Density, climate and varying return points: an analysis of long-term population fluctuations in the threatened European tree frog.

Experimental research has identified many putative agents of amphibian decline, yet the population-level consequences of these agents remain unknown, owing to lack of information on compensatory density dependence in natural populations. Here, we investigate the relative importance of intrinsic (density-dependent) and extrinsic (climatic) factors impacting the dynamics of a tree frog (Hyla arborea) population over 22 years. A combination of log-linear density dependence and rainfall (with a 2-year time lag corresponding to development time) explain 75% of the variance in the rate of increase. Such fluctuations around a variable return point might be responsible for the seemingly erratic demography and disequilibrium dynamics of many amphibian populations.

Intergenerational differences in cardiovascular risk factor levels in Switzerland

Background: There is little information regarding cardiovascular risk factor (CV RF) trends in Switzerland. We aimed at assessing generation differences in CV RFs by comparing CV RFs levels within selected age groups separated by a 20 year time lag. Design: Two population-based surveys. Methods: Data from the Monica (1984-1986) and Colaus (2004-2006) surveys were used. Analyses were stratified by sex and age groups (35-44, 45-54, 55-64 and 65-75 years). Results: No changes were found for BMI levels and status between surveys: in men, 26}3, 26}3, 27}4 and 27}4 kg/m2 for age groups 35-44, 45-54, 55-64 and 65-74, respectively, in MONICA, vs. 26}4, 26}4, 27}4 and 28}4 kg/m2 in COLAUS, p=NS, in women: 24}4, 26}4, 26}4 and 26}5 kg/m2 in MONICA, vs. 24}5, 25}5, 26}5 and 26}5 kg/m2 in COLAUS, p=NS. Similar results were found after adjusting for education. Smoking prevalence increased in men: 28, 30, 22 and 15% for age groups 35-44, 45-54, 55-64 and 65-74, respectively, in MONICA, vs. 35, 29, 28 and 21% in COLAUS. In women, changes differed according to age: 39, 26, 16 and 18%, in MONICA vs. 28, 30, 22 and 15% in COLAUS. Blood pressure decreased in the younger age groups and remained constant in the older ones: in men, systolic blood pressure was 129}15, 133}16, 138}18 and 143}21 mm Hg in MONICA, vs. 125}12, 129}15, 137}16 and 144}19 mm Hg in COLAUS, p<0.01. Similar findings were obtained after adjusting for education. Prevalence of hypertension increased, due to an increase in the prevalence of treated subjects, in men : 4, 8, 16 and 19% for age groups 35-44, 45-54, 55-64 and 65-74, respectively, in MONICA, vs. 5, 14, 31 and 46% in COLAUS, p<0.05; in women: 2, 10, 16, and 24% in MONICA, vs. 4, 12, 24, and 34% in COLAUS, p<0.05. This increase was stronger in men: 14, 17, 23 and 31% for age groups 35-44, 45-54, 55-64 and 65-74, respectively, in MONICA vs. 10, 21, 41 and 55% in COLAUS, p<0.01 and smaller in women: 6, 15, 24 and 44% in MONICA vs. 6, 16, 30 and 42% in COLAUS, p=NS. Similar findings were obtained after adjusting for education. Conclusion: With the exception of BMI, the newer Swiss generations appear to have a worse CV profile than the older generations. This is especially true regarding smoking and hypertension.

Communicating Highway Safety: What Works, 2002

Few topics in transportation are of greater significance, now and in the future, than making today’s roads safe for those who use them. This study aims to assist the formulation of policy by examining the empirical evidence currently available on the ability of several forms of communication efforts and activities to increase knowledge about and affect attitudes and behavior toward highway safety practices. The objective of this effort is to provide a comparative synthesis of what works and what does not in highway safety campaigns across a large number of topical areas that have a mass media component. This was accomplished by conducting an extensive literature review to determine the current state of knowledge concerning what works and what has significant potential for wide use in future highway safety campaigns. An analytic framework for investigating highway safety campaigns was created. The framework includes (1) the types of media components, (2) the types of collaborations, (3) the context in which the campaign is intended to have impact, (4) the structure or procedural steps into which campaigns are organized, (5) the principles for what works in a campaign, and (6) the desired impact of a campaign on its target audience. The report reveals 25 characteristics of successful communication campaigns, strategies that stand a chance of achieving changes in knowledge, attitude, and behavior. The actual impact of mass communication remains unproven because of a perceived lag in the development of adequate evaluation techniques. Education by itself has not generally resulted in significant changes in the behaviors targeted, but education of the public and advocacy groups has often helped enact necessary legislation, transmit knowledge about the provisions and penalties of laws in ways that increase their deterrent effect, and generate public support for law enforcement programs. Even in such cases, however, when enforcement is inconsistent, public compliance frequently decreases with time. Approaches to traffic safety that emphasize the need for long-term individual- and community-based measures are found to be especially crucial for addressing complex problems like drinking and driving that are determined by a myriad of lifestyle and psychosocial factors.

