Als Idee im Umfeld der digitalen Währung Bitcoin bekannt geworden, verheißt die Blockchain-Technologie nichts anderes als eine kleine Revolution. Informationen können mit ihrer Hilfe verteilt und manipulationssicher abgespeichert werden, ohne eine zentrale Instanz als Aufsicht. Längst wird sie daher auch im Gesundheitswesen diskutiert. Doch noch ist unklar, ob in Kliniken der erhoffte Nutzen höher sein wird als die Kosten.
Durch die Mitwirkung in Netzwerken und durch Kooperationen können kleine und mittlere Unternehmen der gesellschaftlichen und regionalen Unternehmensverantwortung eher gerecht werden. Eingebunden in Partnerschaften besteht für Mittelständler eine größere Chance, CSR-Strategien umzusetzen – im Eigennutz und Gemeinschaftsinteresse. Being part of networks and co-operating with other parties increases the degree to which SMEs can meet their social and regional corporate responsibility. Active partnerships improve the chances of SMEs to implement CSR strategies – in their own interest and in the interest of society as a whole. Keywords: wettbewerbsvorteile, unternehmensinfrastruktur, csr strategien, corporate social responsibility
AbstractPerformance of aeration systems in wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) under process conditions can be monitored with off-gas tests. The ex situ off-gas method transfers activated sludge from an adjacent aeration tank into aerated columns to determine oxygen transfer parameters (e.g., the α-factor). This method is an alternative to in situ off-gas testing with hoods at the tank surface; however, its application and measurement uncertainty have not been examined yet. We outline our experience from long-term off-gas testing with two pilot-scale test reactors (8.3 m3 volume). Global variance-based sensitivity analysis using Sobol' indices revealed oxygen concentration in off-gas and dissolved oxygen as the most important input quantities to determine α-factors accurately. Measurement uncertainty of other instruments was negligible. These findings are transferable to in situ off-gas hoods because the methods are similar. Random measurement error of α-factors was estimated with uncertainty analysis and comparison measurements to a relative standard deviation of about ± 2.8% for our ex situ pilot setup. Diffuser fouling, biofilm growth, or sensor drift caused systematic errors avoidable by maintenance. Additional mixing of bubble column due to sludge inflow into ex situ tanks led to a systematic overestimation of α-factors at lower airflow rates. Hence, the ex situ off-gas method is not suitable to determine α-factors for the design of aeration systems but offers unique possibilities for research of oxygen transfer dynamics and development of aeration equipment because ex situ columns can be operated independently from a full-scale activated sludge tank.
Data are available at Dryad Digital Repository: http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ns1rn8psn ; Maintaining the diversity of wild bees is a priority for preserving ecosystem function and promoting stability and productivity of agroecosystems. However, wild bee communities face many threats and beekeeping could be one of them, because honey bees may have a strong potential to outcompete wild pollinators when placed at high densities. Yet, we still know little about how beekeeping intensity affects wild bee diversity and their pollinator interactions. Here, we explore how honey bee density relates to wild bee diversity and the structure of their pollination networks in 41 sites on 13 Cycladic Islands (Greece) with similar landscapes but differing in beekeeping intensity. Our large-scale study shows that increasing honey bee visitation rate had a negative effect on wild bee species richness and abundance, although the latter effect was relatively weak compared to the effect of other landscape variables. Competition for flowering resources (as indicated by a resource sharing index) increased with the abundance of honey bees, but the effect was more moderate for wild bees in family Apidae than for bees in other families, suggesting a stronger niche segregation in Apidae in response to honey bees. Honey bees also influenced the structure of wild bee pollination networks indirectly, through changes in wild bee richness. Low richness of wild bees in sites with high honey bee abundance resulted in wild bee networks with fewer links and lower linkage density. Our results warn against beekeeping intensification in these islands and similar hotspots of bee diversity, and shed light on how benefits to pollination services of introducing honey bees may be counterbalanced by detriments to wild bees and their ecosystem services. ; This research was co-financed by the European Union (European Social Fund – ESF) and Greek national funds through the Operational Program 'Education and Lifelong Learning' of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) – Research Funding Program: THALES: POL-AEGIS, Grant number MIS 376737. AL was supported by a Ramón y Cajal (RYC-2015-19034) contract from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, the Spanish State Research Agency, European Social Funds (ESF invests in your future) and the University of the Balearic Islands, and by the project CGL2017-89254-R supported by Feder funds, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the Spanish Research Agency.
