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This scientific paper aimed to examine workplace stressors and factors influencing the Work-Life-Balance of nursing staff to understand potential factors and challenges. The Covid-19-pandemic has only again demonstrated the importance of sufficient and well-educated nursing staff. To ensure this, it is also important to consider the well-being of the nurses, because this influences their job performance, the turnover rate and the number of sick employees. To examine the workplace stressors and the Work-Life-Balance of nursing staff, different theoretical approaches and study findings are taken under consideration to determine their influence on the perceived stress of employees in general and nurses in particular and also the importance of a healthy Work-Life-Balance. The study was conducted by the Declaration of Helsinki and Tokyo. Many different factors make the job as a nurse potentially more stressful than for example administrative occupations. Moreover, there are plenty of difficulties for a healthy Work-Life-Balance for nursing staff and also potential negative effects resulting from a poor Work-Life-Balance or a high amount of workplace stressors. It can be concluded that a solution approach for the workplace stressors and a better Work-Life-Balance can only be reached if the employer and the employees work together to decrease the amount of stress, to offer and learn better mechanisms to cope with stress and to incorporate ways to ensure a better Work-Life-Balance.
Objective: The objective of the article highlight the significance of culture in the entrepreneurial landscape and provides entrepreneurs and (project) managers with a guidance tool to overcome previously unconsidered stumbling blocks while operating in the intercultural setting.
Research Design & Methods: The following article was prepared based on a critical study review devoted to existing approaches to intercultural impact in business life and used the archival technique from 1990-2020. The study review reflects on the identification of existing literature gaps in the implementation of a subcultural business environment. It addresses these by designing an appropriate model to bypass the apparent pitfalls of intercultural business communication and co-existence, if possible.
Findings: Culture impacts diverse sets of society and businesses, including entrepreneurship. This article underpins which pitfalls are advisable to consider when encountering the intercultural and entrepreneurship-driven workplace.
Implications & Recommendations: Based on the study review, startups, as well as big corporate companies’ projects of a creational nature, are advised to reconsider their perception and handling of culture applying The Building of Cultural and Entrepreneurial Force.
Contribution & Value Added: The added value of this article is to be found in the solid analysis of cultural essentialism, anti-essentialism, and implications to beware of in the managerial and entrepreneurial context related to The Building of Intercultural and Entrepreneurial Force that intends to ease to co-work of intercultural teams.
This text will explain which role “Green Bonds” play in financing projects and how the green factor is weighted. It will be discussed on how the term “green” can change the price of the bond, if there is a “green premium” and for which group of investors this type of bond is interesting. We will discuss ways to reduce their cost of capital, also considering the risks and on ways on how to improve their conditions. The sustainable and eco-friendly aspects are also highlighted in this text and they might become crucial in future investing, which gives the bond an interesting role.
Purpose: Grounded in the theoretical concepts of utilitarianism and deontology, this paper aims to evaluate the issue of child labour from an ethics perspective. By linking utilitarianism with normative stakeholder theory, relevant stakeholder groups are being identified in order to examine their influence on and role in the occurrence of child labour allowing for a practical reference. The findings may serve companies in particular as a basis for decision-making in the development of their value chains.
Design/Methodology/Approach: The author uses a literature review in order to analyze the findings of existing literature on the topic of child labour in an ethics context, thereby drawing on literature, indexed in Web of Science and Google Scholar by employing forward and backward citation analysis.
Findings: The investigation of child labour in terms of ethics yields conflicting results. From a deontological perspective, child labour can never be ethical and should always be rejected as it is not wanted to become a general law. In contrast, according to a utilitarian sentiment, child labour is ethically justifiable as long as the beneficiaries of the labour are greater in number than the children working or suffering.
Originality/Value: The examination of child labour from the perspective of deontology and utilitarianism in conjunction with normative stakeholder theory constitutes a novelty in the ethics literature. The integration of theoretical findings into a practical business context provides additional value for managers and global supply chain managers.
Since tangible assets of companies are becoming increasingly insignificant, emphasis should rather be placed on human capital as an essential source of competitive edge. This paper, accordingly, pursues the purpose to shed light on the major demands that the Millenials place on their prospective employers. In consequence, the work aims to identify attractiveness factors that German retailers should particularly promote in order to succeed in the war for talents and attract the most promising candidates among the German Gen Y. This work is based on a mixed-methods approach. First, interviews with German retail experts as well as generational keynote speakers were conducted in order to obtain a deep understanding and assessment of the German retail landscape from a professional perspective. The insights gained were subsequently used to design a questionnaire, which distribution led to a final sample of 216 useable responses by Millenials. Furthermore, the data obtained by interviewing experts and the survey was subsequently compared in order to evaluate to what extent the expectations of the Millenials correspond to the experts’ assessment. This study reveals Millenials to be driven by the need for growth, such as wide offers of development opportunities or scope for decision when choosing an employer. Among the relatedness needs, a harmonious working environment is particularly important, whereas a weekend off ranks first among the existential needs. Moreover, male Millenials consider Media Markt being the most popular employer in the German retail sector, while dm is preferred from a female perspective. Overall, employers of the German retail sector provide the majority of factors required by the Millenials, yet are only considered the 4th most popular industry behind the automotive, IT, art and entertainment industries. Our findings provide valuable practical implications as the research results might serve companies to build up a target group specific employer brand. Marketing strategies can be aligned with the identified attractiveness factors to efficiently and cost-effectively attract and bind Millenials to the company. Customized recruiting campaigns enhance the appeal as well as the attractiveness of an employer driving the likelihood of obtaining the strived status: Employer of Choice. To the best of the author’s knowledge, no study has yet dealt specifically with the attractiveness factors demanded by the Millenials in the context of the German retail sector as well as their most aspired employers in this industry. Furthermore, the attractiveness factors identified in the literature were embedded in Aldefer’s ERG theory. This work also offers a bilateral perspective through the widely conducted survey carried out among Millenials, which was additionally expanded through the lens of experts.
