A new instrument to describe indicators of well-being in old-old patients with severe dementia – The Vienna List

BACKGROUND: In patients with very severe dementia self-rating of quality of life usually is not possible and appropriate instruments for proxy-ratings are not available. The aim of this project is to develop an instrument of clinical proxy-ratings for this population. METHODS: Using electronic instruments, physicians and nurses recorded patient behaviour and changes of behaviour over a period of one year. Based on these data a list of 65 items was generated and subsequently allocated to 14 categories. This list was tested in 217 patients (61–105 yrs) with dementia diagnosed according to ICD-10 by both physicians and nurses. The severity of dementia was assessed by means of the Global Deterioration Scale (GDS) and the Brief Cognitive Rating Scale (BCRS). The Spitzer-Index (proxy-rating) was used as a global quality of life measure. Activity of daily living was rated using the Barthel Index. RESULTS: A factor analysis of the original 65 items revealed 5 factors (communication, negative affect, bodily contact, aggression, and mobility). By stepwise removing items we obtained satisfactory internal consistencies of the factors both for nurses' and physicians' ratings. The factors were generally unrelated. The validity of the instrument was proven by correlations of the factors communication and mobility with the Brief Cognitive Rating Scale (BCRS) and the Barthel-Index. CONCLUSION: The results demonstrate the reliability and validity of the Vienna List as a proxy rating measurement of quality of life in patients with severe dementia. The psychometric properties of the scale have to be proved in further studies

Drawing together multiple lines of evidence from assessment studies of hydropeaking pressures in impacted rivers

Hydropeaking has negative effects on aquatic biota, but the causal relationships have not been studied extensively, especially when hydropeaking occurs in combination with other environmental pressures. The available evidence comes mainly from case studies demonstrating river-specific effects of hydropeaking that result in modified microhabitat conditions and lead to declines in fish populations. We used multiple lines of evidence to attempt to strengthen the evidence base for models of ecological response to flow alteration from hydropeaking. First, we synthesized evidence of ecological responses from relevant studies published in the scientific literature. We found considerable evidence of the ecological effects of hydropeaking, but many causal pathways are poorly understood, and we found very little research on the interactive effects of hydropeaking and other pressures. As a 2nd line of evidence, we used results from analyses of large-scale data sets. These results demonstrated the extent to which hydropeaking occurs with other pressures, but did not elucidate individual or interactive effects further. Thus, the multiple lines of evidence complemented each other, but the main result was to identify knowledge gaps regarding hydropeaking and a consequent pressing need for novel approaches, new questions, and new ways of thinking that can fill them.© 2017 by The Society for Freshwater Science.publishedVersio

Psychosocial stressors and protective factors for major depression in youth: evidence from a case-control study

Background: Severe adverse life events, such as traumatic experiences, are well-known stressors implicated in (youth) major depression (MD). However, to date, far less is known about the role of more common psychosocial stressors in the context of MD, which are part of everyday life during youth. In addition, it is not well-understood whether and how distinct stressors interact with protective factors in youths diagnosed with MD. Thus, the present study aimed at examining several specific psychosocial stressors implicated in a first-episode juvenile MD and addressed the question whether protective factors might moderate the relationship between stressors and a diagnosis of MD. Methods: One-hundred male and female youths with MD and 101 typically developing (TD) controls (10-18 years) were included. A large number of qualitatively different psychosocial stressors occurring in various areas of life were assessed via self-report. Moreover, we also investigated sociodemographic and pre- and postnatal stressors, as well as the presence of familial affective disorders via parental-report. Social support and a positive family climate were conceptualized as protective factors and were assessed via self-report. Results: Results showed that the proportion of youths experiencing specific psychosocial stressors was higher in the MD than in the TD group. In particular, the proportion of youths indicating changes at home or at school, experiences of violence, delinquent behavior, as well as the proportion of youths who were exposed to sociodemographic stressors was higher in the MD than in the TD group. Moreover, the percentage of youths with a family history of an affective disorder, or whose mothers experienced psychological burdens during/after pregnancy was elevated in the MD group. Youths with MD experienced less social support and a less positive family climate than their TD peers. These factors, however, did not buffer the influence of specific stressors on MD. Conclusion: We could show that next to more severe adverse life events, more common psychosocial stressors are linked to youth MD. Importantly, by identifying distinct stressors in youth MD, our results can increase treatment and prevention efforts aiming to improve the outcomes in youths affected by MD or in at-risk individuals

