15 Jahre Corporate Real Estate Management in Deutschland: Entwicklungsstand und Perspektiven der Bündelung immobilienwirtschaftlicher Aufgaben bei ausgewählten Unternehmen

(Problemstellung und Zielsetzung) Das Thema Corporate Real Estate Management (CREM) wird seit Anfang der 90er Jahre vermehrt in deutschen Unternehmen diskutiert und zum Teil bereits erfolgreich praktiziert. Die Ausprägung der organisatorischen Gestaltung und des Aufgabenspektrums der CREMAbteilungen stellt sich dabei recht unterschiedlich dar. Verstanden sich zu den Anfängen des CREM die Immobilienabteilungen in den Unternehmen (Non-Property Companies) primär als Verwerter überschüssiger Flächen, so verändert sich das Bild in weit vorangeschrittenen Unternehmen inzwischen dahingehend, dass sämtliche immobilienspezifischen Funktionen von der Entwicklung der Immobilienstrategie über Flächenbereitstellung, Betrieb und Verwertung in der Corporate Real Estate (CRE) - Abteilung gebündelt werden. In Deutschland ist die öffentliche Diskussion von CREM Themen nach anfänglich sehr intensiver Debatte, vom Sonderthema der REIT Einführung abgesehen, mittlerweile weitgehend zum Erliegen gekommen. Auch ist der Professionalisierungsprozess in der Wahrnehmung immobilienwirtschaftlicher Aufgaben nach anfänglich sehr großen Fortschritten in vielen Unternehmen ins Stocken geraten. Dem entgegen vermuten viele Immobilienverantwortliche noch erhebliche Effizienzsteigerungspotenziale im Immobilienmanagement deutscher Unternehmen. Voraussetzung der Realisierung dieser Potenziale ist die Ausweitung des Mandats der unternehmenseigenen Immobilienbereiche auf alle Funktionsbereiche immobilienwirtschaftlicher Aufgaben sowie alle im Besitz des Unternehmens befindlichen Immobilien. Diese Bündelung immobilienwirtschaftlicher Aufgaben bedeutet dabei keineswegs, dass die immobilienwirtschaftlichen Aufgaben nicht dezentral von den jeweiligen Nutzern selbst oder ihnen nahestehenden Organisationseinheiten oder im Rahmen des Outsourcings von Dritten wahrgenommen werden. Es geht hier vielmehr um eine zentrale Koordination der unternehmensweiten Immobilienwirtschaft gekoppelt mit einer klaren Zuordnung von Verantwortung und Kompetenz. In der Praxis ist zu beobachten, dass der Umfang des Mandats der Immobilieneinheiten in der deutschen Industrie derzeit ganz erheblich variiert. Die erheblichen Diskrepanzen sind bislang nicht zu erklären. Insbesondere wurden über die Treiber und konkreten Erfolge der Bündelung immobilienwirtschaftlicher Aufgaben in deutschen Unternehmen bisher noch keine Untersuchungen durchgeführt. Auch liegen über den Umsetzungsprozess der Einrichtung von CREM Einheiten noch keine vergleichenden Erkenntnisse in veröffentlichter Form vor. Die vorliegende Studie soll daher zunächst einen Überblick der Entwicklungen der letzten 15 Jahre und die Perspektiven der Aufgabenbündelung bei ausgewählten Best-Practice Unternehmen verschaffen. Ziel ist die Darstellung der Vorteile eines zentralen CREM. Darüber 2 hinaus erfolgt eine Darstellung der organisatorischen Implementierung des CREM im Unternehmen sowie des Umsetzungsprozesses von der dezentralen Immobilienverwaltung zum zentralen Immobiliendienstleister. Ein herzliches Dankeschön richtet sich an die Montan-Grundstücksgesellschaft mbH, Essen, die Sponsor und inhaltlicher Projektpartner dieses Forschungsprojekts von Seiten der Unternehmenspraxis war.

