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Fragile Knowledge and Conflicting Evidence in Museums: Effects of Personal and Situational Characteristics on Processing Depth (2013)
Grüninger, Rahel
Früher wurden in Museen den Besuchern meist gesicherte Wissensbestände präsentiert. Heute ist das vielfach anders: Nicht nur fraglos geltendes Wissen, sondern auch der Prozess dorthin wird aufgezeigt. Die dargebotene Information ist teilweise nicht mehr konsistent und widerspruchsfrei sondern konfligierend. Wie aber reagieren die Besucher auf konfligierende Information? Wie unterstützen ihre persönlichen Vorrausetzungen eine differenziertere Betrachtung? Wie können Museen " obwohl ihre Information doch freiwillig, selbstbestimmt, ohne Zwang und Pression rezipiert wird - die Informationsverarbeitung ihrer Besucher durch eine bestimmte räumliche Informationsanordnung beeinflussen? Diese Fragen wurden mittels vier Feldstudien vor Ort untersucht: Studie 1 charakterisiert Museumsbesucher durch Persönlichkeitsprofile, die aus den für die Verarbeitung konfligierender Information als relevant betrachteten Personenmerkmalen (epistemologischen Überzeugungen, Ambiguitätstoleranz, Selbstwirksamkeitsannahmen) erstellt sind. Studie 2 untersucht den Einfluss dieser Personenmerkmale und des situationalen Interesses auf die Tendenz zur Konfliktverarbeitung, ohne Fähigkeiten und Fassungskraft des Besuchers zu berücksichtigen. Studie 3 überprüft die Effekte von situationalem Interesse, epistemologischen Überzeugungen, Ambiguitätstoleranz und Selbstwirksamkeitsannahmen auf die Konfliktverarbeitungsleistung. In Studie 4 wird schließlich die Wirkung räumlich naher Informationspräsentation untersucht. Museumsbesucher können durch die Persönlichkeitsprofile "selbstzweifelnd skeptisch", "selbstbewusst vertrauensvoll" und "stabilitätsgläubig" charakterisiert werden. Eine überwältigende Mehrheit zeigt die Bereitschaft, Konflikte wahrzunehmen und ein großer Teil ist darüber hinaus bereit, konfligierende Informationen auf tieferer Ebene zu verarbeiten. Eine räumlich nahe (thematisch kontinuierliche) Präsentation unterstützt die Tendenz, tief zu verarbeiten. Etwa drei Viertel der Besucher konnten erkennen, wann konfligierende Information logisch widersprüchlich ist und konnten überzufällig gut bei konsistenter und konfligierender Information Kohärenz bilden. Positive Selbstwirksamkeitsannahmen unterstützen vermittelt über hohes situationales Interesse die Tendenz, Information tiefer zu verarbeiten und steigern die Fähigkeit, Kohärenz zu bilden. Reifere epistemologische Überzeugungen der Dimension "Sicherheit" und "Veränderlichkeit" fördern Kohärenzbildung.
A cognitive linguistic approach to teaching english prepositions (2013)
Song, Xin
English prepositions take only a small proportion of the language but play a substantial role. Although prepositions are of course also frequently used in English textbooks for secondary school, students fail to incidentally acquire them and often show low achievements in using prepositions correctly. The strategy commonly employed by language instructors is teaching the multiple senses of prepositions by rote which fails to help the students to draw links between the different meanings in usage. New findings in Cognitive Linguistics (CL) suggest a different approach to teaching prepositions and thus might have a strong impact on the methodologies of foreign language teaching and learning on the aspects of meaningful learning. Based on the Theory of Domains (Langacker, 1987), the notions of image schemas (Johnson, 1987) as well as the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980), the present study developed a CL-inspired approach to teaching prepositions, which was compared to the traditional teaching method by an empirical study conducted in a German school setting. Referring to the participants from the higher track and the medium track, who are at different proficiency levels, the results indicate that the CL-inspired teaching approach improved students" performance significantly more than the traditional approach in all the cases for the higher track and in some cases for the medium track. Thus, these findings open up a new perspective of the CL-inspired meaningful learning approach on language teaching. In addition, the CL-inspired approach demonstrates the unification of the integrated model of text and picture comprehension (the ITPC model) in integrating the new knowledge with related prior knowledge in the cognitive structure. According to the learning procedure of the ITPC model, the image schema as visual image is first perceived through the sensory register, then is processed in the working memory by conceptual metaphor, and finally it is integrated with cognitive schemata in the long term memory. Moreover, deep-seated factors, such as transfer of mother tongue, the difficulty of teaching materials, and the influence of prior knowledge, have strong effects on the acquisition of English prepositions.