The dark side of Samsung’s value chain: The human costs of cobalt mining “BLOOD, SWEAT AND COBALT”
(2021)
Samsung has been implicitly linked to human rights abuses and wider social downgrading propagated within the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Reports by different studies have shown artisanal cobalt mines (ASM) to exploit child labour and subject workers to perilous conditions. The IT multinational is dependent upon Congolese cobalt as a key element in lithiumion batteries used to produce their array of electronics. However, irresponsible cobalt sourcing practices undertaken by Tier 1 suppliers, Glencore and Huayou, have resulted in ASM operations being incorporated into Samsung’s global value chain, as Tier 2 suppliers. Analysis of the relationships underpinning Samsung’s cobalt value chain theoretical framework, highlights the presence of a relational governance structure, with captive elements among upstream Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers. Samsung is thereby reliant upon both Glencore and Huayou to transmit and enforce private codes of conduct down the value chain to expel human rights abuses. In conjunction, the DRC’s weak and unstable institutional environment has facilitated corruption and the improper enforcement of laws across the ASM industry. It is thereby imperative that Samsung takes ownership of the issues present within its value chain, as both Tier 1 suppliers and the Congolese government have failed to ensure responsible cobalt sourcing practices to date. This report recommends that Samsung adopt a holistic action plan, not only utilising their own resources and capabilities, but also those of critical stakeholders including Tier 1 suppliers, NGOs and the DRC and South Korean governments. Most prominently, this report suggests that supply chain transparency can be improved using certificates of origin and blockchain technology. Furthermore, it is recommended that poverty alleviation is targeted as a key measure through “Cobalt for Development”, an action plan designed to instigate both social and economic upgrading within ASM operations and the wider community. By employing a multi-scalar approach and addressing the issues inherent across multiple governance levels, Samsung can ensure a responsible source of cobalt be sustained.
E-commerce has been keeping fast increasing worldwide since beginning of the 21st century. Rapid growth of e-commerce & parcel shipping is a booming business. However, how to handle with many hard-to-solve sustainability issues of transport in urban areas, is becoming a serious challenge for urban logistic sector and numerous stakeholders. The sustainability issues contain the problems of air pollution, congestion, and sub-contractors. This paper reported those issues in the context of growth of e-commerce and analyzed their efforts on the sustainable urban logistics development.
In relation to the fast development of e-commerce and rapid increasing of parcels, urban logistic sector is facing the challenge of sustainability. Especially, last-mile delivery as the last step of goods transport, it connects to customers’ satisfaction, cost efficiency of logistic companies, and more and more public expectations to sustainability of urban logistics. To handle with the complexity of urban logistics conditions, governments and logistics companies should develop a co-operating strategy for sustainability of urban last-mile delivery. This paper is based on data collection from the long-term empirical research and a survey to the e-commerce users in Germany and China to develop a sustainable concept for the urban last-mile delivery. The key to the development of concept is to create a balance among the requirements of customers, the competition abilities of logistics companies and the public interest.
Aim: The aim of this scientific paper was to examine important trends and developments influencing the nursing care in order to forecast future opportunities and challenges and how to deal with them in the best possible way.
Background: The Corona-pandemic demonstrated the importance of nursing care in the entire world and had drawn attention to the issue of a well-educated and enough nursing staff. The nursing care will face opportunities and challenges due to current trends and developments, which are important to examine in order to provide the best possible nursing care.
Methods: To reach the above-mentioned aim, intensive research was done by using secondary sources and surveys.
Results/Findings: After a detailed analysis of the research it can be summarized that there are three important topics influencing the nursing care: The demographical development with an increasing life expectancy leading to an increasing amount of old people with a demand for care and decreasing birth rates leading to less working people. Cultural transformation and diversity imply many opportunities because the employment market can fill gaps with foreign workers and the immigrating people can compensate the decreasing birth rates. Nevertheless, it can imply many challenges and potential problems which need to be solved by the society and the immigrating people. Furthermore, the changing gender roles can lead to more men becoming a nurse, which might have a significant impact on the shortage of nursing staff. The third important topic influencing the nursing care is technological trends which can help to decrease physiological stress, by facilitating the nurses’ work and by taking over some work from them.
Conclusion: It can be concluded that the trends and developments influencing the nursing care are very diverse and imply many different opportunities as well as challenges.
Reasons and potential solution approaches for the shortage of nursing staff in German hospitals
(2021)
The aim of this scientific paper was to find out the reasons for the shortage of nursing staff in German hospitals and to provide potential solution approaches for this shortage. Over the last years, the shortage of nursing staff has become a more and more important topic in the news: Not only due to the increasing amount of missing nurses, but also due to the ageing population in Germany, which leads to an increasing amount of patients in German hospitals. To reach this aim two surveys were done, of which one was for nursing staff only and the other one was for people from all occupational groups with the intention of creating comparative values. The surveys were done from March to April 2019 and were analysed afterwards. After a detailed analysis of the survey results, it can be summarized that the reasons for the shortage of nursing staff in German hospitals are very diverse: Starting with a weak salary, improvable working conditions – for example the shift work and the high amount of physical and psychological stress -, a difficult compatibility of family and job as well as the unattractive image of the job as a nurse in the society. It can be concluded that the solution for the shortage of nursing staff is very difficult. The future will show whether the governmental support will help to make the job as a nurse more attractive – not only for the current nurses, but also for potential future nurses.
Purpose: In this article, the canvas used to simplify business modeling of a platform and its visual depiction are put into the entrepreneurial context, and critically reflected accordingly. Furthermore, it is discussed to what extent the canvas is advantageous, disadvantageous, applicable, not applicable, or even contradictory.
Methodology: The analysis is based on theoretical research. Additionally, qualitative interviews with business founders were conducted.
Results: The results conclude that the canvas employed to ease the business model sharpening process supplies founders with essential aspects to cover, yet they are part of a large set of factors that play in.
Conclusion: The limitations of this study are rooted in the chosen research design based on the conceptual review.
Objective: In this article, the methods used to simplify the business modelling and founding of new companies are presented and critically reflected. Furthermore, it is discussed to what extent a specific method is advantageous, disadvantageous, applicable, not applicable, or even contradictory.
Methodology: The theoretical analysis is underpinned by a qualitative interview study asking company founders about applying the methods mentioned above. The work is based on scientific papers and books and is complemented by the data originating from a specially designed study.
Findings: The results conclude that business model founding instruments provide strategic guidelines favouring entrepreneurs, yet they turn out to be minor in its real-life significance as numerous factors rooted in different fields of expertise play in.
Value Added: The added value of this paper is in the elaboration of efficiency bringing and risk-minimizing components of the methods, respectively. Accordingly, managers and entrepreneurs of all industries are intended to be equipped with sufficient information content that eases the decision for or against one of the methods as realistic expectations considering the application are likely to emerge.
Recommendations: The limitations of this study are rooted in the chosen qualitative research since every interviewee is a subject to their individual perception.
The following paper aims to find out consumers' expectations and attitudes towards the innovation "Metaverse". It will also be explored which role the Meta Group plays in mass adaption and how the company influences consumers' possible use and opinion on the project. These results are connected to the fashion industry, further exploring new types of products and a possible distribution channel. Therefore, this study is useful to developers of Metaverses and AR/VR products, the Meta Group, and fashion companies. The main results of this research are: Meta and the Metaverse are seen as critical, the required technology has not yet reached mainstream use, but interest is present. Digital fashion had participants divided, some not willing to spend any money and some already having spent over 100€, although the Metaverse's influence on future purchases is little. The Metaverse could serve as a new distribution channel for clothing products. To conduct this research Google Forms was used. The research is classified as survey-based. The biggest limitation is the nonexistence of the Metaverse as envisioned by Meta, making it hard for participants to answer some of the questions asked.
