Weiterbildung von Managern und Führungskräften auf ökologisch wirtschaftenden Bauernhöfen

Are organic farms suited to offer educational training for managers and stakeholders working in leading positions in companies or institutions? Eight interviews with experts were carried out in 2007 and analysed by methods of qualitative social research. Substantial deficiencies of managers and executives lie in the field of soft skills and have their origin in the school system among other reasons. The basic precondition for a successful course/training is the transfer of items that were perceived and learned in daily life. The experts are convinced that organic farms are well suited to offer educational courses and seminars for managers and executives especially because of some characteristics of organic farming: holistic and systemic perception, ethical values, farm diversity, sustainability, exposure to time und bounds, coherences on different farm levels etc. The ways of performance can be different (conceptual design, participants, target group, topic, methodology, marketing, etc.). To assure sustainable success three parameters are essential: professionalism, reliability and exclusiveness

Improving Dental Experiences by Using Virtual Reality Distraction: A Simulation Study

Dental anxiety creates significant problems for both patients and the dental profession. Some distraction interventions are already used by healthcare professionals to help patients cope with unpleasant procedures. The present study is novel because it a) builds on evidence that natural scenery is beneficial for patients, and b) uses a Virtual Reality (VR) representation of nature to distract participants. Extending previous work that has investigated pain and anxiety during treatment, c) we also consider the longer term effects in terms of more positive memories of the treatment, building on a cognitive theory of memory (Elaborated Intrusions). Participants (n = 69) took part in a simulated dental experience and were randomly assigned to one of three VR conditions (active vs. passive vs. control). In addition, participants were distinguished into high and low dentally anxious according to a median split resulting in a 362 between-subjects design. VR distraction in a simulated dental context affected memories a week later. The VR distraction had effects not only on concurrent experiences, such as perceived control, but longitudinally upon the vividness of memories after the dental experience had ended. Participants with higher dental anxiety (for whom the dental procedures were presumably more aversive) showed a greater reduction in memory vividness than lower dental-anxiety participants. This study thus suggests that VR distractions can be considered as a relevant intervention for cycles of care in which people’s previous experiences affect their behaviour for future events

Can virtual nature improve patient experiences and memories of dental treatment? A study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background Dental anxiety and anxiety-related avoidance of dental care create significant problems for patients and the dental profession. Distraction interventions are used in daily medical practice to help patients cope with unpleasant procedures. There is evidence that exposure to natural scenery is beneficial for patients and that the use of virtual reality (VR) distraction is more effective than other distraction interventions, such as watching television. The main aim of this randomized controlled trial is to determine whether the use of VR during dental treatment can improve the overall dental experience and recollections of treatment for patients, breaking the negative cycle of memories of anxiety leading to further anxiety, and avoidance of future dental appointments. Additionally, the aim is to test whether VR benefits dental patients with all levels of dental anxiety or whether it could be especially beneficial for patients suffering from higher levels of dental anxiety. The third aim is to test whether the content of the VR distraction can make a difference for its effectiveness by comparing two types of virtual environments, a natural environment and an urban environment. Methods/design The effectiveness of VR distraction will be examined in patients 18 years or older who are scheduled to undergo dental treatment for fillings and/or extractions, with a maximum length of 30 minutes. Patients will be randomly allocated into one of three groups. The first group will be exposed to a VR of a natural environment. The second group will be exposed to a VR of an urban environment. A third group consists of patients who receive standard care (control group). Primary outcomes relate to patients’ memories of the dental treatment one week after treatment: (a) remembered pain, (b) intrusive thoughts and (c) vividness of memories. Other measures of interest are the dental experience, the treatment experience and the VR experience. Trial registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN4144280

An examination of chemistry and transport processes in the tropical lower stratosphere using observations of long-lived and short-lived compounds obtained during STRAT and POLARIS