Circulating sex steroids during pregnancy and maternal risk of non-epithelial ovarian cancer.

BACKGROUND: Sex steroid hormones have been proposed to play a role in the development of non-epithelial ovarian cancers (NEOC) but so far no direct epidemiological data are available.METHODS: A case-control study was nested within the Finnish Maternity Cohort, the world's largest bio-repository of serum specimens from pregnant women. Study subjects were selected among women who donated a blood sample during a singleton pregnancy that led to the birth of their last child preceding diagnosis of NEOC. Case subjects were 41 women with sex-cord stromal tumors (SCST) and 21 with germ cell tumors (GCT). Three controls, matching the index case for age, parity at the index pregnancy, and date at blood donation were selected (n=171). Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) associated with concentrations of testosterone, androstenedione, 17-OH-progesterone, progesterone, estradiol and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) were estimated through conditional logistic regression.RESULTS: For SCST, doubling of testosterone, androstenedione and 17-OH-progesterone concentrations were associated with about 2-fold higher risk of SCST [ORs and 95% CI of 2.16 (1.25-3.74), 2.16 (1.20-3.87), and 2.62 (1.27-5.38), respectively]. These associations remained largely unchanged after excluding women within 2, 4 or 6 years lag-time between blood donation and cancer diagnosis. Sex steroid hormones concentrations were not related to maternal risk of GCT.CONCLUSIONS: This is the first prospective study providing initial evidence that elevated androgens play a role in the pathogenesis of SCST. Impact: Our study may note a particular need for larger confirmatory investigations on sex steroids and NEOC.

On the inefficiency of the restricted maximum likelihood

The restricted maximum likelihood is preferred by many to the full maximumlikelihood for estimation with variance component and other randomcoefficientmodels, because the variance estimator is unbiased. It is shown that thisunbiasednessis accompanied in some balanced designs by an inflation of the meansquared error.An estimator of the cluster-level variance that is uniformly moreefficient than the fullmaximum likelihood is derived. Estimators of the variance ratio are alsostudied.

Impact of soluble CD26 on treatment outcome and hepatitis C virus-specific T cells in chronic hepatitis C virus genotype 1 infection.

BACKGROUND: Interferon and ribavirin therapy for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection yields sustained virological response (SVR) rates of 50-80%. Several factors such as non-1 genotype, beneficial IL28B genetic variants, low baseline IP-10, and the functionality of HCV-specific T cells predict SVR. With the pending introduction of new therapies for HCV entailing very rapid clearance of plasma HCV RNA, the importance of baseline biomarkers likely will increase in order to tailor therapy. CD26 (DPPIV) truncates the chemokine IP-10 into a shorter antagonistic form, and this truncation of IP-10 has been suggested to influence treatment outcome in patients with chronic HCV infection patients. In addition, previous reports have shown CD26 to be a co-stimulator for T cells. The aim of the present study was to assess the utility of CD26 as a biomarker for treatment outcome in chronic hepatitis C and to define its association with HCV-specific T cells. METHODS: Baseline plasma from 153 genotype 1 and 58 genotype 2/3 infected patients enrolled in an international multicenter phase III trial (DITTO-HCV) and 36 genotype 1 infected patients participating in a Swedish trial (TTG1) were evaluated regarding baseline soluble CD26 (sCD26) and the functionality of HCV-specific CD8(+) T cells. RESULTS: Genotype 1 infected patients achieving SVR in the DITTO (P = 0.002) and the TTG1 (P = 0.02) studies had lower pretreatment sCD26 concentrations compared with non-SVR patients. Sixty-five percent of patients with sCD26 concentrations below 600 ng/mL achieved SVR compared with 39% of the patients with sCD26 exceeding 600 ng/mL (P = 0.01). Patients with sCD26 concentrations below 600 ng/mL had significantly higher frequencies of HCV-specific CD8(+) T cells (P = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Low baseline systemic concentrations of sCD26 predict favorable treatment outcome in chronic HCV infection and may be associated with higher blood counts of HCV-specific CD8(+) T cells.