This research paper discusses how RFID technology could improve current deposit bottle logistic processes in food retailing and which obstacles impede successful implementations. Research Methodology include desk research: Library, EBSCOhost, wiso.net, Google Scholar, Scientific Journals, Statista, SpringerLink. Implementation of RFID is potentially beneficial, but same obstacles remain outlook. To validate the conclusion further studying and practical proof of concept are necessary. Contributions: supply chain management, return logistics, food retail, beverage industry
Global vernetzte Supply Chains (SC) führen bei den Unternehmen zu geringeren Kosten, aber zugleich erhöhen diese auch die Abhängigkeit ggü. den Lieferanten und die Störanfälligkeit der SCs wird erhöht. In den vergangenen Jahren haben zudem die Unsicherheiten für die SCs stark zugenommen. Treiber waren hier u.a. der Brexit, Handelskonflikte oder auch die Corona-Pandemie. In diesem Zusammenhang steht verstärkt die Entwicklung neuer SC-Strategien im Fokus der Unternehmen. Dabei wird stark auf die Verbesserung der Resilienz der SCs geachtet, um dadurch u.a. die Risiken für die SCs zu reduzieren. Die Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit den Auswirkungen steigender Unsicherheiten auf das Design sowie die Resilienz von SCs und hat das Ziel zu ermitteln, ob es Änderungen in der SC bedarf, um auf die Auswirkungen steigender Unsicherheiten zu reagieren und wie die Resilienz zukünftig sichergestellt werden kann (Trade-off zwischen Resilienz und Kosteneffizienz). Im Rahmen der Untersuchung erfolgte eine qualitative Forschung in Form von Experteninterviews, da so u.a. spezifische Meinungen oder auch Begründungen und Einstellungen von bestimmten Personen zu den vorliegenden Thematiken ermittelt werden können. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Kosten weiterhin meist der entscheidende Aspekt sind und es mehr Transparenz, Flexibilität sowie ein besseres Risikomanagement nötig ist. Des Weiteren bedarf es zukünftig u.a. einer größeren Berücksichtigung von Unsicherheiten, eine Erhöhung von Sicherheitsbeständen sowie eine Verringerung der Komplexität der SCs und u.U. mehr Local Sourcing. Es empfiehlt sich eine weitere Untersuchung hinsichtlich der Kosten, die durch Resilienz-Instrumente sowie durch fehlende Resilienz entstehen können, durchzuführen.
This scientific paper aims to collect and analyze various digital technologies connected to pharmacies and Health 4.0. Thus, the goal is to give basic recommendations for actions for pharmacies to remain successful businesses in the digital future of healthcare. While the total health sector is growing continuously, the total number of pharmacies is shrinking. To be able to face the competitive pressure on the pharmaceutical market, pharmacies have to integrate more efficient digital technologies to be able to increase customers’ experience. Hence, the acceptance and attitude of the German society towards digital health solutions are examined using a short survey and a precise questionnaire. After a detailed analysis of the survey results and the questionnaire answered by a pharmacist, specific digital methods and technologies which make sense for pharmacies can be elaborated. As the future of pharmacies is still quite unexplored, while the health market is shifting to more efficient digital solutions, pharmacies have to adapt to current developments fast. Therefore, this paper can serve as a guideline for pharmacies in the rapid changes toward more digital markets.
Bauprojekte sind in der Regel komplexe Vorhaben. Sie werden mit Hilfe des Projektmanagements und dessen Verfahren, Prozessen und Techniken bewältigt. Dennoch sind deutsche Bauprojekte nicht selten von Kosten- und Terminüberschreitungen betroffen. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, mögliche Optimierungsfelder im Planungs- und Steuerungsprozess eines Unternehmens für Industriebauprojekte zu identifizieren und darauf aufbauende Verbesserungsansätze zu erarbeiten. Um die Ziele verfolgen zu können, wurde eine qualitative Sozialforschung mittels Experteninterviews durchgeführt. Die Expertenaussagen verdeutlichen weiterhin Optimierungspotenzial, sowohl im Planungs- als auch im Steuerungsprozess. Ausgewählte Techniken (hauptsächlich aus dem klassischen Projektmanagement) dienen indessen dazu, die Effektivität und Effizienz des Planungsprozesses zu erhöhen. Innerhalb des Steuerungsprozesses zeigt sich, dass viele Optimierungsbereiche der Steuerung auf den Defiziten der Planung beruhen.
Die vorliegende Ausarbeitung beschäftigt sich mit der Frage, ob weibliche Führungskräfte aufgrund spezieller Führungskompetenzen auf den langfristigen Unternehmenserfolg einzahlen. Besondere Beachtung findet hierbei der Faktor der Emotionalen Intelligenz. Nach wie vor ist der Anteil weiblicher Führungskräfte auf deutschen Managementebenen auffallend gering. Um ein Verständnis für die Hintergründe dieser Thematik zu entwickeln, werden zunächst die Ursachen geschlechtsbedingter Differenzierungen erläutert. Die wesentlichen Erkenntnisse entstammen dem Bereich der Geschlechterforschung. Im Anschluss werden diese im Kontext der Führung beleuchtet. Ein besonderes Augenmerk liegt auf der Frage, ob und inwiefern sich ein potentieller weiblicher Führungsstil von der als männlich geltenden Führung unterscheidet. Im weiteren Verlauf des Artikels wird das Phänomen der Emotionalen Intelligenz im Detail betrachtet. Dieses gilt im Kontext der Führung seit geraumer Zeit als Erfolgsfaktor. Ob und inwiefern diese Annahme tatsächlich Bestand hat, soll daher zunächst herausgestellt werden. Abschließend wird geprüft, ob es sich bei der Emotionalen Intelligenz um eine vorwiegend weibliche Kompetenz handelt
In recent years, the retail virtual store has become the main trend in social services. More and more people tend to shop in retail virtual stores. With the development of 3D virtual reality, this trend is getting stronger and stronger. Therefore, the development prospect of virtual retail stores has attracted much attention. This paper examines the impact of companies' and users' popularization of helmet gadgets on in-store traffic and analyzes how virtual reality (VR) could enhance the customer experience throughout the shopping trip. A qualitative research design has been used, which also included conversations with both professionals and consumers. Moreover, this paper seeks to break new ground by attempting to use the current literature to help predict future directions and trends for online shopping.