Life stage-specific hydropeaking flow rules

ReviewPeak-operating hydropower plants are usually the energy grid’s backbone by providing flexible energy production. At the same time, hydropeaking operations are considered one of the most adverse impacts on rivers, whereby aquatic organisms and their life-history stages can be affected in many ways. Therefore, we propose specific seasonal regulations to protect ecologically sensitive life cycle stages. By reviewing hydropeaking literature, we establish a framework for hydrological mitigation based on life-history stages of salmonid fish and their relationship with key parameters of the hydrograph. During migration and spawning, flows should be kept relatively stable, and a flow cap should be implemented to prevent the dewatering of spawning grounds during intragravel life stages. While eggs may be comparably tolerant to dewatering, post-hatch stages are very vulnerable, which calls for minimizing or eliminating the duration of drawdown situations and providing adequate minimum flows. Especially emerging fry are extremely sensitive to flow fluctuations. As fish then grow in size, they become less vulnerable. Therefore, an ‘emergence window’, where stringent thresholds on ramping rates are enforced, is proposed. Furthermore, time of day, morphology, and temperature changes must be considered as they may interact with hydropeaking. We conclude that the presented mitigation framework can aid the environmental enhancement of hydropeaking rivers while maintaining flexible energy productioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ökologische Bewertung von Flussbaumaßnahmen an der Raab

Die EU Wasserrahmenrichtlinie verlangt die Erreichung des guten ökologischen Zustandes bzw. des guten ökologischen Potential von Fließgewässern grundsätzlich bis zum Jahr 2015. Dazu wurden flussgebietsbezogene Maßnahmenprogramme erstellt, um den Zielzustand zu erreichen. RiverSmart ist ein Bewertungsprogramm basierend auf morphologischen Gegebenheiten an Fließgewässern und deren Umland. Das Programm wurde entwickelt, um Auswirkungen von morphologischen Maßnahmen auf den Gewässerzustand zu modellieren. RiverSmart wurde an der Raab zwischen Gleisdorf und Feldbach angewandt und die Maßnahmen des „Gesamtplan Raab“ nach den ökologischen Auswirkungen bewertet. Ein weiteres Ziel war einen Weg zu finden, um RiverSmart vor allem in Bezug auf vorhandene Geodatensätze anzuwenden. RiverSmart erfordert die Beschreibung des natürlichen Referenzzustandes im untersuchten Flussabschnitt. Dieser Leitbildzustand wird durch die 28 Leitbildparameter erfasst, um anschließend durch Eingriffe (20 Parameter) verursachte Abweichungen vom Leitbild zu bewerten. Es wurde für jeden Parameter eine Methode aufgezeigt, um die Einstufung nach Möglichkeit auf Geodaten aufzubauen und somit die Klassifizierungen nachvollziehbar durchzuführen. Dabei wurden u. a. zwei eindimensionale Abflussmodelle der unregulierten Raab erstellt. Nach Einstufung aller RiverSmart-Inputparameter wurde erst der aktuelle Gewässersystemzustand nach RiverSmart ermittelt. Anschließend wurden flussbauliche Szenarien entwickelt und deren Auswirkungen auf das Ökosystem bewertet. Es stellte sich heraus, dass die Staubelastung im Untersuchungsgebiet den Eingriff mit den stärksten Auswirkungen auf das Ökosystem darstellt. Weiters hat sich gezeigt, dass ohne Herstellung des Fließgewässerkontinuums alle anderen Maßnahmen zu keiner maßgeblichen Verbesserung des Gewässersystemzustandes führen.The Water Framework Directive demands to achieve a “good status” for all European surface water bodies by 2015. The member States are currently preparing management plans for each major river basin. These plans will specify the measures that are required to achieve the “good status” until 2015. RiverSmart, a software tool, was developed to evaluate the effects of morphological measures at rivers and to assess the environmental state of water bodies. RiverSmart was apllied at the river Raab between Gleisdorf and Feldbach, with the purpose of evaluating the success of measures which were implemented according to the Master plan for the river Raab (“Gesamtplan Raab”). Furthermore, existing geodata should be used in the assessment procedure. RiverSmart requires the input of natural morphologic conditions (“Leitbild”) for the investigated stretch. This was done by 28 classified parameters. The aim of RiverSmart is to estimate the difference between the Leitbild status and the actual status caused by anthropogenic interventions (20 parameters). In order to classify those input parameters two one dimensional runoff-models under natural morphologic conditions for the river Raab were build. In the first step the actual status of the stretch was assessed by applying RiverSmart. The ecologic and morphologic impacts of several measures were analysed with trhe help of this tool. The ecologic impact from weirs was identified as most relevant for the ecosystem in the investigation area. Further results indicated that scenarios of measures are not effective without re-establishing the longituidinal river-continuum.Franz GreimelZsfassung in engl. SpracheWien, Univ. für Bodenkultur, Dipl.-Arb., 2009(VLID)112760