Menschliche Bedürfnisse und Parteipolitik

Im Jahre 1978 lag die Selbstmordrate in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland einschließlich Berlin-West mit 22,2 auf 100000 Einwohner um 1,7 höher als zehn Jahre zuvor. Im gleichen Zeitraum etwa (1970-1979) stieg die jährliche Anzahl der Drogentoten von knapp 30 auf über 600. Eigentumsdelikte (Diebstahl, Betrug, Unterschlagung) und schwere Körperverletzungen nahmen von 1969 bis 1979 jeweils um mehr als 60 Prozent zu. Der Zigarettenkonsum erhöhte sich zwischen 1965 und 1979 um mehr als ein Viertel, die Zahl der behandlungsbe-dürftigen Alkoholkranken (ab 1968) um 450 Prozent. Der Verbrauch von Psychopharmaka hat sich währenddessen ungefähr verdoppelt.

Report on theorerical results of power generation and conversion

Experimental results of a new controller able to support bidirectional power flow in a full-bridge rectifier with boost-like topology are obtained. The controller is computed using port Hamiltonian passivity techniques for a suitable generalized state space averaging truncation system, which transforms the control objectives, namely constant output voltage dc-bus and unity input power factor, into a regulation problem. Simulation results for the full system show the essential correctness of the simplifications introduced to obtain the controller, although some small experimental discrepancies point to several aspects that need further improvement.

A two-dimensional doppler-radiometer for earth observation

Compared to synthetic aperture radars (SARs), the angular resolution of microwave radiometers is quite poor. Traditionally, it has been limited by the physical size of the antenna. However, the angular resolution can be improved by means of aperture synthesis interferometric techniques. A narrow beam is synthesized during the image formation processing of the cross-correlations measured at zero-lag between pairs of signals collected by an array of antennas. The angular resolution is then determined by the maximum antenna spacing normalized to the wavelength (baseline). The next step in improving the angular resolution is the Doppler-Radiometer, somehow related to the super-synthesis radiometers and the Radiometer-SAR. This paper presents the concept of a three-antenna Doppler-Radiometer for 2D imaging. The performance of this instrument is evaluated in terms of angular/spatial resolution and radiometric sensitivity, and an L-band illustrative example is presented.

Short-term increase in particulate matter blunts nocturnal blood pressure dipping and daytime urinary sodium excretion

Short-term exposure to ambient particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters<10 µm were found to be positively associated with blood pressure. Yet, little information exists regarding the association between particles and circadian rhythm of blood pressure. Hence, we analyzed the association of exposure to particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters<10 µm on the day of examination and ≤7 days before with ambulatory blood pressure and with sodium excretion in 359 adults from the general population using multiple linear regression. After controlling for potential confounders, a 10-µg/m3 increase in particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters<10 µm levels was associated with nighttime systolic blood pressure (β=1.32 mm Hg 95% CI, 0.06-2.58 mm Hg at lag 0; P=0.04), nighttime diastolic blood pressure (0.72 mm Hg 95% CI, 0.03-1.42 mm Hg at lag 2; P=0.04), nocturnal systolic blood pressure dipping (-0.96 mm Hg 95% CI, -1.89 to -0.03 mm Hg at lag 0; P=0.044), and daytime urinary sodium excretion (-0.05 log-mmol/min 95% CI, -0.10 to -0.01 log-mmol/min at lag 0; P=0.027) but not with nighttime sodium excretion. The associations with blood pressure rapidly diminished with increasing lag days, and the associations with daytime sodium excretion were maximal with particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters<10 µm in exposures 2 to 5 days before. The associations of short-term increases in particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters<10 µm with higher nighttime blood pressure and blunted systolic blood pressure dipping were preceded by associations with reduced ability of the kidney to excrete sodium during daytime. The underlying mechanism linking air pollution to increased cardiovascular risk may include disturbed circadian rhythms of renal sodium handling and blood pressure.

