Habitatpotentiale im Ackerbereich: Endergebnisse des LfULG-FuE-Projekts: Habitatpotentiale im Ackerbereich: Konzipierung und Erprobung schlagintegrierter Artenschutzmaßnahmen im LVG Köllitsch

Die Broschüre informiert über ein Projekt zur Umsetzung von einer angepassten Ackerrandbewirtschaftung zur Erhöhung des Habitatpotentials für Tiere und Pflanzen. Am Ackerrand wurden auf 9 m breiten Streifen die Effekte von Weiter Reihe und Untersaat von Luzerne untersucht. Es konnte nachgewiesen werden das mit den Maßnahmen mehr Laufkäfer und Spinnen den Acker besiedeln. Die Wirkung der Maßnahmenstreifen waren höher wenn sie an Landschaftselemente angrenzten. Die Publikation richtet sich an Landwirte, Berater und Naturschützer und soll zur Nachahmung der entsprechenden Maßnahmen einladen. Redaktionsschluss: 18.01.202

PRO B: evaluating the effect of an alarm-based patient-reported outcome monitoring compared with usual care in metastatic breast cancer patients—study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Background: Despite the progress of research and treatment for breast cancer, still up to 30% of the patients afflicted will develop distant disease. Elongation of survival and maintaining the quality of life (QoL) become pivotal issues guiding the treatment decisions. One possible approach to optimise survival and QoL is the use of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) to timely identify acute disease-related burden. We present the protocol of a trial that investigates the effect of real-time PRO data captured with electronic mobile devices on QoL in female breast cancer patients with metastatic disease. Methods: This study is a randomised, controlled trial with 1:1 randomisation between two arms. A total of 1000 patients will be recruited in 40 selected breast cancer centres. Patients in the intervention arm receive a weekly request via an app to complete the PRO survey. Symptoms will be assessed by study-specific optimised short forms based on the EORTC QLQ-C30 domains using items from the EORTC CAT item banks. In case of deteriorating PRO scores, an alarm is sent to the treating study centre as well as to the PRO B study office. Following the alarm, the treating breast cancer centre is required to contact the patient to inquire about the reported symptoms and to intervene, if necessary. The intervention is not specified and depends on the clinical need determined by the treating physician. Patients in the control arm are prompted by the app every 3 months to participate in the PRO survey, but their response will not trigger an alarm. The primary outcome is the fatigue level 6 months after enrolment. Secondary endpoints include among others hospitalisations, use of rescue services and overall QoL. Discussion: Within the PRO B intervention group, we expect lower fatigue levels 6 months after intervention start, higher levels of QoL, less unplanned hospitalisations and less emergency room visits compared to controls. In case of positive results, our approach would allow a fast and easy transfer into clinical practice due to the use of the already nationwide existing IT infrastructure of the German Cancer Society and the independent certification institute OnkoZert

Development of Cortical Lesion Volumes on Double Inversion Recovery MRI in Patients With Relapse-Onset Multiple Sclerosis

Background and Objective: In multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, Double Inversion Recovery (DIR) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used to detect cortical lesions (CL). While the quantity and distribution of CLs seems to be associated with patients' disease course, literature lacks frequent assessments of CL volumes (CL-V) in this context. We investigated the reliability of DIR for the longitudinal assessment of CL-V development with frequent follow-up MRIs and examined the course of CL-V progressions in relation to white-matter lesions (WML), contrast enhancing lesions (CEL) and clinical parameters in patients with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (RRMS).Methods: In this post-hoc analysis, image- and clinical data of a subset of 24 subjects that were part of a phase IIa clinical trial on the “Safety, Tolerability and Mechanisms of Action of Boswellic Acids in Multiple Sclerosis (SABA)” (ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01450124) were included. The study was divided in three phases (screening, treatment, study-end). All patients received 12 MRI follow-up-examinations (including DIR) during a 16-months period. CL-Vs were assessed for each patient on each follow-up MRI separately by two experienced neuroradiologists. Results of neurological screening tests, as well as other MRI parameters (WML number and volume and CELs) were included from the SABA investigation data.Results: Inter-rater agreement regarding CL-V assessment over time was good-to-excellent (κ = 0.89). Mean intraobserver variability was 1.1%. In all patients, a total number of 218 CLs was found. Total CL-Vs of all patients increased during the 4 months of baseline screening followed by a continuous and significant decrease from month 5 until study-end (p < 0.001, Kendall'W = 0.413). A positive association between WML volumes and CL-Vs was observed during baseline screening. Decreased CL-V were associated with lower EDSS and also with improvements of SDMT- and SCRIPPS scores.Conclusion: DIR MRI seems to be a reliable tool for the frequent assessment of CL-Vs. Overall CL-Vs decreased during the follow-up period and were associated with improvements of cognitive and disability status scores. Our results suggest the presence of short-term CL-V dynamics in RRMS patients and we presume that the laborious evaluation of lesion volumes may be worthwhile for future investigations.Clinical Trial Numbers:www.ClinicalTrials.gov, “The SABA trial”; number: NCT0145012