Hydration of polysaccharides by the use of hyaluronan as a model system (2013)
Průšová, Alena
The polysaccharide hydration phenomenon is nowadays the subject of intense research. The interaction of native and modified polysaccharides and polysaccharides-based bioconjugates with water has an important influence on their functional behaviour. Notwithstanding that the hydration phenomenon has been studied for decades, there is still a lack of awareness about the influence of hydration water on the polysaccharide´s structure and consequences for industrial or medicinal applications. The hydration of polysaccharides is often described by the existence of water layers differing in their physical properties depending on the distance from the polysaccharide. Using the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) such water layers were categorized according their properties upon cooling in hyaluronan (HYA, sodium salt of ß-1,4-linked units of ß-1,3-linked D-glucuronic acid and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine), a model polysaccharide in the present work. The amount of non-freezing water, i.e. water in close proximity of HYA chain which does not freeze et all, was determined around 0.74gH2O/gHYA for HYA with molecular weight from 100 to 740kDa and 0.84gH2O/gHYA for molecular weight of 1390kDa. The amount of freezing-bound water, the water pool which is affected by presence of HYA but freezes, was determined in the range from 0.74 to 2gH2O/gHYA. Above this value only non-freezing and bulk water are present since melting enthalpy measured above this concentration reached the same value as for pure water. Since this approach suffers from several experimental problems, a new approach, based on the evaporation enthalpy determination, was suggested. The analysis of the evaporation enthalpies revealed an additional process associated with apparent energy release taking part below the water content of 0.34gH2O/gHYA. Existence of this phenomenon was observed also for protonated form of HYA. The existence of energy compensating process was confirmed with the Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose method which allowed determination of actual water evaporation/desorption enthalpies in all stages of the evaporation process. In fact, the apparent evaporation enthalpy value increased until water content of 0.34gH2O/gHYA, and then dropped down to lower values which were, still higher than the value of the pure water evaporation enthalpy. By the use of time domain nuclear magnetic resonance (TD-NMR) technique it was revealed that this phenomenon is the plasticisation of HYA. Further, it was revealed that the non-freezing water determined by the use of DSC consists of two water fractions, i.e. 15% of water structurally integrated, interacting directly with polar sites, and 85% of water structurally restricted, embedded in-between the HYA chains. The occurrence of plasticisation concentration close to equilibrium moisture content provided the possibility to influence the HYA physical structure during the drying. In this way three samples of native HYA, dried under various conditions were prepared and their physical properties were analyzed. The samples differed in kinetics of rehydration, plasticisation concentration, glass transitions, and morphology. The properties of water pool were studied in solutions of 10"25mg HYA/mL as well. The fast filed cycling (FFC) NMR relaxometry showed the existence of three water fractions which correlation times spanned from 10"6 to 10"10 seconds, progressively decreasing in dependency on its distance from HYA chain. The formation of a weak and transient intramolecular water bridge between HYA chains was observed. It was shown that, unlike the inorganic electrolytes, polyelectrolytes hydration is a dynamic process which reflects not only the technique used for the analysis, experimental conditions but also the conformation of the polysaccharide and its "thermal" and "hydration" history. It was demonstrated that some native polysaccharide structures can be easily modified by manipulation of preparation conditions, giving fractions with specific physicochemical properties without necessity of any chemical modification.