Major financial institutions operate in different regions of the world facing different regulatory landscapes for Supply Chain risks. In this environment, the optimization issue arises how to best comply with the different regulations and reaching cost efficiency at the same time. In this research, the international regulatory landscape for Supply Chain risks of Financial Institutions is introduced and compared internationally. It is understood as an integral part of Supply Chain Risk Management of Financial Institutions, yet the latter is analysed as the research background. Additionally, expert interviews are conducted in order to link the regulation analysis to the current challenges that Financial Institutions face. Finally, recommendations are developed on how banks can be cost efficient, while remaining regulatory compliant, facing increased international regulation in the area of Supply Chain Risk Management. The outcome of the underlying research shows that banking regulation in the area of Supply Chain risks is an important lever in the banking sector to secure customers and financial markets. However, the regulatory landscape is heterogeneous and not consistent on an international scale. Regulation in Asia is highly diverse across different countries due to different states of economic development. The US applies a rather pragmatical approach towards supply chain risk regulation applying different standards of standard setting institutions. Lastly, the EU is very restrictive and strives to unify regulation across member states. Banks should follow a consistent management approach keeping in mind international locations and the strictest regulatory environment they are operating in, to improve cost efficiency yet being regulatory compliant. Also, collaboration with and amongst regulators and other banks internationally is recommended for improved cost efficiency.
Im Oktober 2019 veröffentlichte die Amerikanische Psychologische Gesellschaft APA die siebte, überarbeitete Auflage ihres Publikationshandbuchs "Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association". In diesem Ratgeber werden Ihnen die Grundregeln des enthaltenen Zitierregelwerks vorgestellt, ergänzt um eine Einführung in das Zitieren. Einige wenige Regeln wurden der deutschen Grammatik angepasst (z. B. hinsichtlich Kommasetzung vor "&").
Inhalt:
1. Zitieren: Einleitung
2. Zitieren: Definitionen, Grundregeln und Plagiate
3. Zitiersysteme: Klassifikation
4. Zitiersysteme: APA – ein erster Eindruck
5. Text: Kurzbelege gestalten und platzieren
6. Text: sinngemäße Zitate
7. Text: direkte Zitate
8. Literaturverzeichnis: Inhalt und Sortierung (allgemein)
9. Literaturverzeichnis: Autor-Element (allgemein)
10. Literaturverzeichnis: Datum-Element (allgemein)
11. Literaturverzeichnis: Titel-Element (allgemein)
12. Literaturverzeichnis: Quellen-Informations-Element (allgemein)
13. Literaturverzeichnis: Quellen-DOI/URL-Element (allgemein)
14. Literaturverzeichnis: Schriftwerke
14.1 Periodika (Beiträge in Zeitschriften, Zeitungen etc.)
14.2 Bücher (Fach-, Lehrbücher, Sammel-, Nachschlagewerke u. Ä.)
14.3 Beiträge in Sammel- und Nachschlagewerken
14.4 Berichte und graue Literatur
14.5 Tagungs- und Konferenzbeiträge
14.6 Dissertationen und Abschlussarbeiten
14.7 Rezensionen und Besprechungen (in Periodika oder Blogs)
14.8 Unveröffentlichte und informell veröffentlichte Werke
14.9 Normblätter
14.10 Patentschriften
14.11 Spezial: Juristische Texte
15. Datensätze, Software und Tests
15.1 Datensätze
15.2 Software, mobile Apps, Apparaturen und Ausrüstung
16. Tests, Skalen und Messinstrumente
17. Audiovisuelle Medien
17.1 Audiovisuelle Werke (allgemein)
17.2 Ton-Bild-Werke (Filme etc.)
17.3 Tonwerke (Musikalben etc.)
17.4 Bildwerke (Karten etc.)
18. Online-Medien
18.1 Soziale Medien
18.2 Webseiten und Websites
19. Abbildungszitate gemäß APA
20. Zitiersysteme: APA-Handbuch und -Zitierhilfen
21. Zitiersysteme: Alternativen
22. Extra: Tipps für das Zusammenstellen einer Literaturgrundlage
This paper is structured into two parts, which are closely related: first, the analysis of the parlamentary and governmental measures against the covid-19 pandemic; and second, the future regulatory framework about freedom of movement and other rights in the European area, according to the new European pact on migration and asylum.
Freedom of trade, occupation and profession in times of the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa
(2022)
This paper evaluates the freedom of trade, occupation, and profession in South Africa from a Covid-19 pandemic context. It does that by focusing on the pertinent provisions and rights contained in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (the Constitution) and relevant international and regional human rights instruments. It proceeds by discussing the interlinkage between (the freedom of trade, occupation, and profession and other pertinent fundamental) rights, limitation, enforcement, and interpretation of rights. This is followed by some final observations.
This paper analyzes some of the assumptions in which the varied use of technologies to confront the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and protect people's health has impacted on the fundamental right to the protection of personal data; to do so, it starts from the premise that the use of these technologies cannot mean an affectation to the referred fundamental right, much less an indiscriminate treatment of such data without any minimum control whatsoever.
Covid-19 outbreak had a huge impact on the economy worldwide as businesses had to close or cease their activities due to the lockdown regulations. The “luckiest” firms were able to operate but under restricted conditions. In order to avoid what certain authors called “bankruptcy epidemic” European countries took economic and fiscal measures to help companies compensate their financial losses. In addition to Government Grants, emergency legislations have been adopted with the aim to adapt insolvency and restructuring procedures to the sanitary situation and specific rules relating to company Law have also been implemented. This paper deals with the measures taken by the state of Luxembourg and gives a brief overview of the legal amendments.
The study traces the development of compulsory vaccination in Germany against the background of political discussion and legislative activities, focusing on the area of tension between state health protection and the right to medical self-determination in the context of constitutional balancing. It is based on the assumption that the right to medical self-determination traditionally dominates state decisions in a democratic constitutional state and that the scope for decision-making is constantly being further contoured in the face of current challenges.
Numerous research methods have been developed to detect anomalies in the areas of security and risk analysis. In healthcare, there are numerous use cases where anomaly detection is relevant. For example, early detection of sepsis is one such use case. Early treatment of sepsis is cost effective and reduces the number of hospital days of patients in the ICU. There is no single procedure that is sufficient for sepsis diagnosis, and combinations of approaches are needed. Detecting anomalies in patient time series data could help speed the development of some decisions. However, our algorithm must be viewed as complementary to other approaches based on laboratory values and physician judgments. The focus of this work is to develop a hybrid method for detecting anomalies that occur, for example, in multidimensional medical signals, sensor signals, or other time series in business and nature. The novelty of our approach lies in the extension and combination of existing approaches: Statistics, Self Organizing Maps and Linear Discriminant Analysis in a unique and unprecedented way with the goal of identifying different types of anomalies in real-time measurement data and defining the point where the anomaly occurs. The proposed algorithm not only has the full potential to detect anomalies, but also to find real points where an anomaly starts.
