Species-Rich Grassland as an Ecological Good in an Outcome-Based Payment Scheme

Agriculture plays an important role in protecting the biodiversity of the rural environment. Since the reform of the EU\u27s common agricultural policy (CAP) in 1992, agri-environment schemes have been supported by the EU within the framework of the second pillar of CAP. In these programmes, farmers were rewarded for environmental services. The predominantly action-oriented programmes imply particular disadvantages; they tend to lack economic efficiency and to fail with regard to the conservation and improvement of biodiversity (Kleijn & Sutherland, 2003; Wilhelm, 1999). This situation was the starting point for the development of an outcome-based payment scheme. We focus on the process of defining ecological goods - in particular with regard to grassland - as the results of ecological services, which are to be remunerated by means of this innovative payment system

Agri-Environmental Policy Measures in Israel: The Potential of Using Market-Oriented Instruments

This paper examines the possibilities of developing agri-environmental policy measures in Israel, focusing on market-oriented instruments. A conceptual framework for developing agri-environmental policy measures is presented, first in very broad lines (mandatory regulations, economic instruments and advisory measures) and subsequently focusing on economic instruments, and specifically, on market-oriented ones. Two criteria of choice between the measures are suggested: their contribution to improving the effectiveness of the policy; and the feasibility of their implementation. This is the framework used for analyzing agri-environmental measures in Israel. Israel currently implements a mix of mandatory regulations, economic instruments and advisory measures to promote the agri-environment. The use of additional economic instruments may improve the effectiveness of the policy. When comparing the effectiveness of various economic measures, we found that the feasibility of implementation of market-oriented instruments is greater, due to the Israeli public’s preference for strengthening market orientation in the agricultural sector. Four market-oriented instruments were practiced in a pilot project conducted in an Israeli rural area. We found that in this case study, the institutional feasibility and acceptance by stakeholders were the major parameters influencing the implementation of the market-oriented instruments, whereas the instruments’ contribution to enhancing the ecological or economic effectiveness were hardly considered by the stakeholders as arguments in favor of their use

Silane-Mediated Expansion of Domains in Si-Doped κ-Ga2O3 Epitaxy and its Impact on the In-Plane Electronic Conduction

Unintentionally doped (001)-oriented orthorhombic κ-Ga2O3 epitaxial films on c-plane sapphire substrates are characterized by the presence of ≈ 10 nm wide columnar rotational domains that can severely inhibit in-plane electronic conduction. Comparing the in- and out-of-plane resistance on well-defined sample geometries, it is experimentally proved that the in-plane resistivity is at least ten times higher than the out-of-plane one. The introduction of silane during metal-organic vapor phase epitaxial growth not only allows for n-type Si extrinsic doping, but also results in the increase of more than one order of magnitude in the domain size (up to ≈ 300 nm) and mobility (highest µ ≈ 10 cm2V−1s−1, with corresponding lowest ρ ≈ 0.2 Ωcm). To qualitatively compare the mean domain dimension in κ-Ga2O3 epitaxial films, non-destructive experimental procedures are provided based on X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The results of this study pave the way to significantly improved in-plane conduction in κ-Ga2O3 and its possible breakthrough in new generation electronics. The set of cross-linked experimental techniques and corresponding interpretation here proposed can apply to a wide range of material systems that suffer/benefit from domain-related functional properties

S3 guidelines for intensive care in cardiac surgery patients: hemodynamic monitoring and cardiocirculary system

Hemodynamic monitoring and adequate volume-therapy, as well as the treatment with positive inotropic drugs and vasopressors are the basic principles of the postoperative intensive care treatment of patient after cardiothoracic surgery. The goal of these S3 guidelines is to evaluate the recommendations in regard to evidence based medicine and to define therapy goals for monitoring and therapy. In context with the clinical situation the evaluation of the different hemodynamic parameters allows the development of a therapeutic concept and the definition of goal criteria to evaluate the effect of treatment

Multiplexed Sub-Cellular Scale Microarrays from direct DNA Nanolithography

The multiplexed, high-throughput fabrication of microarrays is of vital importance for many applications in life sciences, including drug screening, medical diagnostics and cell biology. In single cell investigations, features smaller than 10 μm are needed for functional manipulation of sub-cellular structures. Several top-down methodologies like electron beam lithography and microcontact printing can be employed for indirect surface patterning at this scale, however those approaches often require clean rooms and multiplexing of several different biomolecules on the same surface is limited [1]. To overcome these obstacles, we combined Dip-pen nanolithography (DPN) and DNA-directed immobilization (DDI) of proteins to fabricate cell-compatible functionalized glass surfaces [2]. We optimized ink formulation for ssDNA printing and the produced arrays were then functionalized with epidermal growth factor (EGF) taking advantage of covalent ssDNA-streptavidin conjugates as adaptor molecules. The surface-immobilized EGF was used for recruiting EGFR in the plasma membrane of MCF7 cells. Via this bottom-up structuring approach, we were able to analyse multiple protein-protein interactions simultaneously in individual living cells [3]. To improve the efficiency of multiplexed surface patterning, we developed a prototype of a robust custom plotter based on 2D polymer-pen lithography (2D-PPL) [4]. This device enables rapid fabrication of microarrays at ambient conditions in a multiplexed direct-writing mode. The printing process was carried out by polymeric pyramidal pens onto which multiple (up to 36) ssDNA solutions can be loaded through a microfluidic inkwell device. Subsequent to optimization of ink viscosity and surface tension by glycerol and tween-20, DNA arrays were plotted and used for DDI of EGF-bearing ssDNA-streptavidin conjugates. The resulting microarrays covered areas of about 0.5 cm2, and were capable of recruiting and activating EGF receptors in sub-cellular regions within human MCF7 cells [4]. References [1] G. Arrabito, B. Pignataro. 2012. Solution Processed Micro- and Nano- Bioarrays for Multiplexed Biosensing. Anal. Chem. 84:5450–5462. [2] G. Arrabito et al. 2013. Biochips for Cell Biology by Combined Dip-Pen Nanolithography and DNA-Directed Protein Immobilization. Small. 9:4243-4249. [3] S. Gandor et al. 2013. A Protein-Interaction Array Inside a Living Cell. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 52:4790–4794. [4] G. Arrabito, et al. 2014. Low-cost Plotter Device for Sub-Cellular Scale Microarray Fabrication. Small. DOI: 10.1002/smll.201303390

