Attitudes and behaviour towards food attributes and organic food – a triangular methodological investigation of occasional organic consumers

Organic food is increasingly available in the conventional food retail, where organic products are offered alongside with various other types of products and compete mainly with conventional and the so-called conventional-plus products. The latter are conventional products displaying particular quality attributes on the product packaging, such as ‘no artificial additives’, or ‘from animal welfare husbandry’. Often, these quality attributes also apply to organic products. Occasional organic consumers might prefer such conventional-plus alternatives that are perceived to be ‘between’ organic and conventional products. The overall objective of this PhD thesis was to provide information about the segment of occasional organic consumers. In particular, the thesis focussed on consumer perceptions and attitudes towards the quality of, and preferences for, organic, conventional and conventional-plus products in two countries: Germany and Switzerland. To achieve these objectives, qualitative and quantitative consumer research was combined in order to explore occasional organic consumers’ perceptions and attitudes as well as to observe their preferences and buying behaviour regarding different types of food products: organic, conventional and conventional-plus products. The qualitative research showed that, depending on single criteria, organic production was both positively as well as negatively assessed by consumers. Consumer perception of organic food was found to be highly selective and primarily focussed on the final stage of the particular production process. A major problem is that consumers are still mostly unfamiliar with factors associated with organic production, have a lack of confidence, and often confuse organic with conventional products. Besides this, consumer expectations of organic products are different from the expectations of conventional products. The quantitative research revealed that attitudes strongly determine consumers’ preferences for organic, conventional and conventional-plus products. Consumer attitudes tended to differ more between organic and conventional choices rather than conventional-plus and conventional choices. Furthermore, occasional organic consumers are heterogeneous in their preferences. They can be grouped into two segments: the consumers in one segment were less price sensitive and preferred organic products. The consumers in the other segment were more price sensitive and rather preferred conventional-plus or conventional products. To conclude, given the selective and subjective nature of consumer perception and the strong focus of consumer perception on the final stage of the food production process, specific additional values of organic farming should be communicated in clear and catchy messages. At the same time, these messages should be particularly focussed on the final stage of organic food production. The communication of specific added values in relation with organic products to improve the perceived price-performance-ratio is important since conventional-plus products represent an interesting alternative particularly for price sensitive occasional organic consumers. Besides this, it is important to strengthen affirmative consumer attitudes towards organic production. Therefore, policy support should emphasise on long-term communication campaigns and education programmes to increase the consumer awareness and knowledge of organic food and farming. Since consumers expect that organic food is regionally or at least domestically produced while they less accept organic imports, policy support of domestic and regional producers is a crucial measure to fill the current gap between the increasing consumer demand of organic food and the stagnation of the domestic and regional organic food supply.