A new comprehensive evaluation system presented here allows to compare and to quantify education for a sustainable development (ESD) in degree programs. The evaluation is based on a criteria system working with three hierarchic levels. The highest level considers a list of 35 indicator terms. Primarily, the two most popular undergraduate (bachelor’s) degree programs in Germany (mechanical engineering, ME, and business administration, BA) have been reviewed for ESD contents based on the new evaluation scheme. Additionally we reviewed and quantified ESD subjects and their temporal changes in the entire bandwidth of degree programs of a university (Umwelt-Campus Birkenfeld, University of Applied Sciences Trier), back to 1999. Moreover, a spot check on international ME and BA bachelor’s degree programs was performed. Through our reviews, we found a high number of elective classes dedicated to ESD particularly in BA bachelor programs. However, the percentage of compulsory classes related to ESD is relatively low with 5-6 % in both ME and BA programs, respectively. The spot check on degree programs outside Germany revealed similar results. Analysing the time trend at Umwelt-Campus Birkenfeld, a considerable share of ESD that was part of the original diploma degrees was moved to what are now master’s degrees.
Concerns over climate change, air pollution, and oil supply have stimulated the market for battery electric vehicles (BEVs). The environmental impacts of BEVs are typically evaluated through a standardized life-cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Here, the LCA literature was surveyed with the objective to sketch the major trends and challenges in the impact assessment of BEVs. It was found that BEVs tend to be more energy efficient and less polluting than conventional cars. BEVs decrease exposure to air pollution as their impacts largely result from vehicle production and electricity generation outside of urban areas. The carbon footprint of BEVs, being highly sensitive to the carbon intensity of the electricity mix, may decrease in the nearby future through a shift to renewable energies and technology improvements in general. A minority of LCAs covers impact categories other than carbon footprint, revealing a mixed picture. Up to date little attention is paid so far in LCA to the efficiency advantage of BEVs in urban traffic, the gap between on-road and certified energy consumption, the local exposure to air pollutants and noise and the aging of emissions control technologies in conventional cars. Improvements of BEV components, directed charging, second-life reuse of vehicle batteries, as well as vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-grid applications will significantly reduce the environmental impacts of BEVs in the future.
Background: On the way to a more sustainable society, transport needs to be urgently optimized regarding energy consumption and pollution control. While in earlier decades, Europe followed automobile technology leaps initiated in the USA, it has decoupled itself for 20 years by focusing research capacity towards the diesel powertrain. The resulting technology shift has led to some 45 million extra diesel cars in Europe. Its outcome in terms of health and environmental effects will be investigated below.
Results: Expected greenhouse gas savings initiated by the shift to diesel cars have been overestimated. Only about one tenth of overall energy efficiency improvements of passenger cars can be attributed to it. These minor savings are on the other hand overcompensated by a significant increase of supply chain CO2 emissions and extensive black carbon emissions of diesel cars without particulate filter. We conclude that the European diesel car boom did not cool down the atmosphere. Moreover, toxic NO x emissions of diesel cars have been underestimated up to 20-fold in officially announced data. The voluntary agreement signed in 1998 between the European Automobile industry and the European Commission envisaging to reduce CO2 emissions has been identified as elementary for the ensuing European diesel car boom. Four factors have been quantified in order to explain very different dieselization rates across Europe: impact of national car/supplier industry, ecological modernization, fuel tourism and corporatist political governance. By comparing the European diesel strategy to the Japanese petrol-hybrid avenue, it becomes clear that a different road would have both more effectively reduced CO2 emissions and pollutants.
Conclusion: Europe's car fleets have been persistently transformed from being petrol-driven to diesel-driven over the last 20 years. This paper investigates on how this came to be and why Europe took a distinct route as compared to other parts of the world. It also attempts to evaluate the outcome of stated goals of this transformation which was primarily a robust reduction in GHG emissions. We conclude that global warming has been negatively affected, and air pollution has become alarming in many European locations. More progressive development scenarios could have prevented these outcomes.
Unintended nuclear war
(2021)
Cryotropic gelation is one of the most common approaches to design novel hydrogels with multifaceted technological and biological functionalities. In the present paper, we studied the ability of highly galactosyl-substituted galactomannans, i.e. fenugreek and alfalfa gum, to form physically crosslinked hydrogels via cryogenic processing. Cycling of the galactomannan solutions (0.25 to 4% wt) from 25 to −20 to 25 °C induced the physical crosslinking of the galactomannan chains leading to the formation of different cryogel structures, i.e. filamentous aggregates (c* < c < 1%), cellular-like gel networks (1 ≤ c < 4%) or a homogeneously swollen gel (c ≥ 4%), depending on the total biopolymer content. Alfalfa gum-based cryogels exhibited higher elasticity and stiffness, better uniformity of the structure and a lower macropore size than their fenugreek counterparts. The physical blending of alfalfa or fenugreek gum with locust bean gum (2% total biopolymer) led to the reinforcement of the mechanical properties of the cryogels without significantly altering their microstructural aspects.
Innovative biogas multi-stage biogas plant and novel analytical system: First project experiences
(2012)
The here presented applied research and development project is targeted to the development and application of new and improved techniques in plant design, performance analysis and process control. Hereto following the required steps are illustrated and the goals are outlined. The project covers the development of a previously patented anaerobic digestion process, adaption of flow cytometry as an analytical instrument and investigation of innovative ways of disposal of solid fermentation wastes. The preliminary experiences with a newly built research plant employing a novel anaerobic biogas digestion technique are discussed. In this paper the first outcomes concerning the construction and operation are discussed. A novel method of disposal of the fermentation wastes is also discussed and first results are shown.
Sustainable software products - Towards assessment criteria for resource and energy efficiency
(2018)
Many authors have proposed criteria to assess the “environmental friendliness” or “sustainability” of software products. However, a causal model that links observable properties of a software product to conditions of it being green or (more general) sustainable is still missing. Such a causal model is necessary because software products are intangible goods and, as such, only have indirect effects on the physical world. In particular, software products are not subject to any wear and tear, they can be copied without great effort, and generate no waste or emissions when being disposed of. Viewed in isolation, software seems to be a perfectly sustainable type of product. In real life, however, software products with the same or similar functionality can differ substantially in the burden they place on natural resources, especially if the sequence of released versions and resulting hardware obsolescence is taken into account. In this article, we present a model describing the causal chains from software products to their impacts on natural resources, including energy sources, from a life-cycle perspective. We focus on (i) the demands of software for hardware capacities (local, remote, and in the connecting network) and the resulting hardware energy demand, (ii) the expectations of users regarding such demands and how these affect hardware operating life, and (iii) the autonomy of users in managing their software use with regard to resource efficiency. We propose a hierarchical set of criteria and indicators to assess these impacts. We demonstrate the application of this set of criteria, including the definition of standard usage scenarios for chosen categories of software products. We further discuss the practicability of this type of assessment, its acceptability for several stakeholders and potential consequences for the eco-labeling of software products and sustainable software design.