Laubers Vorlagen. Vermutungen zur Beschaffenheit ihres Textes - Beobachtungen zu ihrer Verwaltung im Kontext der Produktion. Am Beispiel der Überlieferungen von "Flore und Blanscheflur" und "Parzival"

Der Aufsatz gilt den ,,Texten hinter den Texten" der aus dem elsässischen Produktionszusammenhang um Diebold Lauber im 15. Jahrhundert überlieferten Handschriften. Dass das rekonstruktive Potential dieses im deutschsprachigen Mittelalter einmaligen Corpus einer so grossen Gruppe von Handschriften eines einzelnen Skriptoriums bisher nahezu ungenutzt blieb, wird als Resultat einer unbemerkten perspektivischen Verschränkung zweier Wissenschaftsgruppen beschrieben: Wo die Texte der Handschriften überhaupt in den Blick gerieten, geschah dies entweder aus editorisch-kritischem Erkenntnisinteresse oder, den Impulsen jüngerer kunstgeschichtlicher Lauber-Forschung folgend, auf der Suche nach bewusstem, gar gestaltendem Umgang mit dem Text durch das Lauber-Team. Beiden Zugriffen liegen diametral entgegengesetzte Begriffe von textueller ,,Qualität" zugrunde, die schon auf terminologischer Ebene wiederholt zu Missverständnissen geführt haben. Was die systematische, vergleichende Untersuchung der Texte Lauberscher Handschriften - hier anhand von Mehrfachüberlieferungen - sowohl für die Erschliessung von Informationen über den elsässischen Betrieb als auch für den Census der älteren volkssprachigen Überlieferung im deutschen Südwesten zu leisten vermag, zeigen die Beispielanalysen der Lauber-Texte von ,Flore und Blanscheflur' (H, B) und ,Parzival' (m, n, o). In beiden Fällen lassen sprachliche Untersuchungen und paläographische Fehleranalysen der erhaltenen Textzeugen eine Vorlage mit frühem, aus kritischer Perspektive bemerkenswert gutem - von den Lauber-Redaktoren nach diesen Kriterien gewähltem? - Text erkennen. Im Fall von ,Flore und Blanscheflur' stammte mit hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit die Vorlagenhandschrift selber aus dem 13. oder spätestens frühen 14. Jahrhundert; den ,Parzival'-Abschriften dagegen lagen zwei verschiedene zeitgenössische Handschriften zugrunde. Erhellt wird auch der praktische Umgang mit Vorlagenhandschriften im Herstellungsprozess, der bisher im Dunkeln lag: Der Aufsatz belegt, dass in beiden untersuchten Beispielen Handschriften fremder Provenienz als Vorlagenexemplare zur wiederholten Benutzung aufbereitet und dauerhaft verwahrt wurden. Dabei müssen die laubertypischen, gliedernden Zwischenüberschriften auf einem separaten Anweisungsblatt bzw. Faszikel notiert gewesen sein. Ihre vorgesehene Positionierung wurde dem Schreiber vermutlich durch Randmarkierungen im Vorlagenexemplar angezeigt. Besondere Umstände galten für die Vorlagen der drei erhaltenen ,Parzival'-Handschriften: Lauber benutzte offenbar zunächst eine den Lauber-Produkten im Typ ähnliche Bilderhandschrift, die er, da sie beschädigt war, später durch ein anderes Exemplar ersetzte. Dabei handelte es sich wieder um eine Bilderhandschrift gleichen Typs, die nun allerdings nach werkstattüblichem Verfahren über ein separates Anweisungsblatt so aufbereitet wurde, dass sich die Zahl der Illustrationen und Zwischenüberschriften erhöhte. Als wahrscheinlichste Quelle dieser zweimal verfügbaren, textlich zusammengehörenden bebilderten Handschriften ist die sogenannte ,Werkstatt von 1418' auszumachen. Auch andere Hinweise deuten darauf, dass ab etwa den 1440er Jahren eine grössere Gruppe von Handschriften aus dieser älteren Produktion, deren Schwerpunkt die höfische Literatur des 13. Jahrhunderts bildete, in den Bestand Laubers geriet und dessen Programm erweiterte. Die ab dieser Phase in der jüngeren Forschung (Saurma-Jeltsch) beobachtete, scheinbar marktorientiert gezielte Neugestaltung des Programms erweist sich so möglicherweise nur als Folge einer plötzlich verfügbaren neuen Vorlagengruppe.