Case Management in der ambulanten gerontopsychiatrischen Versorgung

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird ein am Strengths-Modell orientiertes Case Management-Projekt zur Prozess- und Ergebnisoptimierung der bereits bestehenden ambulanten gerontopsychiatrischen Versorgungsstruktur untersucht. Dazu arbeitete eine Krankenpflegerin mit psychiatrischer Fachausbildung in einer Berliner Sozialstation auf Basis einer professionellen Beziehung für 4-6 Wochen bei Klientinnen mit gerontopsychiatrischen Problemlagen, erstellte ein Assessment, leistete notwendige Unterstützung zunächst selbst, vermittelte gestützt auf die eigenen Erfahrungen weiterführende Dienste, leitete diese Dienste an, zog sich dann aus dem direkten Kontakt mit den Klientinnen zurück und blieb beratend für die weiterführenden Dienste verfügbar. Zur Untersuchung des Projekts wurden qualitative und quantitative Verfahren eingesetzt. Zur Beschreibung der Inhalte wurden die für jede Klientin verfasste Dokumentation und die Ergebnisse von grob strukturierten Interviews mit der Case Managerin, angelehnt an eine reduzierte Form der Methode Grounded Theory, in einem iterativen Prozess analysiert. In einem zweiten Schritt wurde dann untersucht, inwieweit die einzelnen Arbeitsinhalte des Case Managements die sozial-räumlichdingliche Umweltanpassung und Proaktivität der Klientinnen unterstützten. Die Wirkungen des Projektes auf Kognition, Aktivitäten des täglichen Lebens (ADL), Instrumentelle Aktivitäten des täglichen Lebens (IADL), Stimmung sowie soziales und störendes Verhalten wurden mittels eines standardisierten Fragebogens mit einem quasi-experimentellen prospektiven Untersuchungsdesign analysiert. Zur Analyse der subjektiven Wirkung des Projektes auf Angehörige wurden in den Ergebnissen von grob strukturierten Interviews mittels eines iterativen Prozesses Themen identifiziert. Die Klientinnen (n=11) erhielten durchschnittlich 23 Stunden Case Management. Neben den typischen Case Management-Aufgaben führte die Case Managerin, basierend auf den Gewohnheiten, Interessen und Selbsteinschätzungen der Klientinnen, therapeutische und pflegerische Maßnahmen durch und unterstützte dabei die sozial-dinglichräumliche Umweltanpassung und Proaktivität der Klientinnen. Zusätzlich wurden Hauspflegerinnen von der Case Managerin individuell in der Wohnung von Klientinnen hinsichtlich der Kommunikation mit und Unterstützung der Proaktivität von Klientinnen angeleitet. Die Hauspflegerinnen führten die von der Case Managerin eingeleiteten Maßnahmen erfolgreich fort. Bei den Klientinnen zeigten sich signifikante Verbesserungen in Gedächtnis, Stimmung, IADL-Funktionen und Sozialverhalten, aber nicht in ADL-Funktionen und störendem Verhalten. Diese Verbesserungen wurden subjektiv von den Angehörigen (n=7) bestätigt. Zusätzlich empfanden Angehörige eine zeitliche aber keine psychische Entlastung. Mit diesem Projekt wurde gezeigt, dass ein zeitlich begrenztes klientenzentriertes Case Management kognitive, soziale und emotionale Funktionen von gerontopsychiatrisch Erkrankten verbessert, Angehörige zeitlich entlastet und dass Hauspflegerinnen bei entsprechender Anleitung die vom Case Management eingeleiteten Maßnahmen fortführen können. In Folgestudien mit größerem Umfang sollten diese Ergebnisse überprüft werden um dann zu entscheiden, ob dieser Ansatz geeignet ist, die ambulante gerontopsychiatrische Versorgung gemeindenah zu verbessern.

Design, implementation and application of a generic framework for integrated regional land-use modeling