Does a narcissism epidemic exist in modern western societies? Comparing narcissism and self-esteem in East and West Germany

Narcissism scores are higher in individualistic cultures compared with more collectivistic cultures. However, the impact of sociocultural factors on narcissism and self-esteem has not been well described. Germany was formerly divided into two different social systems, each with distinct economic, political and national cultures, and was reunified in 1989/90. Between 1949 and 1989/90, West Germany had an individualistic culture, whereas East Germany had a more collectivistic culture. The German reunification provides an exceptional opportunity to investigate the impact of sociocultural and generational differences on narcissism and self-esteem. In this study, we used an anonymous online survey to assess grandiose narcissism with the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) and the Pathological Narcissism Inventory (PNI) to assess grandiose and vulnerable aspects of narcissism, and self-esteem with the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE) in 1,025 German individuals. Data were analyzed according to age and place of birth. Our results showed that grandiose narcissism was higher and self-esteem was lower in individuals who grew up in former West Germany compared with former East Germany. Further analyses indicated no significant differences in grandiose narcissism, vulnerable narcissism or self-esteem in individuals that entered school after the German reunification (<= 5 years of age in 1989). In the middle age cohort (6-18 years of age in 1989), significant differences in vulnerable narcissism, grandiose narcissism and self-esteem were observed. In the oldest age cohort (> 19 years of age in 1989), significant differences were only found in one of the two scales assessing grandiose narcissism (NPI). Our data provides empirical evidence that sociocultural factors are associated with differences in narcissism and self-esteem

Differential contractile response of critically ill patients to neuromuscular electrical stimulation

BACKGROUND: Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) has been investigated as a preventative measure for intensive care unit-acquired weakness. Trial results remain contradictory and therefore inconclusive. As it has been shown that NMES does not necessarily lead to a contractile response, our aim was to characterise the response of critically ill patients to NMES and investigate potential outcome benefits of an adequate contractile response. METHODS: This is a sub-analysis of a randomised controlled trial investigating early muscle activating measures together with protocol-based physiotherapy in patients with a SOFA score ≥ 9 within the first 72 h after admission. Included patients received protocol-based physiotherapy twice daily for 20 min and NMES once daily for 20 min, bilaterally on eight muscle groups. Electrical current was increased up to 70 mA or until a contraction was detected visually or on palpation. Muscle strength was measured by a blinded assessor at the first adequate awakening and ICU discharge. RESULTS: One thousand eight hundred twenty-four neuromuscular electrical stimulations in 21 patients starting on day 3.0 (2.0/6.0) after ICU admission were included in this sub-analysis. Contractile response decreased from 64.4% on day 1 to 25.0% on day 7 with a significantly lower response rate in the lower extremities and proximal muscle groups. The electrical current required to elicit a contraction did not change over time (day 1, 50.2 [31.3/58.8] mA; day 7, 45.3 [38.0/57.5] mA). The electrical current necessary for a contractile response was higher in the lower extremities. At the first awakening, patients presented with significant weakness (3.2 [2.5/3.8] MRC score). When dividing the cohort into responders and non-responders (> 50% vs. ≤ 50% contractile response), we observed a significantly higher SOFA score in non-responders. The electrical current necessary for a muscle contraction in responders was significantly lower (38.0 [32.8/42.9] vs. 54.7 [51.3/56.0] mA, p < 0.001). Muscle strength showed higher values in the upper extremities of responders at ICU discharge (4.4 [4.1/4.6] vs. 3.3 [2.8/3.8] MRC score, p = 0.036). CONCLUSION: Patients show a differential contractile response to NMES, which appears to be dependent on the severity of illness and also relevant for potential outcome benefits. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN ISRCTN19392591 , registered 17 February 201

Untersuchungen zur präventiven Magen-Darm-Strongyliden- Kontrolle bei Milchziegen mittels Esparsettenpellets

Dairy goats, naturally infected with gastrointestinal nematodes, were fed 700g sainfoin- or alfalfa-pellets per day, additionally to a non-tanniferous basic diet. The effect of the feeding on the parasite egg excretion per gramm faeces (EPG) was monitored over a period of 7 weeks. The trial was conducted in parallel at two sites; in France and in Switzerland. At both sites the same quality of sainfoin- and alfalfapellets were used. Compared to the alfalfa group the EPG of the sainfoin fed goats were reduced by 12% in France andby 18% in Switzerland. A repeated measurement analysis revealed no significant difference between the feeding groups at neither site. As it is very likely that the effect of condensed tannins on gastrointestinal nematodes is dose dependent, the relatively low absolute condensed tannin concentration might be jointly responsible for the absence of a significant effect