Communication, social capital and workplace health management as determinants of the innovative climate in German banks

The present study aims to measure the determinants of the innovative climate in German banks with a focus on workplace health management (WHM). We analyze the determinants of innovative climate with multiple regressions using a dataset based on standardized telephone interviews conducted with health promotion experts from 198 randomly selected German banks. The regression analysis provided a good explanation of the variance in the dependent variable (RA(2)A = 55%). Communication climate (beta = 0.55; p < 0.001), social capital (beta = 0.21; p < 0.01), the establishment of a WHM program (beta = 0.13; p < 0.05) as well as company size (beta = 0.15; p < 0.01) were found to have a significant impact on an organization's innovative climate. In order to foster an innovation-friendly climate, organizations should establish shared values. An active step in this direction involves strengthening the organizations' social capital and communication climate through trustworthy management decisions such as the implementation of a WHM program

Linking human impacts to community processes in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems

Human impacts such as habitat loss, climate change and biological invasions are radically altering biodiversity, with greater effects projected into the future. Evidence suggests human impacts may differ substantially between terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, but the reasons for these differences are poorly understood. We propose an integrative approach to explain these differences by linking impacts to four fundamental processes that structure communities: dispersal, speciation, species-level selection and ecological drift. Our goal is to provide process-based insights into why human impacts, and responses to impacts, may differ across ecosystem types using a mechanistic, eco-evolutionary comparative framework. To enable these insights, we review and synthesise (i) how the four processes influence diversity and dynamics in terrestrial versus freshwater communities, specifically whether the relative importance of each process differs among ecosystems, and (ii) the pathways by which human impacts can produce divergent responses across ecosystems, due to differences in the strength of processes among ecosystems we identify. Finally, we highlight research gaps and next steps, and discuss how this approach can provide new insights for conservation. By focusing on the processes that shape diversity in communities, we aim to mechanistically link human impacts to ongoing and future changes in ecosystems

Potential of Airborne LiDAR Derived Vegetation Structure for the Prediction of Animal Species Richness at Mount Kilimanjaro

The monitoring of species and functional diversity is of increasing relevance for the development of strategies for the conservation and management of biodiversity. Therefore, reliable estimates of the performance of monitoring techniques across taxa become important. Using a unique dataset, this study investigates the potential of airborne LiDAR-derived variables characterizing vegetation structure as predictors for animal species richness at the southern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. To disentangle the structural LiDAR information from co-factors related to elevational vegetation zones, LiDAR-based models were compared to the predictive power of elevation models. 17 taxa and 4 feeding guilds were modeled and the standardized study design allowed for a comparison across the assemblages. Results show that most taxa (14) and feeding guilds (3) can be predicted best by elevation with normalized RMSE values but only for three of those taxa and two of those feeding guilds the difference to other models is significant. Generally, modeling performances between different models vary only slightly for each assemblage. For the remaining, structural information at most showed little additional contribution to the performance. In summary, LiDAR observations can be used for animal species prediction. However, the effort and cost of aerial surveys are not always in proportion with the prediction quality, especially when the species distribution follows zonal patterns, and elevation information yields similar results

Linking human impacts to community processes in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems.