The present work aimed at investigating an extraction protocol based on consecutive steps of isoelectric point (pH ~ 4.25) mediated gum swelling and deproteinisation as an alternative method to produce flaxseed gum extracts of enhanced techno-functional characteristics. The osidic and proximate composition, structure conformation, flow behaviour, dynamic rheological and thermal properties of gums isolated from brown and golden flaxseeds were assessed. Gum extraction under near-to-isoelectric point conditions did not impair the extraction yield, residual protein and ash content, whilst it resulted in minor changes in the sugar composition of the flaxseed gum extracts. The deconvolution of the GPC/SEC chromatographs revealed the presence of four major polysaccharidic populations corresponding to arabinoxylans, rhamnogalacturonan–I and two AX-RG-I composite fractions. The latter appeared to minimise the intra- and interchain polymer non-covalent interactions (hydrogen bonding) leading to a better solvation affinity in water and lyotropic solvents. Golden flaxseed gums exerted higher molecular weight (Mw = 1.34–1.15 × 106 Da) and intrinsic viscosities (6.63–5.13 dL g−1) as well as better thickening and viscoelastic performance than the brown flaxseed gum exemplars. Golden flaxseed gums exhibited a better thermal stability compared to the brown flaxseed counterparts and therefore, they are suitable for product applications involving severe heat treatments.
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a neurosurgical intervention where electrodes are permanently implanted into the brain in order to modulate pathologic neural activity. The post-operative reconstruction of the DBS electrodes is important for an efficient stimulation parameter tuning. A major limitation of existing approaches for electrode reconstruction from post-operative imaging that prevents the clinical routine use is that they are manual or semi-automatic, and thus both time-consuming and subjective. Moreover, the existing methods rely on a simplified model of a straight line electrode trajectory, rather than the more realistic curved trajectory. The main contribution of this paper is that for the first time we present a highly accurate and fully automated method for electrode reconstruction that considers curved trajectories. The robustness of our proposed method is demonstrated using a multi-center clinical dataset consisting of N = 44 electrodes. In all cases the electrode trajectories were successfully identified and reconstructed. In addition, the accuracy is demonstrated quantitatively using a high-accuracy phantom with known ground truth. In the phantom experiment, the method could detect individual electrode contacts with high accuracy and the trajectory reconstruction reached an error level below 100 μm (0.046 ± 0.025 mm). An implementation of the method is made publicly available such that it can directly be used by researchers or clinicians. This constitutes an important step towards future integration of lead reconstruction into standard clinical care.
Global change effects on biodiversity and human wellbeing call for improved long-term environmental data as a basis for science, policy and decision making, including increased interoperability, multifunctionality, and harmonization. Based on the example of two global initiatives, the International Long-Term Ecological Research (ILTER) network and the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON), we propose merging the frameworks behind these initiatives, namely ecosystem integrity and essential biodiversity variables, to serve as an improved guideline for future site-based long-term research and monitoring in terrestrial, freshwater and coastal ecosystems. We derive a list of specific recommendations of what and how to measure at a monitoring site and call for an integration of sites into co-located site networks across individual monitoring initiatives, and centered on ecosystems. This facilitates the generation of linked comprehensive ecosystem monitoring data, supports synergies in the use of costly infrastructures, fosters cross-initiative research and provides a template for collaboration beyond the ILTER and GEO BON communities.
Local biodiversity trends over time are likely to be decoupled from global trends, as local processes may compensate or counteract global change. We analyze 161 long-term biological time series (15–91 years) collected across Europe, using a comprehensive dataset comprising ~6,200 marine, freshwater and terrestrial taxa. We test whether (i) local long-term biodiversity trends are consistent among biogeoregions, realms and taxonomic groups, and (ii) changes in biodiversity correlate with regional climate and local conditions. Our results reveal that local trends of abundance, richness and diversity differ among biogeoregions, realms and taxonomic groups, demonstrating that biodiversity changes at local scale are often complex and cannot be easily generalized. However, we find increases in richness and abundance with increasing temperature and naturalness as well as a clear spatial pattern in changes in community composition (i.e. temporal taxonomic turnover) in most biogeoregions of Northern and Eastern Europe.
Optimal mental workload plays a key role in driving performance. Thus, driver-assisting systems that automatically adapt to a drivers current mental workload via brain–computer interfacing might greatly contribute to traffic safety. To design economic brain computer interfaces that do not compromise driver comfort, it is necessary to identify brain areas that are most sensitive to mental workload changes. In this study, we used functional near-infrared spectroscopy and subjective ratings to measure mental workload in two virtual driving environments with distinct demands. We found that demanding city environments induced both higher subjective workload ratings as well as higher bilateral middle frontal gyrus activation than less demanding country environments. A further analysis with higher spatial resolution revealed a center of activation in the right anterior dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The area is highly involved in spatial working memory processing. Thus, a main component of drivers’ mental workload in complex surroundings might stem from the fact that large amounts of spatial information about the course of the road as well as other road users has to constantly be upheld, processed and updated. We propose that the right middle frontal gyrus might be a suitable region for the application of powerful small-area brain computer interfaces.
Intraspecific diet specialization, usually driven by resource availability, competition and predation, is common in natural populations. However, the role of parasites on diet specialization of their hosts has rarely been studied. Eye flukes can impair vision ability of their hosts and have been associated with alterations of fish feeding behavior. Here it was assessed whether European perch (Perca fluviatilis) alter their diet composition as a consequence of infection with eye flukes. Young-of-the-year (YOY) perch from temperate Lake Müggelsee (Berlin, Germany) were sampled in two years, eye flukes counted and fish diet was evaluated using both stomach content and stable isotope analyses. Perch diet was dominated by zooplankton and benthic macroinvertebrates. Both methods indicated that with increasing eye fluke infection intensity fish had a more selective diet, feeding mainly on the benthic macroinvertebrate Dikerogammarus villosus, while less intensively infected fish appeared to be generalist feeders showing no preference for any particular prey type. Our results show that infection with eye flukes can indirectly affect interaction of the host with lower trophic levels by altering the diet composition and highlight the underestimated role of parasites in food web studies.