Prevention, diagnosis, therapy and follow-up care of sepsis: 1st revision of S-2k guidelines of the German Sepsis Society (Deutsche Sepsis-Gesellschaft e.V. (DSG)) and the German Interdisciplinary Association of Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (Deutsche Interdisziplinäre Vereinigung für Intensiv- und Notfallmedizin (DIVI))

Practice guidelines are systematically developed statements and recommendations that assist the physicians and patients in making decisions about appropriate health care measures for specific clinical circumstances taking into account specific national health care structures. The 1st revision of the S-2k guideline of the German Sepsis Society in collaboration with 17 German medical scientific societies and one self-help group provides state-of-the-art information (results of controlled clinical trials and expert knowledge) on the effective and appropriate medical care (prevention, diagnosis, therapy and follow-up care) of critically ill patients with severe sepsis or septic shock. The guideline had been developed according to the “German Instrument for Methodological Guideline Appraisal” of the Association of the Scientific Medical Societies (AWMF). In view of the inevitable advancements in scientific knowledge and technical expertise, revisions, updates and amendments must be periodically initiated. The guideline recommendations may not be applied under all circumstances. It rests with the clinician to decide whether a certain recommendation should be adopted or not, taking into consideration the unique set of clinical facts presented in connection with each individual patient as well as the available resources

Euclid: the selection of quiescent and star-forming galaxies using observed colours

The Euclid mission will observe well over a billion galaxies out to z ∼ 6 and beyond. This will offer an unrivalled opportunity to investigate several key questions for understanding galaxy formation and evolution. The first step for many of these studies will be the selection of a sample of quiescent and star-forming galaxies, as is often done in the literature by using well-known colour techniques such as the ‘UVJ’ diagram. However, given the limited number of filters available for the Euclid telescope, the recovery of such rest-frame colours will be challenging. We therefore investigate the use of observed Euclid colours, on their own and together with ground-based u-band observations, for selecting quiescent and star-forming galaxies. The most efficient colour combination, among the ones tested in this work, consists of the (u − VIS) and (VIS − J) colours. We find that this combination allows users to select a sample of quiescent galaxies complete to above ∼70 per cent and with less than 15 per cent contamination at redshifts in the range 0.75 65 per cent completeness level and contamination below 20 per cent at 1 < z < 2 for finding quiescent galaxies. In comparison, the sample of quiescent galaxies selected with the traditional UVJ technique is only ∼20 per cent complete at z < 3, when recovering the rest-frame colours using mock Euclid observations. This shows that our new methodology is the most suitable one when only Euclid bands, along with u-band imaging, are available

Euclid: On the reduced shear approximation and magnification bias for Stage IV cosmic shear experiments

Stage IV weak lensing experiments will offer more than an order of magnitude leap in precision. We must therefore ensure that our analyses remain accurate in this new era. Accordingly, previously ignored systematic effects must be addressed. In this work, we evaluate the impact of the reduced shear approximation and magnification bias, on the information obtained from the angular power spectrum. To first-order, the statistics of reduced shear, a combination of shear and convergence, are taken to be equal to those of shear. However, this approximation can induce a bias in the cosmological parameters that can no longer be neglected. A separate bias arises from the statistics of shear being altered by the preferential selection of galaxies and the dilution of their surface densities, in high-magnification regions. The corrections for these systematic effects take similar forms, allowing them to be treated together. We calculate the impact of neglecting these effects on the cosmological parameters that would be determined from Euclid, using cosmic shear tomography. We also demonstrate how the reduced shear correction can be calculated using a lognormal field forward modelling approach. These effects cause significant biases in Omega_m, n_s, sigma_8, Omega_DE, w_0, and w_a of -0.51 sigma, -0.36 sigma, 0.37 sigma, 1.36 sigma, -0.66 sigma, and 1.21 sigma, respectively. We then show that these lensing biases interact with another systematic: the intrinsic alignment of galaxies. Accordingly, we develop the formalism for an intrinsic alignment-enhanced lensing bias correction. Applying this to Euclid, we find that the additional terms introduced by this correction are sub-dominant