Revision of afrotropical Ootheca Chevrolat, 1837 and related taxa (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae) (2013)
Kortenhaus, Sabine
Galerucinae, Latreille 1802 is the second largest subgroup of chrysomelidae. 1837 Chervrolat described the taxon Ootheca, which has originally only one listed species. Nearly 200 years all galerucinae with a "compact" bodyshape, a broad pronotum, a convex dorsum , short antennae and short legs were assigned to Ootheca. When I started a revision of Ootheca, this taxon included 38 species. Comparing morphological characters of the exoskeleton combined with the depiction/description of characteristic structures of the male genitalia allowed a detailed description of the genus Ootheca and its species. After the revision 9 valid species remained in Ootheca, 4 are described to be new, 13 species were transferred to other valid described genera and 10 species remained, because of a lack of unambiguous assignment. The examination of the median lobe additionally enables me to describe three sister taxa: Oothecoides (6 species), Ootibia (5 species ) und Oosagitta (6 species).
Über den Zusammenhang der Mitarbeiterzufriedenheit auf die verschiedenen Facetten von Burnout bei Flugbegleiterinnen und Flugbegleitern (2013)
Kinschel, Marina
Die vorliegende Arbeit wurde verfasst, um Einflüsse und Zusammenhänge von Mitarbeiterzufriedenheit auf Burnout zu erforschen. Zudem wurde der Frage nachgegangen, inwieweit organisationsbedingte Variablen beim Zusammenhang von Mitarbeiterzufriedenheit und Burnout bei Flugbegleitern eine Rolle spielen. Hierfür wurde die Airline-Branche, genau genommen das Kabinenpersonal als Repräsentant, verwendet und eine umfangreiche Arbeitsplatzanalyse durchgeführt. Zur Erfassung der vielfältigen Dimensionen der Mitarbeiterzufriedenheit diente der Fragebogen zur Erfassung der Mitarbeiterzufriedenheit (FEMAZU), sowie für die Facetten von Burnout die Burnout-Screening-Skalen (BOSS) "Beruf" und "körperliche Beschwerden". Die organisationsbedingten Variablen wurden im Zuge einer Gruppendiskussion erhoben und zu entsprechenden Statements ausformuliert, um für den Fragebogen verwendet werden zu können. Dieser wurde im nach der Erstellung durch einen Pretest praktisch validiert. Die Online-Erhebung erfolgte anhand 420 Flugbegleitern im deutschsprachigen Raum.rnZu der quantitativen Erhebung wurde eine qualitative Methode angewandt, um detaillierter Informationen bezüglich der Komplexität in Entstehung und Verlauf der Krankheitsgeschichte von Burnout zu bekommen und Hinweise für die Einwirkung organisationsbedingter Variablen zu erhalten. Entsprechend der repräsentativen Stichprobe in der vorliegenden Arbeit konnte ein starker Zusammenhang von Mitarbeiterzufriedenheit auf die verschiedenen Facetten von Burnout erwiesen sowie überwiegend signifikante Ergebnisse verzeichnet werden. Als wesentliche Einflussvariablen konnten individuelle Ziele, Arbeitsbedingungen, Aufgabenfeld, Empowerment, Commitment, Emotionsregulation und Work-Life-Balance identifiziert werden. Bedingt durch die ohnehin sehr speziellen Arbeitsbedingungen im Berufsleben der Flugbegleiter sollten die Airlines bei ihren Mitarbeitern auf eine ausgeglichene Work-Life-Balance achten. Die Ergebnisse zeigten hierfür deutliche Zusammenhänge mit Mitarbeiterzufriedenheit und Burnout. Um entsprechende ausfallsbedingten Kosten vorzubeugen, wurde in der vorliegenden Arbeit eine Handlungsempfehlung gegeben. Durch die hohe Flexibilitätsanforderung in der Tätigkeit des Kabinenpersonals sowie den zahlreichen physiologischen Einflüssen wie beispielsweise Lärm, Jetlag, Schichtdienst oder Zeitverschiebungen ist es für Unternehmen, die auf langfristige Mitarbeiter setzen besonders wichtig, an dieser Stelle häufigen und langen krankheitsbedingten Fehlzeiten vorzubeugen. Eine höhere Planstabilität, ein größerer Einfluss auf die Plangestaltung und ausreichend Ruhezeit würde beispielsweise der Vereinbarkeit von Beruf und Privat entgegen kommen. Andere in der Literatur als bedeutend eruierten Variablen, wie bspw. die Arbeitsplatzsicherheit und der Zivilstand, zeigten keine oder nur eine sehr geringe Signifikanz. Abschließend wurden Faktoren, welche einen Einfluss auf das Ergebnis haben könnten, ausführlich erläutert und diskutiert sowie eine Empfehlung für die Praxis und zukünftige wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen abgeleitet. Insbesondere der Forschungsausblick zeigt, dass der Zusammenhang der Dimensionen Mitarbeiterzufriedenheit und Burnout, welche anhand der Stichprobe der Flugbegleiter in dieser Arbeit erhoben wurde, noch umfassende Erforschungen erfordert, um hier vor allem für die Wirtschaft Verbesserungen und entsprechende Kostenreduktion bewirken zu können. Sowohl für die Wirtschaft als auch die Wissenschaft wäre eine engere Zusammenarbeit wünschenswert und gewinnbringend.
