Anpassungsmaßnahmen an der deutschen Ostseeküste

Die vorliegende Befragung wurde unter Akteuren auf unterschiedlichen Verwaltungsebenen an der deutschen Ostseeküste im November und Dezember 2011 durchgeführt. Die Themen Klimawandel und Anpassung an den Klimawandel aus Sicht administrativer Akteure werden mit dieser Befragung näher betrachtet. Neben den allgemeinen Einschätzungen zum Klimawandel lag der Fokus der Befragung auf Fragen der Umsetzung von Anpassungsmaßnahmen. Die Ergebnisse werden in diesem Bericht deskriptiv dargestellt, bilden aber gleichsam Grundlage für eine vergleichende Bewertung im Hinblick auf gute Praxis bei Klimaanpassungsmaßnahmen, die im Rahmen des Projektes RADOST (Regionale Anpassungsstrategien für die deutsche Ostseeküste) weiterverfolgt werden wird

Applications of Stochastic Calculus to Finance

Stochastic Calculus has been applied to the problem of pricing financial derivatives since 1973 when Black and Scholes published their famous paper The Pricing of Options and Corporate Liabilities in the Joumal of Political Economy. The purpose of this thesis is to show the mathematical principles underlying the methods applied to finance and to present a new model of the stock price process. As part of this paper, we present proofs of Ito\u27s Formula and Girsanov\u27s Theorem which are frequently used in financial applications. We demonstrate the application of these theorems to calculating the fair price of a European call option. There are two methods that result in the same price: the risk neutral valuation and the Black-Scholes partial differential equation. A new model of the stock price process is presented in Section 4. This model was inspired by the model of Cox and Ross published in 1976. We develop the model such that a martingale measure will exist for the present value of the stock price. We fit data to the traditional geometric Brownian motion model and the new model and compare the resulting prices. The data fit some stocks well, but in some cases the new model provided a better fit. The price of a European call is calculated for both models for several different stocks

Enhancing the Geometrical Performance Using Initially Conical Cylinder Liner in Internal Combustion Engines - A Numerical Study

Reducing friction is an important aspect to increase the efficiency of internal combustion engines (ICE). The majority of frictional losses in engines are related to both the piston skirt and piston ring–cylinder liner (PRCL) arrangement. We studied the enhancement of the conformation of the PRCL arrangement based on the assumption that a suitable conical liner in its cold state may deform into a liner with nearly straight parallel walls in the fired state due to the impact of mechanical and thermal stresses. Combining the initially conical shape with a noncircular cross section will bring the liner even closer to the perfect cylindrical shape in the fired state. Hence, a significant friction reduction can be expected. For the investigation, the numerical method was first developed to simulate the liner deformation with advanced finite element methods. This was validated with given experimental data of the deformation for a gasoline engine in its fired state. In the next step, initially conically and/or elliptically shaped liners were investigated for their deformation between the cold and fired state. It was found that, for liners being both conical and elliptical in their cold state, a significant increase of straightness, parallelism, and roundness was reached in the fired state. The combined elliptical-conical liner led to a reduced straightness error by more than 50% compared to the cylindrical liner. The parallelism error was reduced by 60% to 70% and the roundness error was reduced between 70% and 80% at different liner positions. These numerical results show interesting potential for the friction reduction in the piston-liner arrangement within internal combustion engines

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Inhalt: Regionale Aktivitäten: Workshop: Küstenwandel als soziale, kulturelle und raumplanerische Herausforderung; RADOST auf Tour: Ostseeküste 2100 – auf dem Weg zu regionaler Klimaanpassung; Monitoring der Umweltbedingungen im Küstenvorfeld; Überregionale Aktivitäten: Ausgezeichnete Klimaanpassung; Internationale Aktivitäten: RADOST im Gespräch mit Küstenplanern in den USA; Kurzfilm: Anpassung an den Klimawandel – Deutschland, Polen und die baltischen Staaten; Publikationen: Analysen zur Wahrnehmung von Klimawandel an der deutschen Ostsee; RADOST-Studien zu künstlichen Riffe

Monte Carlo simulated beam quality and perturbation correction factors for ionization chambers in monoenergetic proton beams