Human impacts such as habitat loss, climate change and biological invasions are radically altering biodiversity, with greater effects projected into the future. Evidence suggests human impacts may differ substantially between terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, but the reasons for these differences are poorly understood. We propose an integrative approach to explain these differences by linking impacts to four fundamental processes that structure communities: dispersal, speciation, species-level selection and ecological drift. Our goal is to provide process-based insights into why human impacts, and responses to impacts, may differ across ecosystem types using a mechanistic, eco-evolutionary comparative framework. To enable these insights, we review and synthesise (i) how the four processes influence diversity and dynamics in terrestrial versus freshwater communities, specifically whether the relative importance of each process differs among ecosystems, and (ii) the pathways by which human impacts can produce divergent responses across ecosystems, due to differences in the strength of processes among ecosystems we identify. Finally, we highlight research gaps and next steps, and discuss how this approach can provide new insights for conservation. By focusing on the processes that shape diversity in communities, we aim to mechanistically link human impacts to ongoing and future changes in ecosystems

Valuation Aspects of Open-Ended Real Estate Investment Funds

Im Zuge dieser Diplomarbeit wird versucht dem Leser einen Eindruck über die verschlüsselte Thematik der Offenen Immobilienfonds und die Bewertung der darin gehaltenen Immobilien zu geben. Bereits seit 1959 gibt es diese für Deutschland typische Assetklasse. Welche mittlerweile ein Volumen von fast 90 Milliarden Euro verwaltet. Viele der Aktivitäten, die im Zusammenhang mit der Investition stehen, werden für die Anleger in keiner Weise sichtbar. Die Kapitalanlagegesellschaften erweisen sich bei genauerer Betrachtung als ein komplexes System aus verschiedenen Bereichen, die einzig und allein das Ziel verfolgen, durch gezielte Immobilienkäufe und -vermietungen auf der ganzen Erde, eine hohe Rendite für die Anleger zu erwirtschaften. Nach einem Überblick über die derzeit aufgelegten Fonds und ihre charakteristischen Merkmale wendet sich die vorliegende Arbeit den rechtlichen und steuerlichen Belangen der Fonds zu. Gerade die Einführung des Investmentgesetzes im Jahre 2004 brachte mehr Kompetenzen für die Kapitalanlagegesellschaften aber ebenfalls eine weitere Steigerung der Anlegerrechte. Der Leser wird von der Diplomarbeit durch ausgewählte Abteilungen einer Fondsgesellschaft begleitet: Research: Hier werden die internationalen Regionen und ihre Immobilienmärkte analysiert um u. a. die Sachverständigen bei ihrem Bewertungsauftrag mit Informationen versorgen zu können. Einen wesentlichen Beitrag zum Erfolg eines Offenen Immobilienfonds leisten die Mitarbeiter des Portfolio-Managements. Sie sind für die Umsetzung der Fondsstrategie in die Anlagerealität zuständig. Weiterhin werden in diesem Zusammenhang die Begriffe der Diversifizierung und der Ertragssicherung erläutert. Die Akquisitionsabteilung befasst sich mit dem Kauf neuer Liegenschaften. Es wird der schematische Ablauf einer Akquisition und die Arbeit der Akquisiteure präsentiert. Im Anschluss an eine Neuanschaffung ist das Asset-Management für die Betreuung der Liegenschaft verantwortlich. Durch das dortige Wissen über die Mieteinnahmen und andere Objektdaten, ist das Asset-Management ein wichtiger Ansprechpartneer für die Sachverständigen. Nach der Exkursion durch eine Fondsgesellschaft wendet sich die Diplomarbeit der Problematik der Bewertung zu. Es werden der Sachverständigenausschuss und seine Arbeit vorgestellt, sowie die Bewertung der Fondsimmobilien beschrieben. Auf die Problematik der Bewertung von Immobilien im Ausland und die Beschaffung wertrelevanter Daten wird eingegangen. Abschließend wird der Versuch unternommen, die Bewertung von Auslandobjekte durch die Ermittlung von wertrelevanten Faktoren, die im Ausland nicht existieren, zu vereinfachen. Dies erwies sich aufgrund der Gesamtsituation der OIF als momentan sehr schwierig.This diploma thesis tries to give the reader a survey of the complicated topic of the Open-Ended Real Estate Investment Funds and the valuation of the real estate objects that are in these funds. Since 1959 this Asset-Class, which is typical for Germany, has existed. In the meantime the funds are managing a volume of nearly 90 Billion Euros. Many activities, which are connected with the Investment, are absolutely not visible for private investors spending their money on them. The company developing and managing the fund is called Kapitalanlagegesellschaft (KAG) and it is a very complex system of several different departments. The investment company strictly follows the aim to produce high yields to satisfy their investors. This is only possible by buying and renting high-quality real estate objects everywhere in the world. After an overview of the Funds existing at the moment and the explanation of their characteristics the diploma thesis turns to the aspects of law and tax influencing the funds. Especially the introduction of the new Investmentgesetz in 2004 brought new competences to the investment companies but also an increase of investors´ rights. The reader will be accompanied by the diploma thesis through selected departments of an investment company: Research: Here takes an analysis of international regions and their real estate markets place. One reason for this work is to supply the valuation specialists with information for their valuation reports. Another important contribution to the success of Open-Ended Real Estate Investment Funds makes the staff of the Portfolio-Management. It is responsible for the transformation of the fund’s strategy into the investment reality. Furthermore the terms "diversification" and "security of proceeds" will be explained. The acquisition department deals with the purchase of new real estate objects. It is shown the schematic procedure of an acquisition and the work of the acquisition managers. Following a new purchase the Asset-Management has to look after the building. Because of the collected knowledge of rents and specific objectdata this department is an important communication partner for the valuation specialists After these reports on an investment company the diploma thesis shows the topic of real estate valuation. The committee of valuation specialists will be introduced as well as its work and the valuation of fund objects. Occurring problems while valuating real estate objects in foreign countries are another point of discussion. In the end there will be an attempt to simplify valuation of objects in foreign countries. There is basic but often necessary value information not available for valuators. The solution of this problem proved to be very difficult because of the structure of Open-Ended Real Estate Investment Funds at the moment