3D simulation models for computer-assisted surgical planning in lumbar spine surgery (2013)
Hausen, Ulrike
Die Wirbelsäule als tragende Säule des menschlichen Körpers ist bei vielen Bewegungsabläufen hohen Belastungen ausgesetzt. Fehl- und Überbelastungen rufen dabei oft dauerhafte Schädigungen hervor. Daher ist es von Interesse, die innerhalb der Wirbelsäule auftretenden Belastungen zu bestimmen. Eine moderne und zuverlässige Methode zur Belastungsbestimmung ist der Aufbau eines Berechnungsmodells. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde ein Mehr-Körper-System (MKS) Modell der Lendenwirbelsäule erstellt. Mit Hilfe des Modells können sowohl die übertragenen Kräfte und Momente in allen inneren Strukturen berechnet als auch die Kinematik des Bewegungsablaufs simuliert werden. Die Grundstruktur des Modells bilden die als Starrkörper angenommenen knöchernen Strukturen der fünf Lendenwirbel L1 bis L5, des Os Sacrums und des Os iliums, die über die Segmentierung eines CT-Datensatzes des Abgusses der Wirbeloberflächen eines durchschnittlich großen Europäers gewonnen wurden. Die elastischen Elemente der Wirbelsäule wurden unter Berücksichtigung ihrer physikalischen Eigenschaften in das Modell implementiert. Grundlage für die Modellierung der Zwischenwirbelscheiben waren dabei eigens durchgeführte experimentelle Messungen. Das charakteristische Kraft-Deformations-Verhalten der Ligamente wurde der Literatur entnommen. Die Umsetzung im Computermodell berücksichtigt neben dem physikalischen Verhalten eines einzelnen Ligamentes zusätzlich durch einen Gewichtungsfaktor das Zusammenspiel aller Ligamente im komplex aufgebauten Ligamentapparat. Die Facettengelenke wurden durch Kontaktmodellierung in den Knorpelschichten realisiert. Daneben wurde ein Modell eines Implantatsystems entwickelt, das zur dynamischen Stabilisierung der Lendenwirbelsäule genutzt wird. Die Validierung der erstellten Modelle erfolgte über den Vergleich mit In-Vitro erhobenen Daten. Betrachtet wurden neben der intakten Wirbelsäule zudem degenerative Schädigungen der Zwischenwirbelscheibe und deren operative Versorgung durch Nukleotomie und dynamische Stabilisierung. Die Ergebnisse der Simulationen zeigen dabei eine sehr gute Näherung an die experimentell ermittelten Messwerte. Durch Anwendung der Computermodelle konnten die Auswirkungen verschiedener operativer Eingriffe, wie Interlaminotomie, Hemilaminektomie und Laminektomie auf die unterschiedlichen Strukturen der Lendenwirbelsäule berechnet werden. Ein weiteres Anwendungsgebiet lag in der Untersuchung des momentanen Drehzentrums. Neben der Bestimmung der Drehpunktbahn bei intakter Wirbelsäule konnten die Effekte einer degenerativ geschädigten und operativ versorgten Zwischenwirbelscheibe auf den Verlauf des momentanen Drehzentrums berechnet und simuliert werden.
