Alljährlich im Frühling trifft das tiefblaue Heft mit dem Jahresbericht der Ombudsstelle der Stadt Zürich bei mir ein. Diese Berichte habe ich in den letzten Jahren allesamt von A bis Z mit grossem Gewinn gelesen. Als Arbeits- und Sozialversicherungsrechtlerin interessieren mich insbesondere die Probleme, die aus diesen Rechtsbereichen an die Ombudsstelle herangetragen werden. Die illustrativen Fallberichte lassen mich jeweils teilhaben an Rechtsund Lebenswirklichkeiten, die zu vielen Forschungsfragen anregen.

Mit der Einführung der Swissness-Kriterien durch das revidierte Marken- und Wappenschutzgesetz hat die Schweiz in Sachen Herkunftsangaben im internationalen Vergleich ein Novum geschaffen. Ein Schweizerkreuz am falschen Ort kann sowohl strafrechtlich wie auch zivilrechtlich einschneidende Konsequenzen haben. Im Streitfall muss der Beklagte beweisen, dass er die Schweizer Rezeptur oder die Schweizer Herstellungskosten korrekt berechnet hat. Durch diese Regeln werden Schweizer Produkte exklusiver und entsprechend wertvoller. Diese Exklusivität ruft Trittbrettfahrer auf den Plan: Chinesische, indische und amerikanische Kunden kaufen gerne Swissness, aber nicht immer die Produkte aus der Schweiz. Wie steht es um den Schutz der Schweizer Herkunftsangabe im Ausland?

Psychometric properties of a 23-item inventory that measures five correlates of career counseling for evaluation purposes are presented. The dimensions were developed bottom-up. The construction sample consisted of 3316 adult clients of public career counseling services in Switzerland, who were assessed within a naturalistic multicenter evaluation study with pre-post design. The inventory proved reliable (Cronbach’s a between 0.72 and 0.82, McDonnald’s & between 0.73 and 0.81). Concerning validity, the dimensions were supported by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (CFI = 0.910, SRMR = 0.044, RMSEA = 0.056). Configural, metric and scalar measurement invariance of gender (female vs. male) and age group (<30 vs. ≥30 years) was also supported. Pre-post changes are medium to large. Practical use and theoretical localization among related German-language instruments are discussed.

Actinomycetes strains isolated from different habitats in Switzerland were investigated for production of antibacterial and antitumoral compounds. Based on partial 16S rRNA gene sequences, the isolated strains were identified to genus level. Streptomyces as the largest genus of Actinobacteriawas isolated the most frequently. A screening assay using the OmniLog instrument was established to facilitate the detection of active compounds from actinomycetes. Extracts prepared from the cultivated strains able to inhibit Staphylococcus aureusand Escherichia coliwere further analysed by HPLC and MALDI-TOF MS to identify the produced antibiotics. In this study, the bioactive compound echinomycin was identified from two isolated Streptomycesstrains. Natural compounds similar to TPU-0037-C, azalomycin F4a 2-ethylpentyl ester, a derivative of bafilomycin A1, milbemycin-α8 and dihydropicromycin were detected from different isolated Streptomyces strains. Milbemycin-α8 showed cytotoxic activity ag...

Biotic mechanisms associated with species diversity are expected to stabilize communities in theoretical and experimental studies but may be difficult to detect in natural communities exposed to large environmental variation. We investigated biotic stability mechanisms in a multi-site study across Inner Mongolian grassland characterized by large spatial variations in species richness and composition and temporal fluctuations in precipitation. We used a new additive-partitioning method to separate species synchrony and population dynamics within communities into different species-abundance groups. Community stability was independent of species richness but was regulated by species synchrony and population dynamics, especially of abundant species. Precipitation fluctuations synchronized population dynamics within communities, reducing their stability. Our results indicate generality of biotic stability mechanisms in natural ecosystems and suggest that for accurate predictions of commu...

The relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF) have been extensively studied over past decades. However, the environmental factors affecting their relationships, and how their relationships vary under the influence of environmental factors, remain controversial. Studying the BEF relationships in natural/wild environments is of great significance for devising strategies in biodiversity conservation and ecosystem functioning. Using the data from 75 sites on the Mongolian Plateau steppe, we analyzed the relationship between species richness and biomass with general linear models (GLMs) and linear mixed models (LMMs), and analyzed the variation in the species richness-biomass relationships under environmental conditions by the partial least square path modeling (PLSPM). The results showed that de Martonne aridity index affected both species richness and community biomass in parallel, and that hydrothermal coupling conditions were more important direct impact fact...

Bei einem Jobverlust haben es ältere Arbeitnehmende schwerer, eine neue Stelle zu finden. Häufig werden als Mitgrund dafür die in der zweiten Säule anfallenden Kosten genannt. Doch senkt die berufliche Vorsorge tatsächlich die Anreize zur Beschäftigung älterer Personen?

Ende April 2020 erging eine Entscheidung des Europäischen Gerichtshofs auf ein Vorabentscheidungsersuchen des Arbeitsgerichts Watford (Watford Employment Tribunal) aus dem Vereinigten Königreich in einem nationalen Verfahren betreffend Arbeitszeitschutz im Sinne der EU-Richtlinie 2003/88/EG vom 4. November 2003 über bestimmte Aspekte der Arbeitszeitgestaltung. Das Vorlageverfahren bot dem EuGH Gelegenheit, zur Arbeitnehmereigenschaft von Plattformbeschäftigten Stellung zu nehmen.