A suite of compounds with a wide range of photochemical lifetimes (3 months to several decades) was measured in the tropical and midlatitude upper troposphere and lower stratosphere during the Stratospheric Tracers of Atmospheric Transport (STRAT) experiment (fall 1995 and winter, summer, and fall 1996) and the Photochemistry of Ozone Loss in the Arctic Region in Summer (POLARIS) deployment in late summer 1997. These species include various chlorofluorocarbons, hydrocarbons, halocarbons, and halons measured in whole air samples and CO measured in situ by tunable diode laser spectroscopy. Mixing ratio profiles of long-lived species in the tropical lower stratosphere are examined using a one-dimensional (1-D) photochemical model that includes entrainment from the extratropical stratosphere and is constrained by measured concentrations of OH. Profiles of tracers found using the 1-D model agree well with all the observed tropical profiles for an entrainment time scale of 8.5-4+6 months, independent of altitude between potential temperatures of 370 and 500 K. The tropical profile of CO is used to show that the annually averaged ascent rate profile, on the basis of a set of radiative heating calculations, is accurate to approximately ±44%, a smaller uncertainty than found by considering the uncertainties in the radiative model and its inputs. Tropical profiles of ethane and C2Cl4 reveal that the concentration of Cl is higher than expected on the basis of photochemical model simulations using standard gas phase kinetics and established relationships between total inorganic chlorine and CFC-11. Our observations suggest that short-lived organic chlorinated compounds and HCl carried across the tropical tropopause may provide an important source of inorganic chlorine to the tropical lower stratosphere that has been largely unappreciated in previous studies. The entrainment timescale found here is considerably less than the value found by a similar study that focused on observations obtained in the lower stratosphere during 1994. Several possible explanations for this difference are discussed. Copyright 1999 by the American Geophysical Union

Bioligandumok fémkoordinációjának termodinamikai vizsgálata ESR spektroszkópiával = Thermodynamics of the metal coordination of bioligands studied by ESR spectroscopy

A projekt keretében nagyszámú ligandum koordinációs viselkedését vizsgáltuk meg különböző fémionokkal (réz, cink, vas, kobalt, mangán, króm), melyekben a ligandumok kiemelt fontosságúak mint gyógyszer alapanyagok (oligopeptidek, kumarin származékok, tioszemikarbazon, pirimidilmetanol, acetilszalicil sav) vagy egyéb jelentős biológiai aktivitással rendelkeznek (elágazó és hisztidinben gazdag peptidek, aminosavak, glikoproteinek). A gyógyászati hatásmechanizmus feltárása szempontjából döntő a kötési tulajdonságok és a fémionokkal alkotott koordináció részletes ismerete. Ennek érdekében alapvetően ESR spektroszkópiai vizsgálatokat végeztünk különböző hőmérsékű oldatokban és megfagyasztott mintákban, a vizsgálatokat kiegészítettünk pH-potenciometriás, UV/látható és CD spektroszkópiás mérésekkel, valamint kvantumkémiai számításokat is végeztünk. Az ESR spektrumok 2D-technikával való értékelése lehetővé tette nagyszámú kompetitív speciesz esetén is az egyértelmű azonosítást és a termodinamikai paraméterek meghatározását. Ennek keretében részben koncentráció és pH függő, részben hőmérséklet függő spektrumok integrált kiértékelésére került sor. A feltáró jellegű vizsgálatok néhány anyag esetén elősegíthetik a gyógyászati alkalmazásokat.Az eredményekről 14 publikációban (40,5 impakt) és konferencia előadásokban számoltunk be. | In this project we studied the coordination properties for a great number of ligands to various metal ions (Copper, Zink, Iron, Manganese, Chrome), in which the ligands have either significant importance in medicine (e.g. oligopeptides, kumarins, tiosemicarbazons, pyrimidylmethanol, acetylsalicyl acid) or exerting substantial biologic activity (branching and histamine rich peptides, amino acids, glycoproteins). In order to understand the activity of medicines, the knowledge of coordination and binding mechanism between ligands and metals has a primary importance. For this reason we carried out basically electron spin resonance (ESR) investigations in liquid solvents at various temperatures and in frozen solutions, which investigations were extended by pH-potentiometry, UV/Vis and CD spectroscopy, furthermore, quantum chemical computations. The 2D-evaluation of ESR spectra offered reliable information for species assignment and thermodynamic data even when simultaneously many components were present. In this method integrated evaluation was carried out for great sets of spectra recorded at various pH, concentration or temperature. For a few materials there is a chance for medical application. The results were published in 14 papers (impact 40.5) and four conference publications

The role of the exit in the initial screening of investment opportunities: The case of business angel syndicate gatekeepers