Xplicit - a modelling framework for ecological risk characterisation at landscape-scales in regulatory risk assessment and risk managementof plant protection products (2013)
Schad, Thorsten
Chemical plant protection is an essential element in integrated pest management and hence, in current crop production. The use of Plant Protection Products (PPPs) potentially involves ecological risk. This risk has to be characterised, assessed and managed. For the coming years, an increasing need for agricultural products is expected. At the same time, preserving our natural resources and biodiversity per se is of equally fundamental importance. The relationship of our economic success and cultural progress to protecting the environment has been made plain in the Ecosystem Service concept. These distinct 'services' provide the foundation for defining ecological protection goals (Specific Protection Goals, SPGs) which can serve in the development of methods for ecological risk characterisation, assessment and management. Ecological risk management (RM) of PPPs is a comprehensive process that includes different aspects and levels. RM is an implicit part of tiered risk assessment (RA) schemes and scenarios, yet RM also explicitly occurs as risk mitigation measures. At higher decision levels, RM takes further risks, besides ecological risk, into account (e.g., economic). Therefore, ecological risk characterisation can include RM (mitigation measures) and can be part of higher level RM decision-making in a broader Ecosystem Service context. The aim of this thesis is to contribute to improved quantification of ecological risk as a basis for RA and RM. The initial general objective had been entitled as "… to estimate the spatial and temporal extent of exposure and effects…" and was found to be closely related to forthcoming SPGs with their defined 'Risk Dimension'. An initial exploration of the regulatory framework of ecological RA and RM of PPPs and their use, carried out in the present thesis, emphasised the value of risk characterisation at landscape-scale. The landscape-scale provides the necessary and sufficient context, including abiotic and biotic processes, their interaction at different scales, as well as human activities. In particular, spatially (and temporally) explicit landscape-scale risk characterisation and RA can provide a direct basis for PPP-specific or generic RM. From the general need for tiered landscape-scale context in risk characterisation, specific requirements relevant to a landscape-scale model were developed in the present thesis, guided by the key objective of improved ecological risk quantification. In principle, for an adverse effect (Impact) to happen requires a sensitive species and life stage to co-occur with a significant exposure extent in space and time. Therefore, the quantification of the Probability of an Impact occurring is the basic requirement of the model. In a landscape-scale context, this means assessing the spatiotemporal distribution of species sensitivity and their potential exposure to the chemical. The core functionality of the model should reflect the main problem structures in ecological risk characterisation, RA and RM, with particular relationship to SPGs, while being adaptable to specific RA problems. This resulted in the development of a modelling framework (Xplicit-Framework), realised in the present thesis. The Xplicit-Framework provides the core functionality for spatiotemporally explicit and probabilistic risk characterisation, together with interfaces to external models and services which are linked to the framework using specific adaptors (Associated-Models, e.g., exposure, eFate and effect models, or geodata services). From the Xplicit-Framework, and using Associated-Models, specific models are derived, adapted to RA problems (Xplicit-Models). Xplicit-Models are capable of propagating variability (and uncertainty) of real-world agricultural and environmental conditions to exposure and effects using Monte Carlo methods and, hence, to introduce landscape-scale context to risk characterisation. Scale-dependencies play a key role in landscape-scale processes and were taken into account, e.g., in defining and sampling Probability Density Functions (PDFs). Likewise, evaluation of model outcome for risk characterisation is done at ecologically meaningful scales. Xplicit-Models can be designed to explicitly address risk dimensions of SPGs. Their definition depends on the RA problem and tier. Thus, the Xplicit approach allows for stepwise introduction of landscape-scale context (factors and processes), e.g., starting at the definitions of current standard RA (lower-tier) levels by centring on a specific PPP use, while introducing real-world landscape factors driving risk. With its generic and modular design, the Xplicit-Framework can also be employed by taking an ecological entity-centric perspective. As the predictive power of landscape-scale risk characterisation increases, it is possible that Xplicit-Models become part of an explicit Ecosystem Services-oriented RM (e.g., cost/benefit level).