Habitatpotentiale im Ackerbereich: Endergebnisse des LfULG-FuE-Projekts: Habitatpotentiale im Ackerbereich: Konzipierung und Erprobung schlagintegrierter Artenschutzmaßnahmen im LVG Köllitsch

Die Broschüre informiert über ein Projekt zur Umsetzung von einer angepassten Ackerrandbewirtschaftung zur Erhöhung des Habitatpotentials für Tiere und Pflanzen. Am Ackerrand wurden auf 9 m breiten Streifen die Effekte von Weiter Reihe und Untersaat von Luzerne untersucht. Es konnte nachgewiesen werden das mit den Maßnahmen mehr Laufkäfer und Spinnen den Acker besiedeln. Die Wirkung der Maßnahmenstreifen waren höher wenn sie an Landschaftselemente angrenzten. Die Publikation richtet sich an Landwirte, Berater und Naturschützer und soll zur Nachahmung der entsprechenden Maßnahmen einladen. Redaktionsschluss: 18.01.202

Habitatpotentiale im Ackerbereich: Endergebnisse des LfULG-FuE-Projekts: Habitatpotentiale im Ackerbereich: Konzipierung und Erprobung schlagintegrierter Artenschutzmaßnahmen im LVG Köllitsch

Die Broschüre informiert über ein Projekt zur Umsetzung von einer angepassten Ackerrandbewirtschaftung zur Erhöhung des Habitatpotentials für Tiere und Pflanzen. Am Ackerrand wurden auf 9 m breiten Streifen die Effekte von Weiter Reihe und Untersaat von Luzerne untersucht. Es konnte nachgewiesen werden das mit den Maßnahmen mehr Laufkäfer und Spinnen den Acker besiedeln. Die Wirkung der Maßnahmenstreifen waren höher wenn sie an Landschaftselemente angrenzten. Die Publikation richtet sich an Landwirte, Berater und Naturschützer und soll zur Nachahmung der entsprechenden Maßnahmen einladen. Redaktionsschluss: 18.01.202