Land use is a crucial link between human activities and the natural environment and one of the main driving forces of global environmental change. Large parts of the terrestrial land surface are used for agriculture, forestry, settlements and infrastructure. Given the importance of land use, it is essential to understand the multitude of influential factors and resulting land use patterns. An essential methodology to study and quantify such interactions is provided by the adoption of land-use models. By the application of land-use models, it is possible to analyze the complex structure of linkages and feedbacks and to also determine the relevance of driving forces. Modeling land use and land use changes has a long-term tradition. In particular on the regional scale, a variety of models for different regions and research questions has been created. Modeling capabilities grow with steady advances in computer technology, which on the one hand are driven by increasing computing power on the other hand by new methods in software development, e.g. object- and component-oriented architectures. In this thesis, SITE (Simulation of Terrestrial Environments), a novel framework for integrated regional sland-use modeling, will be introduced and discussed. Particular features of SITE are the notably extended capability to integrate models and the strict separation of application and implementation. These features enable efficient development, test and usage of integrated land-use models. On its system side, SITE provides generic data structures (grid, grid cells, attributes etc.) and takes over the responsibility for their administration. By means of a scripting language (Python) that has been extended by language features specific for land-use modeling, these data structures can be utilized and manipulated by modeling applications. The scripting language interpreter is embedded in SITE. The integration of sub models can be achieved via the scripting language or by usage of a generic interface provided by SITE. Furthermore, functionalities important for land-use modeling like model calibration, model tests and analysis support of simulation results have been integrated into the generic framework. During the implementation of SITE, specific emphasis was laid on expandability, maintainability and usability. Along with the modeling framework a land use model for the analysis of the stability of tropical rainforest margins was developed in the context of the collaborative research project STORMA (SFB 552). In a research area in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, socio-environmental impacts of land-use changes were examined. SITE was used to simulate land-use dynamics in the historical period of 1981 to 2002. Analogous to that, a scenario that did not consider migration in the population dynamics, was analyzed. For the calculation of crop yields and trace gas emissions, the DAYCENT agro-ecosystem model was integrated. In this case study, it could be shown that land-use changes in the Indonesian research area could mainly be characterized by the expansion of agricultural areas at the expense of natural forest. For this reason, the situation had to be interpreted as unsustainable even though increased agricultural use implied economic improvements and higher farmers' incomes. Due to the importance of model calibration, it was explicitly addressed in the SITE architecture through the introduction of a specific component. The calibration functionality can be used by all SITE applications and enables largely automated model calibration. Calibration in SITE is understood as a process that finds an optimal or at least adequate solution for a set of arbitrarily selectable model parameters with respect to an objective function. In SITE, an objective function typically is a map comparison algorithm capable of comparing a simulation result to a reference map. Several map optimization and map comparison methodologies are available and can be combined. The STORMA land-use model was calibrated using a genetic algorithm for optimization and the figure of merit map comparison measure as objective function. The time period for the calibration ranged from 1981 to 2002. For this period, respective reference land-use maps were compiled. It could be shown, that an efficient automated model calibration with SITE is possible. Nevertheless, the selection of the calibration parameters required detailed knowledge about the underlying land-use model and cannot be automated. In another case study decreases in crop yields and resulting losses in income from coffee cultivation were analyzed and quantified under the assumption of four different deforestation scenarios. For this task, an empirical model, describing the dependence of bee pollination and resulting coffee fruit set from the distance to the closest natural forest, was integrated. Land-use simulations showed, that depending on the magnitude and location of ongoing forest conversion, pollination services are expected to decline continuously. This results in a reduction of coffee yields of up to 18% and a loss of net revenues per hectare of up to 14%. However, the study also showed that ecological and economic values can be preserved if patches of natural vegetation are conservated in the agricultural landscape. -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Investigation of Multiphase Power Converter using Integrated Coupled Inductor Regarding Electric Vehicle Application

The challenge of reducing carbon emission and achieving emission target until 2050, has become a key development strategy of energy distribution for each country. The automotive industries, as the important portion of implementing energy requirements, are making some related researches to meet energy requirements and customer requirements. For modern energy requirements, it should be clean, green and renewable. For customer requirements, it should be economic, reliable and long life time. Regarding increasing requirements on the market and enlarged customer quantity, EVs and PHEV are more and more important for automotive manufactures. Normally for EVs and PHEV there are two important key parts, which are battery package and power electronics composing of critical components. A rechargeable battery is a quite important element for achieving cost competitiveness, which is mainly used to story energy and provide continue energy to drive an electric motor. In order to recharge battery and drive the electric motor, power electronics group is an essential bridge to convert different energy types for both of them. In modern power electronics there are many different topologies such as non-isolated and isolated power converters which can be used to implement for charging battery. One of most used converter topology is multiphase interleaved power converter, pri- marily due to its prominent advantages, which is frequently employed to obtain optimal dynamic response, high effciency and compact converter size. Concerning its usage, many detailed investigations regarding topology, control strategy and devices have been done. In this thesis, the core research is to investigate some branched contents in term of issues analysis and optimization approaches of building magnetic component. This work starts with an introduction of reasons of developing EVs and PEHV and an overview of different possible topologies regarding specific application requirements. Because of less components, high reliability, high effciency and also no special safety requirement, non-isolated multiphase interleaved converter is selected as the basic research topology of founded W-charge project for investigating its advantages and potential branches on using optimized magnetic components. Following, all those proposed aspects and approaches are investigated and analyzed in details in order to verify constrains and advantages through using integrated coupled inductors. Furthermore, digital controller concept and a novel tapped-inductor topology is proposed for multiphase power converter and electric vehicle application.