Purpose Beam quality correction factors provided in current codes of practice for proton beams are approximated using the water-to-air mass stopping power ratio and by assuming the proton beam quality related perturbation correction factors to be unity. The aim of this work is to use Monte Carlo simulations to calculate energy dependent beam quality and perturbation correction factors for a set of nine ionization chambers in proton beams. Methods The Monte Carlo code EGSnrc was used to determine the ratio of the absorbed dose to water and the absorbed dose to the sensitive air volume of ionization chambersfQ0related to the reference photon beam quality (Co-60). For proton beams, the quantityfQwas simulated with GATE/Geant4 for five monoenergetic beam energies between 70 MeV and 250 MeV. The perturbation correction factors for the air cavity, chamber wall, chamber stem, central electrode, and displacement effect in proton radiation were investigated separately. Additionally, the correction factors of cylindrical chambers were investigated with and without consideration of the effective point of measurement. Results The perturbation factorspQwere shown to deviate from unity for the investigated chambers, contradicting the assumptions made in dosimetry protocols. The beam quality correction factors for both plane-parallel and cylindrical chambers positioned with the effective point of measurement at the measurement depth were constant within 0.8%. An increase of the beam quality correction factors determined for cylindrical ionization chambers placed with their reference point at the measurement depth with decreasing energy is attributed to the displacement perturbation correction factorspdis, which were up to 1.045 +/- 0.1% for the lowest energy and 1.005 +/- 0.1% for the highest energy investigated. Besidespdis, the largest perturbation was found for the chamber wall where the smallestpwalldetermined was 0.981 +/- 0.3%. Conclusions Beam quality correction factors applied in dosimetry with cylindrical chambers in monoenergetic proton beams strongly depend on the positioning method used. We found perturbation correction factors different from unity. Consequently, the approximation of ionization chamber perturbations in proton beams by the respective water-to-air mass stopping power ratio shall be revised

Feasibility of azacitidine added to standard chemotherapy in older patients with acute myeloid leukemia - a randomised SAL pilot study

INTRODUCTION: Older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) experience short survival despite intensive chemotherapy. Azacitidine has promising activity in patients with low proliferating AML. The aim of this dose-finding part of this trial was to evaluate feasibility and safety of azacitidine combined with a cytarabine- and daunorubicin-based chemotherapy in older patients with AML. TRIAL DESIGN: Prospective, randomised, open, phase II trial with parallel group design and fixed sample size. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients aged 61 years or older, with untreated acute myeloid leukemia with a leukocyte count of <20,000/µl at the time of study entry and adequate organ function were eligible. Patients were randomised to receive azacitidine either 37.5 (dose level 1) or 75 mg/sqm (dose level 2) for five days before each cycle of induction (7+3 cytarabine plus daunorubicine) and consolidation (intermediate-dose cytarabine) therapy. Dose-limiting toxicity was the primary endpoint. RESULTS: Six patients each were randomised into each dose level and evaluable for analysis. No dose-limiting toxicity occurred in either dose level. Nine serious adverse events occurred in five patients (three in the 37.5 mg, two in the 75 mg arm) with two fatal outcomes. Two patients at the 37.5 mg/sqm dose level and four patients at the 75 mg/sqm level achieved a complete remission after induction therapy. Median overall survival was 266 days and median event-free survival 215 days after a median follow up of 616 days. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of azacitidine 75 mg/sqm with standard induction therapy is feasible in older patients with AML and was selected as an investigational arm in the randomised controlled part of this phase-II study, which is currently halted due to an increased cardiac toxicity observed in the experimental arm

Opportunities and Barriers for Water Co-Governance—A Critical Analysis of Seven Cases of Diffuse Water Pollution from Agriculture in Europe, Australia and North America

Diffuse Water Pollution from Agriculture (DWPA) and its governance has received increased attention as a policy concern across the globe. Mitigation of DWPA is a complex problem that requires a mix of policy instruments and a multi-agency, broad societal response. In this paper, opportunities and barriers for developing co-governance, defined as collaborative societal involvement in the functions of government, and its suitability for mitigation of DWPA are reviewed using seven case studies in Europe (Poland, Denmark, Sweden, The Netherlands and UK), Australia (Murray-Darling Basin) and North America (State of Minnesota). An analytical framework for assessing opportunities and barriers of co-governance was developed and applied in this review. Results indicated that five key issues constitute both opportunities and barriers, and include: (i) pressure for change; (ii) connected governance structures and allocation of resources and funding; (iii) leadership and establishment of partnerships through capacity building; (iv) use and co-production of knowledge; and (v) time commitment to develop water co-governance

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Inhalt: Regionale Aktivitäten: Fünf Jahre RADOST – ein Resümee; RADOST-Abschlusskonferenz zieht Bilanz und blickt nach vorn; Resümee: Stimmen zu RADOST; Klimabündnis Kieler Bucht startet Veranstaltungsreihe zur klimabewussten Reiseregion; Wie geht es weiter nach RADOST? Neues Online-Tool: „Norddeutscher Klimamonitor“; Internationale Aktivitäten: RADOST beim Europäischen Tag der Meere; Aufruf zur Mitwirkung an der ECCA-Konferenz 2015; Publikationen: Anpassung an regionale Klimafolgen kommunizieren; Neue RADOST-Berichte; Dritte Sonderausgabe „Coastal & Marine