The exit process has been largely ignored in business angel research.. The practitioner community identifies the difficulty in achieving exits as the most pressing problem for investors. This has been attributed to the failure of investors to adopt an exit-centric approach to investing. The validity of this claim is examined via a study of the investment approach of 21 ‘gatekeepers’ (managers) of angel groups in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Most gatekeepers say that they do consider the exit when they invest. However, this is contradicted by a verbal protocol analysis which indicates that the exit is not a significant consideration in their initial screening process. The small number of exits achieved by the groups is consistent with the general lack of an exit-centric approach to investing. Only three groups exhibit evidence of a strong exit-centric approach to investing. The lack of exits may have a negative impact on the level of future angel investment activity

The development of self-management of secondary schools from the point of view of manager

A field study aimed to knowing the development of self-management of secondary schools from the point of view of principals. The research adopted the descriptive analytical method. The research community consists of (249) male and female principals, and the research sample was chosen by simple random method, at a rate of (50%) from the original research community, as the number of sample individuals reached (125) principals. A questionnaire was built that included (36) items distributed among the fields of (preparation and arrangements, principles and goals, laws and the participation and responsibilities, implementation, follow-up and evaluation). The researcher made sure of their sincerity and reliability and the results of the research data were analyzed using the (SPSS) program, and came to the most important results: “The general average for the four fields was a weighted mean (2.624) and a percentage weight (87.466%), which is a very good result in developing self-management in secondary schools in Baghdad governorate and that the field of implementation, follow-up and evaluation was ranked first, followed by the field of preparation and arrangements. As for the fields of laws, participation and responsibilities, it won the third place, followed by the field of principles and objectives in the fourth place, and in conclusion the research proved a number of recommendations and proposals

La importancia que juega la formación profesional del diseñador industrial para incorporar el ecodiseño dentro de su práctica profesional

The design activity has been marked as one of the professional practices with the greatest environmental impact due to strategic decisions made while crafting the material world, thus reflected in the damage that resulting objects coming from the design process generate: mountains of everyday us products that are manufactured by the millions, causing the depletion of planetary resources and generating all kinds of emissions and toxic waste throughout their life cycle. The results presented here are based on a doctoral investigation whose objective was to describe the unsustainable factors within the design process and to locate areas of opportunity, with the objective of developing and incorporating practical tools that may aid the designer located in Mexico City and the metropolitan area in reducing the impact of its practice, taking as a reference, the ISO 14006 standard, which governs the eco-design concepts. The methodology used a detailed header research on sustainable design and its strategies, a diagnostic questionnaire carried out to industrial designers, with at least two years of experience working in small and medium-sized companies and an in-depth interview carried out within a panel of experts, who helped defining the problem, confirming the findings and, from their experience, guiding the process of incorporating sustainability into the professional designer´s work.La actividad de diseño ha sido marcada como una de las prácticas profesionales de mayor impacto ambiental debido al peso que juegan las decisiones tomadas al momento de configurar el mundo material, reflejado en el daño generado por los objetos resultantes del proceso de diseño: montañas de productos de uso cotidiano que se fabrican por millones provocando el agotamiento de los recursos planetarios y generando todo tipo de emisiones y residuos tóxicos a lo largo de su ciclo de vida.  Los resultados presentados parten de una investigación de carácter doctoral cuyo objetivo fue describir los diversos factores que forman parte del proceso de diseño, localizando áreas de oportunidad con el objetivo de desarrollar e incorporar herramientas prácticas que ayuden al diseñador ubicado en la Ciudad de México y zona conurbada a reducir el impacto de su práctica, tomando como referente, la norma ISO 14006, rectora de los conceptos de ecodiseño. La metodología recurrió a una investigación de cabecera detallada sobre el diseño sustentable y sus estrategias, un cuestionario diagnóstico realizado a diseñadores industriales, con al menos dos años de experiencia laboral, que trabajan en pequeñas y medianas empresas y una entrevista a profundidad realizada a un panel de expertos, quienes ayudaron a delimitar la problemática, confirmar los hallazgos obtenidos y desde su experiencia guiar el proceso de incorporación de la sustentabilidad al trabajo profesional de diseño

Australian Sphingidae – DNA Barcodes Challenge Current Species Boundaries and Distributions

© 2014 Rougerie et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The attached file is the published version of the article

Assessing Communities of Practice in health policy : A conceptual framework as a first step towards empirical research

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