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Sustainability of Agroforestry Coffee Cultivation in the Cerro de Kuskawás Natural Reserve, Nicaragua
Full text linkAgroforestry coffee cultivation represents a promising sustainable agricultural practice in the Cerro de Kuskawás Natural Reserve (CKNR). This study evaluates the impacts of agroforestry systems on the sustainability of smallholder farms, considering economic, environmental, social, and governance dimensions. Data were collected from 15 smallholder farms participating in agroforestry initiatives supported by private sector interventions, specifically through an outgrowers scheme. The research utilized a mixed-method approach, incorporating questionnaires based on the FAO’s TAPE tool and interviews, to assess changes in income stability, biodiversity, gender equity, and land tenure security.
The findings reveal that agroforestry coffee cultivation significantly enhances sustainability across multiple dimensions. Economically, it provides increased income stability and diversification, as smallholders benefit from both the higher market value of sustainably produced coffee and additional revenue from integrated crops like fruits and timber. Environmentally, agroforestry systems improve soil health, enhance biodiversity, and reduce the need for chemical inputs, contributing to a more resilient and sustainable agricultural ecosystem. Socially, the inclusion of women in these agroforestry initiatives has led to improved gender equity and greater empowerment for female smallholders.
However, the study also highlights key challenges, including the high initial costs of transitioning to agroforestry, the dependency on external support from private sector entities, and limited autonomy for smallholders due to centralized control structures. The results suggest that while agroforestry systems have the potential to significantly contribute to sustainable development in the CKNR, achieving long-term sustainability will require addressing these challenges through cooperative models and local governance structures. This study provides valuable insights into the role of agroforestry coffee cultivation in promoting sustainability.El cultivo de café agroforestal presenta una práctica agrícola sostenible prometedora en la Reserva Natural Cerro de Kuskawás (RNCK). Este estudio evalúa los impactos de los sistemas agroforestales en la sostenibilidad de las fincas de pequeños productores, considerando las dimensiones económica, ambiental, social y de gobernanza. Se recolectaron datos de 15 fincas de pequeños productores que participan en iniciativas agroforestales apoyadas por intervenciones del sector privado, incluidas aquellas de EXPASA y el proyecto MATRICE. La investigación utilizó enfoques de métodos mixtos, incluyendo encuestas basadas en la herramienta tape de la fao y entrevistas, para evaluar los cambios en la estabilidad de los ingresos, la biodiversidad, la equidad de género y la seguridad de la tenencia de la tierra. Los hallazgos revelan mejoras significativas en los indicadores económicos y ambientales, como una mejor estabilidad de ingresos y un aumento de la biodiversidad. Socialmente, la inclusión de mujeres en proyectos agroforestales ha promovido la equidad de género y empoderado a las pequeñas productoras. Sin embargo, el estudio también destaca desafíos, como los altos costos iniciales, la dependencia del apoyo externo y la autonomía limitada de los pequeños productores debido a las estructuras de control centralizadas. Los resultados sugieren que, aunque los sistemas agroforestales tienen el potencial de contribuir significativamente al desarrollo sostenible en la RNCK, lograr la sostenibilidad a largo plazo requerirá abordar estos desafíos mediante modelos cooperativos y estructuras de gobernanza local
Proceedings of the Researchers‘ Corner for the 17th Annual Meeting of the Sponsoring Group Reinsurance 2024
Full text linkThe 17th Annual Meeting of the Sponsoring Group Reinsurance [Förderkreis Rückversicherung] was held 28 June 2024 in Niederkassel, near Cologne. Some 90 representatives of the (re)insurance companies involved in the Sponsoring Group took part in the meeting, along with guests. Offered for the tenth time as part of the Annual Meeting, the Researchers’ Corner gave the six academic researchers at the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance an opportunity to deliver a presentation on the research project in which each is involved in 2024.
Over the course of three sessions, the most important results of the scientific studies by the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance were presented and discussed. The heterogeneity of the topics presented reflects the dovetailing of Cologne Research Centre with reinsurance practice. An external presentation was also given.
Session 1
a) Frank Cremer (PhD, FCII): Practice and Research on Risk Transfer of Cyber Risks
b) Lihong Wang (M.Sc., FCII): Opportunities and Challenges in the Chinese Electric Vehicle Market: Insights for (Re)insurers
Session 2
a) Jörg Dirks (M.Sc., FCII): Economic Downturn due to Geopolitical Tensions – Top risk for reinsurers
b) Erik Winkler (M.Sc.): War, Terror & Political Violence Event Definitions – Quo Vadis Reinsurance Market?