DNA-based methods for freshwater biodiversity conservation - phylogeographic analysis of noble crayfish (Astacus astacus) and new insights into the distribution of crayfish plague (2013)
Schrimpf, Anne
Worldwide one third to one half of the freshwater crayfish species are threatened with population decline or extinction. Besides habitat deterioration, pollution, and other man-made environmental changes, invasive species and pathogens are major threats to the survival of European crayfish species. Freshwater crayfish are the largest freshwater invertebrates and strongly influence the structure of food webs. The disappearance of crayfish from a water body may change the food web and could have dramatic consequences for an ecosystem.rnOne goal in modern species conservation strategies is the conservation of genetic diversity, since genetic diversity is an advantage for the long-term survival of a species. The main aim of my thesis was to reveal the genetic structure and to identify genetic hotspots of the endangered noble crayfish (Astacus astacus) throughout Europe (part 1 of my thesis). Since the most significant threat to biodiversity of European crayfish species is the crayfish plague pathogen Aphanomyces astaci I studied new aspects in the distribution of A. astaci (part two of my thesis). The results serve as a basis for future conservation programs for freshwater crayfish. In the first part of my thesis I conducted a phylogeographic analysis of noble crayfish using mitochondrial DNA and nuclear microsatellite data. With these methods I aimed to identify its genetic hotspots and to reconstruct the recolonization history of central Europe by this species. I detected high genetic diversities in southestern Europe indicating that noble crayfish outlasted the cold climate phases during the Pleistocene in this region (Appendix 1). Because of the high genetic diversity found there, southeastern Europe is of particular importance for the conservation of noble crayfish. The mitochondrial DNA analysis points to a bifurcated colonization process from the eastern Black Sea basin to a) the North Sea and to b) the Baltic Sea basin (Appendix 2). A second independent refugium that was localized on the Western Balkans did not contribute to the colonization of central Europe. Furthermore, I found that the natural genetic structure is dissolved, probably due to the high human impact on the distribution of noble crayfish (e.g. artificial translocation). In the second part of this thesis using real-time PCR I identified calico crayfish (Orconectes immunis) as the fourth North American crayfish species to be carrier of the agent of the crayfish plague (Appendix 3). Furthermore I detected the crayfish plague pathogen in American spiny-cheek crayfish (Orconectes limosus) and native narrow-clawed crayfish (Astacus leptodactylus) in the lower Danube in Romania (Appendix 4). The distribution of infected spiny-cheek crayfish poses a threat to the native biodiversity in southeastern Europe and shows the high invasion potential of this crayfish species. Moreover, I found that even the native narrow-clawed crayfish in the Danube Delta, about 970 km downstream of the current invasion front of American crayfish, is a carrier of A. astaci (Appendix 5). This finding is of high importance, as the native species do not seem to suffer from the infection. In Appendix 6 I elucidate demonstrate that the absence of the crayfish plague agent is the most likely explanation for the coexistence of populations of European and American crayfish in central Europe. In my thesis I show that the common assumption that all North American crayfish are carrier of A. astaci and that all native crayfish species die when infected with A. astaci does not hold true. The studies presented in my thesis reveal new aspects that are crucial for native crayfish conservation: 1) The genetic diversity of noble crayfish is highest in southeastern Europe where noble crayfish outlasted the last glacial maximum in at least two different refugia. 2) Not all American crayfish populations are carrier of A. astaci and 3) not all Europen crayish populations die shortly after being infected with the crayfish plague pathogen.rnTo conserve native crayfish species and their (genetic) diversity in the long term, further introductions of American crayfish into European waters must be avoided. However, the introduction will only decrease if the commercial trade with non-indigenous crayfish species is prohibited.