under the supervision of

The wish to automatically construct correct systems from specifications has been around for about half a century. Church was the first one to describe this idea in 1962. Our work is closely related to this idea. We will consider systems which react to the environment denoted as open modules and our specification language is linear temporal logic (LTL). Synthesis is the problem of automatically constructing correct open modules from an LTL specification. In 1992, it was shown to be 2EXP complete. This result discouraged many researchers to continue working on the problem since it seemed to be intractable. Only in recent years the topic was picked up again and new results leaded to new ideas. The core idea of this work is a new relation on LTL formulas. An LTL formula open implies another formula, if every open module realizing the first formula also realizes the second formula. Hence open implication can be used to improve specifications or to synthesize smaller solutions

Analysen von Sunk und Schwall in Bezug auf das Strandungsrisiko bestimmter Zeigerarten unter Berücksichtigung experimenteller Ergebnisse, numerischer Modellierung und Naturmessungen : Fallbeispiel Alpenrhein

Die Erzeugung von Spitzenstrom durch Speicherkraftwerke führt zu künstlichen und bis zu mehrmals am Tag variierenden Abflussschwankungen in den Vorflutern. Diese Sunk-Schwallsituation wurde als eine der wesentlichen Beeinträchtigungen von alpinen Fliessgewässern ausgewiesen. Vor allem das Stranden von aquatischen Organismen durch die schnellen anthropogenen Wasserstandsschwankungen ist eine der Hauptursachen für den Rückgang in Abundanz und Biomasse von gewässertypischen Zeigerarten (Fische, Makrozoobenthos). Die vorliegende Studie versucht dieses Trockenfallen bzw. massgebliche Prozesse und Rahmenbedingungen des Strandens vor allem in Bezug auf Fischlarven mittels experimenteller Untersuchungen, numerischen Modellierungen und Messungen im Freiland zu beschreiben. Grundlage hierfür bilden wissenschaftliche Arbeiten am Alpenrhein bzw. Studien in den HYTEC-Rinnen in Lunz am See. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass für das Stranden von Fischlarven oder Jungfischen sedimentologische und morphologische Größen sowie die Distanz zum einleitenden Kraftwerk flussauf massgeblich für das Risiko des Strandens sind. Retentionseffekte in Bezug auf den Schwallwellenablauf können das Strandungsrisiko flussab deutlich minimieren, hingegen kann grobes Substrat, evtl. durch Feststoffdefizit verursacht, dieses deutlich erhöhen. Neben der Definition von Grenzwerten in Bezug auf die vertikalen Sunkgeschwindigkeiten aus den Experimenten in der HYTEC Versuchsanlage ist die morphologisch bedingte Variabilität der lateralen Sunkgeschwindigkeit ebenfalls von Bedeutung

Response of European grayling Thymallus thymallus to multiple stressors in hydropeaking rivers

Rivers of the large Alpine valleys constitute iconic ecosystems that are highly threatened by multiple anthropogenic stressors. This stressor mix, however, makes it difficult to develop and refine conservation and restoration strategies. It is, therefore, urgent to acquire more detailed knowledge on the consequences and interactions of prevalent stressors on fish populations, in particular, on indicator species such as the European grayling Thymallus thymallus. Here, we conducted a multi-river, multi-stressor investigation to analyze the population status of grayling. Using explorative decision-tree approaches, we disentangled the main and interaction effects of four prevalent stressor groups: flow modification (i.e., hydropeaking), channelization, fragmentation, and water quality alteration. Moreover, using a modified variant of the bootstrapping method, pooled bootstrapping, we determined the optimal number of characteristics that adequately describe fish population status. In our dataset, hydropeaking had the strongest single effect on grayling populations. Grayling biomass at hydrological control sites was around eight times higher than at sites affected by hydropeaking. The primary parameters for predicting population status were downramping rate and peak amplitude, with critical ranges of 0.2–0.4 cm min-1 and 10–25 cm. In hydropeaking rivers, river morphology and connectivity were the preceding subordinated parameters. Repeating the procedure with pooled bootstrapping datasets strengthened the hypothesis that the identified parameters are most relevant in predicting grayling population status. Hence, hydropeaking mitigation based on ecological thresholds is key to protect and restore already threatened grayling populations. In hydropeaking rivers, high river network connectivity and heterogenous habitat features can dampen the adverse effects of pulsed-flow releases by offering shelter and habitats for all life cycle stages of fish. The presented approach of explorative tree analysis followed by post-hoc tests of identified effects, as well as the pooled bootstrapping method, offers a simple framework for researchers and managers to analyze multi-factorial datasets and draw solid management conclusionsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

6.2. Restoration - New life for Alpine rivers

International audienc