Session 3
a) Robert Joniec (PhD, FCII): Intra-group reinsurance – Beyond risk transfer
b) Fabian Lassen (M.Sc., FCII): Earthquake hazard and its insurance in Austria
External presentation
a) Prof. Dr. Ulrich Frischknecht: Is Germany heading for an opioid crisis?
With the publication series, ‘Proceedings of the Researchers’ Corner’, the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance meets the desire for publication of the research results of our researchers along with the related discussions. The titles are reproduced in keeping with the above agenda of the Researchers’ Corner for the 17th Annual Meeting of the Förderkreis Rückversicherung [Sponsoring Group Reinsurance]
Natural Hazards and Climate Change Impacts on Food Security and Rural–Urban Livelihoods in Mozambique—A Bibliometric Analysis and Framework
Full text linkMozambique is confronted with numerous risks related to food security and natural disasters. The study conducted a literature review on natural hazards and food security. This can help to identify gaps and further areas of research. A bibliometric analysis was conducted using standardized text search terms, and the VOSviewer tool was used to analyze over 7000 scientific articles and cluster over 60,000 keyword co-occurrences. The results show that research on natural hazards for food security needs to be integrated. The priority topic of disasters focuses on specific hazards such as climate change, floods, and hurricanes, which are also linked to demographic and other social variables. More studies on food security, such as droughts, sustainable development, and other human and social conditions, are being conducted. Resilience as an emerging research paradigm needs to be addressed in comparison. One result is an analytical framework on impacts on food security in the context of disaster risk, based on the empirical findings of the literature review. It shows how everyday risks such as disease or food security can be conceptually better linked to natural hazards and resilience. It shows that further research is needed on the interlinkages of multiple risks, of which Mozambique is an outstanding example. The methodology presented is also applied to provide a framework for linking multiple risks to food security and natural hazards. The innovative dimension of the research is that this inquiry constitutes one of the pioneering attempts to conduct a bibliometric analysis of the linkages between natural hazards, food security, and resilience in Mozambique. Another noteworthy contribution is introducing a novel analytical framework that integrates food security and disaster risks
CO2/CH4 and CO2/CO Selective Pebax-1657 Based Composite Hollow Fiber Membranes Prepared by a Novel Dip-Coating Technique
Full text linkA novel and innovative method was developed to fabricate defect-free composite hollow fiber (HF) membranes using drop-casting under continuous flow. The synthesized Pebax-1657—based membranes were examined for gas separation processes, focusing on the separation of CO2 from CH4 and CO gases. The separation performance of the membranes was rigorously assessed under realistic binary gas mixture conditions to evaluate their selectivity and performance. The effect of pressure on separation performance was systematically investigated, with transmembrane pressures up to 10 bar being applied at a temperature of 298 K. Remarkable CO2/CH4 selectivities of up to 110 and CO2/CO selectivities of up to 48 were achieved, demonstrating the robustness and effectiveness of these composite HF membranes, suggesting their suitability for high-performance gas separation processes under varying operational conditions. Overall, this study introduces a novel approach for scaling up the fabrication of HF membranes and provides valuable insights into their application in CO2 separation technologies, offering the potential for advancements in areas such as natural gas processing and carbon capture from CO-containing streams
Hydrological Modelling Using Gridded and Ground‐Based Precipitation Datasets in Data‐Scarce Mountainous Regions
Full text linkSatellite‐ and gridded ground‐based precipitation data are crucial for understanding hydrological processes. However, the performance of these products needs rigorous evaluation before their integration into hydrological models. This study evaluates two types of precipitation products based on their hydrological simulation performance. The evaluation focuses on ground‐based precipitation datasets (GA and Aphrodite) and satellite‐based precipitation products (SPPs). The GA dataset combines rain gauge measurements with the Asian Precipitation—Highly‐Resolved Observational Data Integration Towards Evaluation (Aphrodite) dataset to fill gaps in areas with insufficient rain gauge coverage. It is also used for model calibration under Method I. In Method