Comportamento respiratório e qualidade pós-colheita de graviola (Annona muricata L.) 'morada' sob temperatura ambiente

Objetivou-se avaliar alterações físicas e físico-químicas, relacionando-as às taxas respiratória e de liberação de etileno, durante a maturação da graviola-'Morada'. Frutos colhidos na maturidade fisiológica foram armazenados (23,4 ± 1,1ºC e 81,8 ± 10,6% UR) e avaliados aos 0; 1; 2; 3; 4 e 6 dias, quanto a: atividade respiratória (RS), liberação de etileno (ET), perda de matéria fresca, cor da casca e da polpa, firmeza, pH, acidez total titulável (ATT), sólidos solúveis totais (SST) e açúcares solúveis totais (AST). Utilizou-se o delineamento experimental inteiramente casualizado, com quatro repetições. Aos dois dias, iniciou-se rápido aumento na RS, resultando no primeiro pico (197,60mg CO2·kg-1·h-1), que foi seguido por queda e uma fase lag. Ao término desta, iniciou-se o aumento climatérico (pico = 298,82mg CO2·kg-1·h-1). ET só foi detectada por ocasião do primeiro pico respiratório, atingindo o máximo aos quatro dias. A cor da casca tornou-se mais clara, enquanto na polpa se observou apenas redução da luminosidade. Houve coincidência entre o primeiro aumento na RS, o pico de ET e as mudanças mais significativas na firmeza, na ATT e nos teores de SST e AST. Durante o período, a firmeza diminuiu de 60 para 0,9N, e a ATT aumentou de 0,18 para 0,88% de ácido cítrico.

Rein arthroskopisch kontrollierte tibiale Bohrkanalplazierung beim Ersatz des hinteren Kreuzbandes: Eine radiologische Studie

Zur Anlage des tibialen Bohrkanals bei der Rekonstruktion des hinteren Kreuzbandes (HKB) wird imAllgemeinen eine intraoperative Bildwandlerkontrolle empfohlen.Hypothese: Die Anlage des tibialen Bohrkanals unter rein arthroskopischer Kontrolle erlaubt eineanatomische und reproduzierbare Bohrkanalplatzierung.Material/Methoden: Von Februar 2007 bis Dezember 2009 wurden 109 arthroskopischeRekonstruktionen des hinteren Kreuzbandes in tibialer Tunneltechnik durchgeführt. Der tibialeBohrkanal wurde jeweils nach Anlage eines postero-medialen Arthroskopieportals und Darstellung deranatomischen HKB-Insertion unter direkter Sicht gebohrt. Nach eingehender Qualitätskontrolle derpostoperativen Röntgenbilder wurden 51 standardisierte Aufnahmen ausgewertet. Im a.-p.-Bild wurdeder Abstand des Tunnelzentrums von der medialen Kante des Tibiaplateaus gemessen und inRelation zur Gesamtbreite des Tibiaplateaus gesetzt. Im strikt seitlichen Bild wurde der Abstand desTunnelzentrums senkrecht zur Tangente des medialen Tibiaplateaus gemessen.Ergebnisse: Relativ zur medialen Tibiakante befand sich das Zentrum des dorsalen tibialenTunnelausgangs im Mittel bei 50,6 % ± 4.9 (Range 40 - 64) des Tibiakopfdurchmessers. Im seitlichenBild lag der Tunnelausgang im Mittel 11,6 mm ± 4,4 (Range 4,5 - 27,5) unterhalb der Oberkante desmedialen Tibiaplateaus. Es wurden keine postoperativen Gefäß- oder Nervenläsionen beobachtet.Schlussfolgerung: Gemäß den Empfehlungen der Literatur zeigen die Ergebnisse der vorliegendeStudie, dass die Anlage des tibialen Bohrkanals unter rein arthroskopischer Kontrolle anatomischkorrekte und reproduzierbare Ergebnisse erzielt. Dabei ist eine regelgerechte arthroskopischeDarstellung der HKB-Insertion eine unbedingte Voraussetzung. Vorteile dieses Vorgehens sind dieVermeidung von Strahlenbelastung für Patient und Operateur, Zeit- und Raumersparnis im OP unddie Möglichkeit, den Bohrvorgang unter direkter Sicht zu kontrollieren.

