actions on Tumor Cells and the Tumor Microenvironment

Natural products have been shown to serve as promising starting points for novel anti cancer drugs. In this study, the anti-cancer activities of the purple compound violacein, initially isolated from Chromobacterium violaceum, were investigated. To highlight the crucial role of the tumor microenvironment on the effectiveness of cancer therapies, this study includes effects on macrophages as prototypic cells of the microenvironment in addition to the investigation of tumor-centric activities. Using 2D and 3D cell culture models, automated live-cell microscopy, and biochemical analyses, violacein was demonstrated to inhibit tumor cell proliferation and migration. The violacein-triggered tumor cell death was further associated with caspase 3-like activation and ATP release. Stimuli released from dead cells resulted in inflammatory activation of macrophages, as shown by NF-kB reporter cell assays, macrophage morphology, and gene expression analysis. Moreover, macrophages deficient in the inflammasome component Nlrp3 were found to be significantly less sensitive towards treatment with violacein and doxorubicin. Taken together, this study provides new insights into the biological activity of violacein against cancer. In addition, the in vitro data suggest immunogenic features of induced cell death, making violacein an interesting candidate for further studies investigating the compound as an inducer of immunogenic cell death

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