Auswirkungen einer Hecke auf Bodenwasserhaushalt, Bodenparameter und Ertrag in angrenzenden Ackerflächen

Bei trockenen Bedingungen wurde ein positiver Einfluss auf den Pflanzenertrag aufgrund des Verdunstungsschutzes von Hecken nachgewiesen In einem interdisziplinären Projekt auf einem ökologisch wirtschaftenden Betrieb, östlich von Wien, wird das Ausmaß des Einflusses einer Hecke auf das gespeicherten Bodenwasser, auf ausgewählte Bodenparameter und den Pflanzenertrag in die angrenzende Ackerfläche seit dem Jahr 2003 untersucht. Bei jedem Luzerneschnitt wurde der höchste Ertrag unmittelbar neben der Hecke erzielt. Die statistische Auswertung ergab jedoch nur beim dritten Luzerneschnitt und beim Gesamtluzerneertrag einen signifikanten Zusammenhang zwischen Ertrag und Entfernung zur Hecke. Beim dritten Schnitt Mitte August ist eine deutliche kontinuierliche Ertragsabnahme mit zunehmender Entfernung zur Hecke erkennbar, was durch den geringeren Bodenwassergehalt im Hochsommer mit größerem Heckenabstand erklärt werden kann

Preemption in the Rehnquist and Roberts Courts: An Empirical Analysis

This article presents an empirical analysis of the Rehnquist Court’s and the Roberts Court’s decisions on the federal (statutory) preemption of state law. In addition to raw outcomes for or against preemption, we examine cases by subject-matter, level of judicial consensus, tort versus regulatory preemption, party constellation, and origin in state or federal court. We present additional data and analysis on the role of state amici and of the U.S. Solicitor General in preemption cases, and we examine individual justices’ voting records. Among our findings, one stands out: over time and especially under the Roberts Court, lawyerly preemption questions have assumed a distinctly ideological flavor. Preemption cases are much more likely to be contested than they were in earlier decades; and in those cases, once-rare judicial bloc voting has become common

A Comparison of Chief Complaints, Specific Diagnoses, and Demographics of Pediatric Urgent Care Visits Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Retrospective Study

There was an increased incidence of pediatric patients who presented with injuries caused by falls not related to sports or other recreational activities, as well as for animal bites, during the early pandemic period of April 2020. Education of parents and caregivers of young children is warranted to raise awareness of the even greater potential for falls and animal bites when children are confined at home for longer than typical periods of time, as occurred with the stay-at-home government orders during the initial period of the COVID-19 pandemic

Quantum-Classical Transition of the Escape Rate of a Uniaxial Spin System in an Arbitrarily Directed Field

The escape rate \Gamma of the large-spin model described by the Hamiltonian H = -DS_z^2 - H_zS_z - H_xS_x is investigated with the help of the mapping onto a particle moving in a double-well potential U(x). The transition-state method yields $\Gamma$ in the moderate-damping case as a Boltzmann average of the quantum transition probabilities. We have shown that the transition from the classical to quantum regimes with lowering temperature is of the first order (d\Gamma/dT discontinuous at the transition temperature T_0) for h_x below the phase boundary line h_x=h_{xc}(h_z), where h_{x,z}\equiv H_{x,z}/(2SD), and of the second order above this line. In the unbiased case (H_z=0) the result is h_{xc}(0)=1/4, i.e., one fourth of the metastability boundary h_{xm}=1, at which the barrier disappears. In the strongly biased limit \delta\equiv 1-h_z << 1, one has h_{xc} \cong (2/3)^{3/4}(\sqrt{3}-\sqrt{2})\delta^{3/2}\cong 0.2345 \delta^{3/2}, which is about one half of the boundary value h_{xm} \cong (2\delta/3)^{3/2} \cong 0.5443 \delta^{3/2}.The latter case is relevant for experiments on small magnetic particles, where the barrier should be lowered to achieve measurable quantum escape rates.Comment: 17 PR pages, 16 figures; published versio

Doing what others do: norms, science, and collective action on global warming

Does rhetoric highlighting social norms or mentioning science in a communication affect individuals’ beliefs about global warming and/or willingness to take action? We draw from framing theory and collective-interest models of action to motivate hypotheses that are tested in two large web-based survey-experiments using convenience samples. Our results show that attitudes about global warming, support for policies that would reduce carbon emissions, and behavioral intentions to take voluntary action are strongly affected by norm- and science-based interventions. This has implications for information campaigns targeting voluntary efforts to promote lifestyle changes that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Optimal Design of Intervention Studies to Prevent Influenza in Healthy Cohorts

Background: Influenza cohort studies, in which participants are monitored for infection over an epidemic period, are invaluable in assessing the effectiveness of control measures such as vaccination, antiviral prophylaxis and nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). Influenza infections and illnesses can be identified through a number of approaches with different costs and logistical requirements. Methodology and Principal Findings: In the context of a randomized controlled trial of an NPI with a constrained budget, we used a simulation approach to examine which approaches to measuring outcomes could provide greater statistical power to identify an effective intervention against confirmed influenza. We found that for a short epidemic season, the optimal design was to collect respiratory specimens at biweekly intervals, as well as following report of acute respiratory illness (ARI), for virologic testing by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Collection of respiratory specimens only from individuals reporting ARI was also an efficient design particularly for studies in settings with longer periods of influenza activity. Collection of specimens only from individuals reporting a febrile ARI was less efficient. Collection and testing of sera before and after influenza activity appeared to be inferior to collection of respiratory specimens for RT-PCR confirmation of acute infections. The performance of RT-PCR was robust to uncertainty in the costs and diagnostic performance of RT-PCR and serological tests

The limits to libertarian paternalism: two new critiques, and seven best practice imperatives

publication-status: AcceptedCopyright © 2012 PionGill N, Gill M, 2012. The definitive, peer-reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Environment and Planning C, 2012, Vol. 30, Issue 5, pp. 924 - 940Behavioural economists argue that humans are predictably irrational in various ways, as a result of which there appears to be a role for public policy to improve their decision-making. We offer a sympathetic critique of this so-called ‘libertarian paternalist’ approach. As well as reviewing existing critiques, we present two new arguments. First, we question the use of libertarian paternalism in situations where the social good is invoked to justify policies that are not beneficial to the individuals directly affected. Second, we highlight the potentially adverse consequences of poorly targeted libertarian paternalist techniques. The penultimate section then brings together the existing critiques and the new arguments to offer seven best practice imperatives for the reflective application of these powerful, but easily misused, tools of government. We conclude with some brief reflections on what freedom might mean in the context of libertarian paternalist governance