Autonomous Synchronization of Chemically Coupled Synthetic Oscillators

Synthetic biology has recently provided functional single-cell oscillators. With a few exceptions, however, synchronization across a population has not been achieved yet. In particular, designing a cell coupling mechanism to achieve autonomous synchronization is not straightforward since there are usually several different design alternatives. Here, we propose a method to mathematically predict autonomous synchronization properties, and to identify the network structure with the best performance, thus increasing the feasibility for a successful implementation invivo. Our method relies on the reduction of ODE-based models for synthetic oscillators to a phase description, and the subsequent analysis of the phase model either in the spatially homogeneous or heterogeneous case. This analysis identifies three major factors determining if and when autonomous synchronization can be achieved, namely cell density, cell to cell variability, and structural design decisions. Moreover, when considering a spatially heterogeneous medium, we observe phase waves. These waves may hinder synchronization substantially, and their suppression should be considered in the design process. In contrast to previous work, we analyze the synchronization process of models of experimentally validated synthetic oscillators in mammalian cells. Alternative designs for cell-to-cell communication via a quorum sensing mechanism differ in few mechanistic details, but these differences have important implications for autonomous synchronization. Our analysis suggests that not only the periodical transcription of the protein producing the signaling molecule, but also of the receptor protein is necessary to achieve good performanc

The role of membrane lipids in the induction of macrophage apoptosis by microparticles

Microparticles are membrane-derived vesicles that are released from cells during activation or cell death. These particles can serve as mediators of intercellular cross-talk and induce a variety of cellular responses. Previous studies have shown that macrophages undergo apoptosis after phagocytosing microparticles. Here, we have addressed the hypothesis that microparticles trigger this process via lipid pathways. In these experiments, microparticles induced apoptosis in primary macrophage cells or cell lines (RAW 264.7 or U937) with up to a 5-fold increase. Preincubation of macrophages with phosphatidylinositol-3,5-bisphosphate (PtdIns(3,5)BP) reduced the microparticle-induced apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. PtdIns(3,5)BP is a specific inhibitor of the acid sphingomyelinase and thus can block the generation of pro-apoptotic ceramides. Similarly, the pre-incubation of macrophages with PtdIns(3,5)BP prevented microparticle-induced upregulation of caspase 8, which is a major target molecule of ceramide action in the apoptosis pathway. PtdIns(3,5)BP, however, had no effect on the spontaneous rate of apoptosis. To evaluate further signaling pathways induced by microparticles, the extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK-) 1 was investigated. This kinase plays a role in activating phospholipases A2 which cleaves membrane phospholipids into arachidonic acid; microparticles have been suggested to be a preferred substrate for phospholipases A2. As shown in our experiments, microparticles strongly increased the amount of phosphorylated ERK1/2 in RAW 264.7 macrophages in a time-dependent manner, peaking 15 min after co-incubation. Addition of PD98059, a specific inhibitor of ERK1, prevented the increase in apoptosis of RAW 264.7 macrophages. Together, these data suggest that microparticles perturb lipid homeostasis of macrophages and thereby induce apoptosis. These results emphasize the importance of biolipids in the cellular cross-talk of immune cells. Based on the fact that in clinical situations with excessive cell death such as malignancies, autoimmune diseases and following chemotherapies high levels of circulating microparticles might modulate phagocytosing cells, a suppression of the immune response might occur due to loss of macrophage

Cytokinin response factors regulate PIN-FORMED auxin transporters

Auxin and cytokinin are key endogenous regulators of plant development. Although cytokinin-mediated modulation of auxin distribution is a developmentally crucial hormonal interaction, its molecular basis is largely unknown. Here we show a direct regulatory link between cytokinin signalling and the auxin transport machinery uncovering a mechanistic framework for cytokinin-auxin cross-talk. We show that the CYTOKININ RESPONSE FACTORS (CRFs), transcription factors downstream of cytokinin perception, transcriptionally control genes encoding PIN-FORMED (PIN) auxin transporters at a specific PIN CYTOKININ RESPONSE ELEMENT (PCRE) domain. Removal of this cis-regulatory element effectively uncouples PIN transcription from the CRF-mediated cytokinin regulation and attenuates plant cytokinin sensitivity. We propose that CRFs represent a missing cross-talk component that fine-tunes auxin transport capacity downstream of cytokinin signalling to control plant development