The aim of this work was to develop and evaluate the reinforcement learning algorithm VentAI, which is able to suggest a dynamically optimized mechanical ventilation regime for critically-ill patients. We built, validated and tested its performance on 11,943 events of volume-controlled mechanical ventilation derived from 61,532 distinct ICU admissions and tested it on an independent, secondary dataset (200,859 ICU stays; 25,086 mechanical ventilation events). A patient “data fingerprint” of 44 features was extracted as multidimensional time series in 4-hour time steps. We used a Markov decision process, including a reward system and a Q-learning approach, to find the optimized settings for positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP), fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2) and ideal body weight-adjusted tidal volume (Vt). The observed outcome was in-hospital or 90-day mortality. VentAI reached a significantly increased estimated performance return of 83.3 (primary dataset) and 84.1 (secondary dataset) compared to physicians’ standard clinical care (51.1). The number of recommended action changes per mechanically ventilated patient constantly exceeded those of the clinicians. VentAI chose 202.9% more frequently ventilation regimes with lower Vt (5–7.5 mL/kg), but 50.8% less for regimes with higher Vt (7.5–10 mL/kg). VentAI recommended 29.3% more frequently PEEP levels of 5–7 cm H2O and 53.6% more frequently PEEP levels of 7–9 cmH2O. VentAI avoided high (>55%) FiO2 values (59.8% decrease), while preferring the range of 50–55% (140.3% increase). In conclusion, VentAI provides reproducible high performance by dynamically choosing an optimized, individualized ventilation strategy and thus might be of benefit for critically ill patients.
Driven by decreasing PV and energy storage prices, increasing electricity costs and policy supports from Thai government (self-consumption era), rooftop PV and energy storage systems are going to be deployed in the country rapidly that may disrupt existing business models structure of Thai distribution utilities due to revenue erosion and lost earnings opportunities. The retail rates that directly affect ratepayers (non-solar customers) are expected to increase. This paper focuses on a framework for evaluating impacts of PV with and without energy storage systems on Thai distribution utilities and ratepayers by using cost-benefit analysis (CBA). Prior to calculation of cost/benefit components, changes in energy sales need to be addressed. Government policies for the support of PV generation will also help in accelerating the rooftop PV installation. Benefit components include avoided costs due to transmission losses and deferring distribution capacity with appropriate PV penetration level, while cost components consist of losses in revenue, program costs, integration costs and unrecovered fixed costs. It is necessary for Thailand to compare total costs and total benefits of rooftop PV and energy storage systems in order to adopt policy supports and mitigation approaches, such as business model innovation and regulatory reform, effectively.
Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are one of the most promising and disruptive areas of current research and development. However, these areas require deep knowledge in multiple disciplines such as sensors, protocols, embedded programming, distributed systems, statistics and algorithms. This broad knowledge is not easy to acquire and the software used to design these systems is becoming increasingly complex. Small and medium-sized enterprises therefore have problems in developing new business ideas. However, node- and block-based software tools have also been released and are freely available as open source toolboxes. In this paper, we present an overview of multiple node- and block-based software tools to develop IoT- and AI-based business ideas. We arrange these tools according their capabilities and further propose extension and combinations of tools to design a useful open-source library for small and medium-sized enterprises, that is easy to use and helps with rapid prototyping, enabling new business ideas to be developed using distributed computing.
1. Among the many concerns for biodiversity in the Anthropocene, recent reports of flying insect loss are particularly alarming, given their importance as pollinators, pest control agents, and as a food source. Few insect monitoring programmes cover the large spatial scales required to provide more generalizable estimates of insect responses to global change drivers.
2. We ask how climate and surrounding habitat affect flying insect biomass using data from the first year of a new monitoring network at 84 locations across Germany comprising a spatial gradient of land cover types from protected to urban and crop areas.
3. Flying insect biomass increased linearly with temperature across Germany. However, the effect of temperature on flying insect biomass flipped to negative in the hot months of June and July when local temperatures most exceeded long-term averages.
4. Land cover explained little variation in insect biomass, but biomass was lowest in forests. Grasslands, pastures, and orchards harboured the highest insect biomass. The date of peak biomass was primarily driven by surrounding land cover, with grasslands especially having earlier insect biomass phenologies.
5. Standardised, large-scale monitoring provides key insights into the underlying processes of insect decline and is pivotal for the development of climate-adapted strategies to promote insect diversity. In a temperate climate region, we find that the positive effects of temperature on flying insect biomass diminish in a German summer at locations where temperatures most exceeded long-term averages. Our results highlight the importance of local adaptation in climate change-driven impacts on insect communities.
Das Ziel der Bundesregierung von jährlich 400.000 neuen Wohnungen (davon 100.000 mit Sozialbindung) ist gefährdet. Deutschland steht nämlich möglicherweise eine längere Stagflationsphase bevor, die nicht zuletzt durch den Abriss von Lieferketten und den Anstieg der Energiepreise bedingt ist. Investoren von Wohnungen geraten dabei wirtschaftlich in die Zange: Einerseits sind die Möglichkeiten, weitere Mieterhöhungen durchzusetzen, aufgrund sinkender Realeinkommen beschränkt. Auf der anderen Seite explodiert aufgrund steigender Baukosten und Zinsen die Kostenseite. Dies alles dürfte sich auf die Investitionsbereitschaft sehr negativ auswirken, zumal derzeit noch keine Erleichterung in Gestalt eines deutlichen Absinkens der Bodenpreise zu erkennen ist. Letzteres ist allerdings ein Argument für den verstärkten Einsatz von öffentlich ausgegebenen Erbbaurechten, über die auch Sozialbindungen für die gesamte Vertragslaufzeit auferlegt werden können.
Allerdings können u. U. in der sich abzeichnenden wirtschaftlichen Situation durchaus auch Erbbaurechtnehmer mit Bestandsverträgen in Probleme geraten. Die Ursache hierfür sind Anpassungen der Erbbauzinsen, deren Entwicklung an die Inflationsrate gekoppelt ist. Zwar existiert eine gesetzliche Billigkeitsprüfung. Diese setzt in ihrer gegenwärtigen Ausgestaltung aber möglicherweise zu geringe Hürden bei inflationsbedingt starken Erhöhungen der Erbbauzinsen. Diese Hürden könnte einerseits aber erhöht werden, indem neben den Bruttoverdiensten der Arbeitnehmer auf die Kerninflationsrate anstatt der Verbraucherpreissteigerungen Bezug genommen wird. Eine Alternative besteht in der Bezugnahme der Kappungsgrenze auf den Wohnungsmietindex, was allerdings einen Bruch mit der bisherigen wirtschaftlichen Logik der Kappungsgrenze bedeutet.