II, models are calibrated with Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation (CHIRPS), Multi‐Source Weighted‐Ensemble Precipitation (MSWEP) and Aphrodite product without the station data. The study considers the Koshi River Basin located in the eastern Himalayas encompassing Nepal and China's Tibetan region. The basin supports downstream ecosystems and domestic, hydro‐power and irrigation development. Based on ranking of seven performance metrics, CHIRPS emerged as the best performing SPP whereas MSWEP ranked the lowest. When the five precipitation datasets were evaluated, GA performed the best, followed by CHIRPS, TRMM, MSWEP and Aphrodite respectively. In Method I, TRMM achieved the highest Nash−Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) value of 0.68, and MSWEP showed poor performance with an NSE value of −0.20. In Method II, CHIRPS showed the strongest performance with an NSE values of 0.82, whereas MSWEP performed slightly lower but still achieved an NSE value of 0.74. Seasonal analysis provided further valuable insights into selecting and blending precipitation datasets by identifying time series that performed best in specific seasons. These findings, alongside model uncertainty analyses, emphasise the influence of precipitation biases and underscore the value of integrating ground‐based and satellite data. Ultimately, this study contributes to advancing water resource planning and management strategies in the Koshi River Basin and similar mountainous regions
Research Topic Displacement and the Lack of Interdisciplinarity: Lessons from the Scientific Response to COVID-19
Full text linkBased on a large-scale computational analysis of scholarly articles, this study investigates the dynamics of interdisciplinary research in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thereby, the study also analyses the reorientation effects away from other topics that receive less attention due to the high focus on the COVID-19 pandemic. The study aims to examine what can be learned from the (failing) interdisciplinarity of coronavirus research and its displacing effects for managing potential similar crises at the scientific level. To explore our research questions, we run several analyses by using the COVID-19++ dataset, which contains scholarly publications, preprints from the field of life sciences, and their referenced literature including publications from a broad scientific spectrum. Our results show the high impact and topic-wise adoption of research related to the COVID-19 crisis. Based on the similarity analysis of scientific topics, which is grounded on the concept embedding learning in the graph-structured bibliographic data, we measured the degree of interdisciplinarity of COVID-19 research in 2020. Our findings reveal a low degree of research interdisciplinarity. The publications’ reference analysis indicates the major role of clinical medicine, but also the growing importance of psychiatry and social sciences in COVID-19 research. A social network analysis shows that the authors’ high degree of centrality significantly increases her or his degree of interdisciplinarity
Protective Effects of Gαi3 Deficiency in a Murine Heart-Failure Model of β1-Adrenoceptor Overexpression
Full text linkWe have shown that in murine cardiomyopathy caused by overexpression of the β1-adrenoceptor, Gαi2-deficiency is detrimental. Given the growing evidence for isoform-specific Gαi-functions, we now examined the consequences of Gαi3 deficiency in the same heart-failure model. Mice overexpressing cardiac β1-adrenoceptors with (β1-tg) or without Gαi3-expression (β1-tg/Gαi3−/−) were compared to C57BL/6 wildtypes and global Gαi3-knockouts (Gαi3−/−). The life span of β1-tg mice was significantly shortened but improved when Gαi3 was lacking (95% CI: 592–655 vs. 644–747 days). At 300 days of age, left-ventricular function and survival rate were similar in all groups. At 550 days of age, β1-tg but not β1-tg/Gαi3−/− mice displayed impaired ejection fraction (35 ± 18% vs. 52 ± 16%) compared to wildtype (59 ± 4%) and Gαi3−/− mice (60 ± 5%). Diastolic dysfunction of β1-tg mice was prevented by Gαi3 deficiency, too. The increase of ANP mRNA levels and ventricular fibrosis observed in β1-tg hearts was significantly attenuated in β1-tg/Gαi3−/− mice. Transcript levels of phospholamban, ryanodine receptor 2, and cardiac troponin I were similar in all groups. However, Western blots and phospho-proteomic analyses showed that in β1-tg, but not β1-tg/Gαi3−/− ventricles, phospholamban protein was reduced while its phosphorylation increased. Here, we show that in mice overexpressing the cardiac β1-adrenoceptor, Gαi3 deficiency slows or even prevents cardiomyopathy and increases shortened life span. Previously, we found Gαi2 deficiency to aggravate cardiac dysfunction and mortality in the same heart-failure model. Our findings indicate isoform-specific interventions into Gi-dependent signaling to be promising cardio-protective strategies