Assessment of bat activity in agricultural environments and the evaluation of the risk of pesticides (2013)
Stahlschmidt, Peter
Although agriculture dominates with around 50% area much of Europe- landscape, there is virtually no information on how bats use this farmed environment for foraging. Consequently, little is known about effective conservation measures to compensate potential negative effects of agrarian management practice on the food availability for bats in this habitat. Moreover, there are currently no specific regulatory requirements to include bats in European Union risk assessments for the registration of pesticides since no information about pesticide exposure on this mammal group is available. To evaluate the potential pesticide exposure of bats via ingestion of contaminated insects, information about bat presence and activity in agricultural habitats is required. In order to examine bat activity on a landscape scale it was necessary to establish a suitable survey method. Contrary to capture methods, telemetry, and direct observations, acoustic surveys of bat activity are a logistically feasible and cost-effective way of obtaining bat activity data. However, concerns regarding the methodological designs of many acoustic surveys are expressed in the scientific literature. The reasons are the failing of addressing temporal and spatial variation in bat activity patterns and the limitations of the suitability of the used acoustic detector systems. By comparing different methods and detector systems it was found that the set up of several stationary calibrated detector systems which automatically trigger the ultrasonic recording has the highest potential to produce reliable, unbiased and comparable data sets on the relative activity of bats. By using the proposed survey method, bat diversity and activity was recorded in different crops and semi-natural habitats in southern Rhineland-Palatinate. Simultaneously, the availability of aerial prey insects was studied by using light and sticky traps. In more than 500 sampling nights about 110,000 call sequences were acoustically recorded and almost 120,000 nocturnal insects were sampled. A total of 14 bat species were recorded, among them the locally rare and critically endangered northern bat (Eptesicus nilssonii) and the barbastelle (Barbastella barbastellum), all of them also occurring over agricultural fields. The agricultural landscape of southern Palatinate is dominated by vineyards, a habitat that was shown to be of low quality for most bat species because of the demonstrated low availability of small aerial insects. By surveying bat activity and food availably in a pair-wise design on several rain water retention ponds and neighbouring vineyards it was demonstrated that aquatic insect emergence in artificial wetlands can provide an important resource subsidy for bats. The creation of artificial wetlands would be a possibility to create important foraging habitats for bats and mitigate negative effects of management practice in the agricultural landscape. In several other agricultural crops, however, high abundances of suitable prey insects and high bat activity levels, comparable or even higher than in the nearby forests and meadows known to be used as foraging habitats were demonstrated. Especially high bat activity levels were recorded over several fruit orchards and vegetable fields where insects were also present. Both crops are known for high pesticide inputs, and, therefore, a pesticide exposure through ingestion of contaminated insects can not be excluded. To follow the current risk assessment approach for birds and mammals pesticide residues were measured on bat-specific food items in an apple orchard following insecticide applications and bat activity was recorded in parallel. The highest residue values were measured on foliage-dwelling arthropods which may results in a reproductive risk for all bat species that, even to a small extent, include this prey group in their diet. The presence of bats in agricultural landscapes that form a majority of the land area in Europe but also on a global scale leads to exposure of bats by contaminated food and depletion of their food resources by pesticide use. So far conservation efforts for bats focussed on securing hibernation sites and the creation of artificial roost sites since especially the latter were thought to be limiting population growth. However the potential pesticide effects might be also crucial for the population persistence in agricultural landscapes of bats and need to be addressed adequately, especially in risk assessment procedures for the regulation of pesticides.
Writing Processes in Wikipedia: A Linguistic Analysis (2013)
Kallass, Kerstin
Die Dissertation "Schreibprozesse in der Wikipedia" untersucht auf Basis einer linguistischen Textanalyse individuelle und gemeinschaftliche Schreibhandlungen in der Wikipedia. An Beispiel ausgewählter Artikel werden Artikelinitiationen, Handlungsmuster beim Er- und Überarbeiten der Texte, Prozesse des Planens, Gliederns und Bewertens sowie Kontroversen, Edit Wars und Vandalismus als grundlegende Aspekte des Schreibens in gemeinschaftlichen Online-Kontexten betrachtet. Dabei erscheinen vor allem Kontroversen als ein in der Schreibforschung bisher vernachlässigter Einflussfaktor, der nicht nur Auswirkungen auf die Schreibprozesse in der Wikipedia, sondern auch auf die gesamte Abbildung, Genese und vor allem Aushandlung von Wissen hat.
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