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Additional file 1. Exemplary screenshots of the Optimune programme, showing exemplary content of the four domains covered in Optimune.

Additional file 2. SPIRIT 2013 checklist: recommended items to address in a clinical trial protocol and related documents.

International audience

Currently available copper-based Internet access technologies like xDSL and DOCSIS cover data transmission speeds in the range of some 10 Mb/s. With new applications, an increase in bandwidth demand up to the Gb/s-range is expected for the next years. Therefore, an evolution of access networks by gradual replacement of copper-based by fiber-optic infrastructure is presently ongoing. A similar development can be predicted for wireless access technology operating within the classical microwave range. Due to regulatory requirements and a lack of bandwidth alternatives need to be developed in the millimeter-wave band. In this regard, the frequency range around 60 GHz has a special importance due to a worldwide available unlicensed spectrum of several GHz of bandwidth. In this context, the integration of wireless networks in fiber-optic networks by the fiber-optic transport of the radio signal (radio-over-fiber, RoF) is of particular importance. Besides the low-loss optical transport of a 60 GHz radio signal RoF technology furthermore allows to shift complexity from base stations to a central office by a centralized provision of the millimeter-wave carrier. This work deals with the modeling, realization and characterization of 60 GHz RoF systems providing data rates within the multi-Gb/s range. On the theoretical side, a system model has been developed comprising relevant electrical and optical noise sources and the transmission properties of fiber-optic and wireless links as well. This allows for instance to make reliable predictions of the expected system performance in the run-up to RoF system planning and thus to identify optimization potential. Using innovative approaches and technologies, 12.5 Gb/s data transmission has been realized via fiber and wirelessly for the first time over technical relevant distances. Also, if compared to conventional RoF systems the dispersion-limited fiber-optic range has been multiplied. Another RoF system in the frame of this work aimed for an uncompressed HDTV transmission, for instance for video conferencing with high resolution (1080p) and extremely low latency (telemedicine). The wireless transmission of an uncompressed HDTV signal has been successfully demonstrated. Including the previously achieved results and experiences, the system complexity has been significantly reduced.

On 01.01.2002 the Security Acquisition and Takeover Act (Wertpapiererwerbs- und Übernahmegesetz or WpÜG for short) which had been eagerly awaited on the German capital market came into force. This new regulation, which takes immense economic interests into considera-tion, is an attempt by the Federal government to take account of the dynamic market development in the field of mergers and acquisitions, and to create a binding regulatory framework for the (complete) takeover of public corporations, as has already been explicitly regulated in the USA and in many European countries for a long time. The most important regulation complexes in this act concern the introduction of a compulsory offer in the case of acquisition of control, the codification of the rules of conduct of the administrative body in the case of a tender offer, and last but not least the right of the principal shareholder to squeeze-out minority shareholders upon payment of an adequate cash settlement. In the present contribution the regulation complex concerning this right to squeeze-out minority shareholders will be contrasted with the possibilities that have existed to date de lege lata for realizing a complete takeover of joint stock corporations, and also compared with the techniques available on the principal market for corporate control, the USA. In this context attention will be focused above all on the deficiencies of the squeeze-out regulation that still exist, as well as on the inherent risks with regard to the possibility of unfair advantage being taken of the shareholders who are to be squeeze-out. At the same time the possible effects and consequences of the right to squeeze-out minority shareholders for the German capital market and the market for corporate control will have to be considered, as well as the implications for national economic efficiency, profitability, and the protection of sharehold-ers minorities in Germany and in the USA.