R&D Performance Analysis: Case Studies on the Challenges and Promotion of the Evaluation and Measurement of R&D

Due to the intense international competition, demanding, and sophisticated customers, and diverse transforming technological change, organizations need to renew their products and services by allocating resources on research and development (R&D). Managing R&D is complex, but vital for many organizations to survive in the dynamic, turbulent environment. Thus, the increased interest among decision-makers towards finding the right performance measures for R&D is understandable. The measures or evaluation methods of R&D performance can be utilized for multiple purposes; for strategic control, for justifying the existence of R&D, for providing information and improving activities, as well as for the purposes of motivating and benchmarking. The earlier research in the field of R&D performance analysis has generally focused on either the activities and considerable factors and dimensions - e.g. strategic perspectives, purposes of measurement, levels of analysis, types of R&D or phases of R&D process - prior to the selection of R&Dperformance measures, or on proposed principles or actual implementation of theselection or design processes of R&D performance measures or measurement systems. This study aims at integrating the consideration of essential factors anddimensions of R&D performance analysis to developed selection processes of R&D measures, which have been applied in real-world organizations. The earlier models for corporate performance measurement that can be found in the literature, are to some extent adaptable also to the development of measurement systemsand selecting the measures in R&D activities. However, it is necessary to emphasize the special aspects related to the measurement of R&D performance in a way that make the development of new approaches for especially R&D performance measure selection necessary: First, the special characteristics of R&D - such as the long time lag between the inputs and outcomes, as well as the overall complexity and difficult coordination of activities - influence the R&D performance analysis problems, such as the need for more systematic, objective, balanced and multi-dimensional approaches for R&D measure selection, as well as the incompatibility of R&D measurement systems to other corporate measurement systems and vice versa. Secondly, the above-mentioned characteristics and challenges bring forth the significance of the influencing factors and dimensions that need to be recognized in order to derive the selection criteria for measures and choose the right R&D metrics, which is the most crucial step in the measurement system development process. The main purpose of this study is to support the management and control of the research and development activities of organizations by increasing the understanding of R&D performance analysis, clarifying the main factors related to the selection of R&D measures and by providing novel types of approaches and methods for systematizing the whole strategy- and business-based selection and development process of R&D indicators.The final aim of the research is to support the management in their decision making of R&D with suitable, systematically chosen measures or evaluation methods of R&D performance. Thus, the emphasis in most sub-areas of the present research has been on the promotion of the selection and development process of R&D indicators with the help of the different tools and decision support systems, i.e. the research has normative features through providing guidelines by novel types of approaches. The gathering of data and conducting case studies in metal and electronic industry companies, in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector, and in non-profit organizations helped us to formulate a comprehensive picture of the main challenges of R&D performance analysis in different organizations, which is essential, as recognition of the most importantproblem areas is a very crucial element in the constructive research approach utilized in this study. Multiple practical benefits regarding the defined problemareas could be found in the various constructed approaches presented in this dissertation: 1) the selection of R&D measures became more systematic when compared to the empirical analysis, as it was common that there were no systematic approaches utilized in the studied organizations earlier; 2) the evaluation methods or measures of R&D chosen with the help of the developed approaches can be more directly utilized in the decision-making, because of the thorough consideration of the purpose of measurement, as well as other dimensions of measurement; 3) more balance to the set of R&D measures was desired and gained throughthe holistic approaches to the selection processes; and 4) more objectivity wasgained through organizing the selection processes, as the earlier systems were considered subjective in many organizations. Scientifically, this dissertation aims to make a contribution to the present body of knowledge of R&D performance analysis by facilitating dealing with the versatility and challenges of R&D performance analysis, as well as the factors and dimensions influencing the selection of R&D performance measures, and by integrating these aspects to the developed novel types of approaches, methods and tools in the selection processes of R&D measures, applied in real-world organizations. In the whole research, facilitation of dealing with the versatility and challenges in R&D performance analysis, as well as the factors and dimensions influencing the R&D performance measure selection are strongly integrated with the constructed approaches. Thus, the research meets the above-mentioned purposes and objectives of the dissertation from the scientific as well as from the practical point of view.