Bei von der öffentlichen Hand ausgegebenen Erbbaurechten würde sich ebenfalls eine freiwillige Bezugnahme der Anpassung der Erbbauzinsen im Rahmen von Gleitklauseln an der Kerninflationsrate empfehlen.
Die erstmalige Ausgabe von Erbbaurechten durch die öffentliche Hand sollte orientiert an langfristigen Baufinanzierungszinsen erfolgen. Dabei wäre jedoch ein Abschlag mit Blick auf die erwartete (Kern-) Inflation vorzunehmen, die bei Erbbaurechtsverträgen wegen der hier möglichen Wertsicherungsklauseln deutlich weniger auf die Rendite als bei Baufinanzierungen durchschlägt. Die Länder sind hier v. a. dahingehend gefordert, in den Gemeindeordnungen klarzustellen, dass ein derartiges Vorgehen nicht gegen das Gebot der Abgabe von Vermögenswerten zum „vollen Wert“ verstößt.
Ebenfalls vornehmlich den Aufgabenbereich der Länder (aber auch der Gemeinden) betrifft die Notwendigkeit, eine eigenständige Förderkulisse für bezahlbaren Wohnraum über Erbbaurechte aufzustellen, die perspektivisch die gesamte Vertragslaufzeit umfasst. Eine weitere Absenkung der Erbbauzinsen über das oben diskutierte Niveau (Orientierung an inflationsadjustierten langfristigen Baufinanzierungszinsen) stellt i.d.R. nur eine zweitbeste Lösung dar.
A common answer to the financial challenges of green transformation and the shortcomings of the current taxation system is the “double dividend approach”. Environmental taxes should either feed the public purse in order to remove other distorting taxes, or directly contribute to financing green transformation. Germany adopted the former approach. However, this article argues, by using the example of Germany, that “good taxes” in terms of public finance should be neutral in terms of environmental protection and vice versa. Neutral taxation in terms of environmental impacts can be best achieved by applying the “Henry George principle”. Additionally, neutral taxation in terms of public finance is best achieved if the revenues from environmental taxes are redistributed to the citizens as an ecological basic income. Thus, distortive effects of environmental charges in terms of distribution and political decision-making might be removed. However, such a financial framework could be introduced step by step, starting with a tax shift.
This paper presents a feasibility study for the production of recycled glycol modified polyethylene terephthalate (PETG) material for additive manufacturing. Past studies showed a variety of results for the recycling of 3D-printing material, therefore the precise effect on the material properties is not completely clear. For this work, PETG waste of the same grade was recycled once and further processed into 3D printing filament. The study compares three blend ratios between purchased plastic pellets and recycled pellets to determine the degradation effect of one recycling cycle and possible blend ratios to counter these effects. Furthermore, the results include a commercially available filament. The comparison uses the filament diameter, the dimensional accuracy of the printed test specimen and mechanical properties as quality criteria. The study shows that the recycled material has a minor decrease concerning the tensile strength and Young’s modulus.
Introduction: The use of social marketing strategies to induce the promotion of cognitive health has received little attention in research. The objective of this scoping review is twofold: (i) to identify the social marketing strategies that have been used in recent years to initiate and maintain health-promoting behaviour; (ii) to advance research in this area to inform policy and practice on how to best make use of these strategies to promote cognitive health.
Methods and analysis: We will use the five-stage methodological framework of Arksey and O'Malley. Articles in English published since 2010 will be searched in electronic databases (the Cochrane Library, DoPHER, the International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, PsycInfo, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus). Quantitative and qualitative study designs as well as reviews will be considered. We will include those articles that report the design, implementation, outcomes and evaluation of programmes and interventions concerning social marketing and/or health promotion and/or promotion of cognitive health. Grey literature will not be searched. Two independent reviewers will assess in detail the abstracts and full text of selected citations against the inclusion criteria. A Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses flowchart for Scoping Reviews will be used to illustrate the process of article selection. We will use a data extraction form, present the results through narrative synthesis and discuss them in relation to the scoping review research questions.
Ethics and dissemination: Ethics approval is not required for conducting this scoping review. The results of the review will be the first step to advance a conceptual framework, which contributes to the development of interventions targeting the promotion of cognitive health. The results will be published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. They will also be disseminated to key stakeholders in the field of the promotion of cognitive health.
Static (one-legged stance) and dynamic (star excursion balance) postural control tests were performed by 14 adolescent athletes with and 17 without back pain to determine reproducibility. The total displacement, mediolateral and anterior-posterior displacements of the centre of pressure in mm for the static, and the normalized and composite reach distances for the dynamic tests were analysed. Intraclass correlation coefficients, 95% confidence intervals, and a Bland-Altman analysis were calculated for reproducibility. Intraclass correlation coefficients for subjects with (0.54 to 0.65), (0.61 to 0.69) and without (0.45 to 0.49), (0.52 to 0.60) back pain were obtained on the static test for right and left legs, respectively. Likewise, (0.79 to 0.88), (0.75 to 0.93) for subjects with and (0.61 to 0.82), (0.60 to 0.85) for those without back pain were obtained on the dynamic test for the right and left legs, respectively. Systematic bias was not observed between test and retest of subjects on both static and dynamic tests. The one-legged stance and star excursion balance tests have fair to excellent reliabilities on measures of postural control in adolescent athletes with and without back pain. They can be used as measures of postural control in adolescent athletes with and without back pain.
Background: Tobacco smoking prevalence continues to be high, particularly among adolescents and young adults with lower educational levels, and is therefore a serious public health problem. Tobacco smoking and problem drinking often co-occur and relapses after successful smoking cessation are often associated with alcohol use. This study aims at testing the efficacy of an integrated smoking cessation and alcohol intervention by comparing it to a smoking cessation only intervention for young people, delivered via the Internet and mobile phone.
Methods/Design: A two-arm cluster-randomised controlled trial with one follow-up assessment after 6 months will be conducted. Participants in the integrated intervention group will: (1) receive individually tailored web-based feedback on their drinking behaviour based on age and gender norms, (2) receive individually tailored mobile phone text messages to promote drinking within low-risk limits over a 3-month period, (3) receive individually tailored mobile phone text messages to support smoking cessation for 3 months, and (4) be offered the option of registering for a more intensive program that provides strategies for smoking cessation centred around a self-defined quit date. Participants in the smoking cessation only intervention group will only receive components (3) and (4). Study participants will be 1350 students who smoke tobacco daily/occasionally, from vocational schools in Switzerland. Main outcome criteria are 7-day point prevalence smoking abstinence and cigarette consumption assessed at the 6-month follow up.
Discussion: This is the first study testing a fully automated intervention for smoking cessation that simultaneously addresses alcohol use and interrelations between tobacco and alcohol use. The integrated intervention can be easily implemented in various settings and could be used with large groups of young people in a cost-effective way.