Comparative Analysis of Bio-Based Amino Acid Surfactants obtained via Diels–Alder Reaction of Cyclic Anhydrides
Full text linkCurrent changes in environmental legislation and customer demands set an urge for the development of more sustainable surfactants. Thus, the objective of this work was the development of novel environmentally friendly amino acid surfactants. Combining Diels–Alder cyclization of myrcene with maleic or citraconic anhydride followed by ring opening with amino acids enabled a synthesis route with a principal 100% atom economy. Variation of amino acids resulted in a large structural variety of anionic and amphoteric surfactants. Lysine gave access to either a mono-acylated product bearing a cationic side chain or a bi-acylated gemini surfactant. First, anhydride precursors were synthesized in yields of >90% in a Diels–Alder reaction under microwave radiation and subsequent amino acid coupling in aqueous environment gave fully bio-based surfactants in good yields and purity. Physicochemical characterization showed an enhanced decrease in surface tension upon addition of amino acids to the myrcene–anhydride backbone, resulting in a minimal value of 31 mN·m−1 for gemini–lysine. Foamabilitiy and foam stability were significantly increased at skin-friendly pH 5.5 by incorporation of amino acids. The carboxylic groups of surfactants with arginine were esterified with ethanol to access cationic compounds. Comparative analysis revealed moderate antimicrobial effects against yeast, Gram-positive bacteria, and Gram-negative bacteria
Balancierung von Wissenschaft und Pflege Pflegebelastungen und Unterstützungsbedarfe des wissenschaftlichen Personals an der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen Ergebnisse einer qualitativ-quantitativen Studie
Full text linkZielsetzung der Studie war die Erhebung der Betroffenheit von Pflegeverantwortung des wissenschaftlichen Personals, die Bewältigungsformen und die beruflichen und gesundheitlichen Konsequenzen am Beispiel der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. Im Mixed-Methods-Forschungsdesign wurden qualitative Interviews mit zentralen Akteuren der Universität (N=16) mit einer quantitativen Online-Erhebung am wissenschaftlichen Personal (N=967) kombiniert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass 16% des wissenschaftlichen Personals zum Befragungszeitpunkt von Pflegeverantwortung betroffen waren, teilweise mit erheblichen gesundheitlichen Konsequenzen sowie einem insgesamt sehr hohem Mental Load. Rund die Hälfte der Wissenschaftler*innen antizipiert eine Pflegeverantwortung sicher oder wahrscheinlich für die nächsten Jahre. Die qualitativen Interviewergebnisse zeigen eine gestiegene Wahrnehmung der Relevanz von Pflege-/Sorgeverantwortung an der Universität. Gleichzeitig wurde deutlich, dass Pflegeverantwortung deutlich weniger sichtbar ist als die Sorge um Kinder und auch kaum durch konkrete Maßnahmen adressiert wird. Die Ergebnisse münden in Handlungsempfehlungen zur Verbesserung der Vereinbarkeit von wissenschaftlicher Laufbahn und der Sorge-/Pflegeverantwortung für Angehörige
Gewaltprävention und Resozialisierung bei weiblichen Gefangenen im Jugendstrafvollzug – Beiträge der Sozialen Arbeit
Full text linkDie Zahl Jugendlicher und Heranwachsender im Strafvollzug, die aufgrund von Gewaltdelikten inhaftiert sind, ist innerhalb der letzten Jahre gestiegen. Die Thesis untersucht literaturbasiert die Frage nach den Ursachen devianten Verhaltens und stellt hierzu Hypothesen auf. Bei der Erstellung konnte nur auf eine begrenzte Datenbasis zurückgegriffen werden. Die unterschiedlichen Formen von Gewalt werden beleuchtet. Gewaltausübung und -bereitschaft im Zusammenhang mit der Straftat und in der Justizvollzugsanstalt durch und an Mitgefangene betrifft die Geschlechter gleichermaßen. Die Thesis fokussiert sich auf die Gruppe weiblicher Strafgefangener im Jugendvollzug. Es wird auf geschlechtsspezifische Unterschiede eingegangen. Mit der Thesis werden Hypothesen zur Entstehung devianten Verhaltens aufgestellt. Hierbei ist essenziell, dass junge inhaftierte Menschen häufig in prekären Lebenssituationen aufwachsen und in ihrer Kindheit beziehungsweise Jugend innerhalb sowie außerhalb ihrer Familie vielfach Gewalt erfahren. Zahlreiche Fälle werden vom Schutzsystem nicht erkannt.
Prozentual gehört nur ein geringer Teil der Gefangenen dem weiblichen Geschlecht an. Die Bachelorthesis untersucht theoretisch und empirisch die Situation weiblicher Gefangener im Jugendstrafvollzug und setzt sich am Beispiel der JVA Iserlohn mit der Frage auseinander, inwiefern Fachkräfte des Sozialen Dienstes einen Beitrag zu Gewaltprävention und zur Erreichung der Ziele des Jugendstrafvollzuges leisten können