Species-Rich Grassland as an Ecological Good in an Outcome-Based Payment Scheme

Agriculture plays an important role in protecting the biodiversity of the rural environment. Since the reform of the EU\u27s common agricultural policy (CAP) in 1992, agri-environment schemes have been supported by the EU within the framework of the second pillar of CAP. In these programmes, farmers were rewarded for environmental services. The predominantly action-oriented programmes imply particular disadvantages; they tend to lack economic efficiency and to fail with regard to the conservation and improvement of biodiversity (Kleijn & Sutherland, 2003; Wilhelm, 1999). This situation was the starting point for the development of an outcome-based payment scheme. We focus on the process of defining ecological goods - in particular with regard to grassland - as the results of ecological services, which are to be remunerated by means of this innovative payment system

Phase optimization of thermally actuated piezoresistive resonant MEMS cantilever sensors

The asymmetric resonance response in thermally actuated piezoresistive cantilever sensors causes a need for optimization, taking parasitic actuation–sensing effects into account. In this work, two compensation methods based on Wheatstone bridge (WB) input voltage (VWB_in) adjustment and reference circuit involvement were developed and investigated to diminish those unwanted coupling influences. In the first approach, VWB_in was increased, resulting in a higher current flowing through the WB piezoresistors as well as a temperature gradient reduction between the thermal actuator (heating resistor: HR) and the WB, which can consequently minimize the parasitic coupling. Nevertheless, increasing VWB_in (e.g., from 1 to 3.3&thinsp;V) may also yield an unwanted increase in power consumption by more than 10 times. Therefore, a second compensation method was considered: i.e., a reference electronic circuit is integrated with the cantilever sensor. Here, an electronic reference circuit was developed, which mimics the frequency behavior of the parasitic coupling. By subtracting the output of this circuit from the output of the cantilever, the resonance response can thus be improved. Both simulated and measured data show optimized amplitude and phase characteristics around resonant frequencies of 190.17 and 202.32&thinsp;kHz, respectively. With this phase optimization in place, a phase-locked-loop (PLL) based system can be used to track the resonant frequency in real time, even under changing conditions of temperature (T) and relative humidity (RH), respectively. Finally, it is expected to enhance the sensitivity of such piezoresistive electro-thermal cantilever sensors under loading with any target analytes (e.g., particulate matter, gas, and humidity).</p

Factors associated with employment status before and during pregnancy: Implications for studies of pregnancy outcomes

Background: Potential confounding or effect modification by employment status is frequently overlooked in pregnancy outcome studies. Methods: To characterize how employed and non-employed women differ, we compared demographics, behaviors, and reproductive histories by maternal employment status for 8,343 mothers of control (non-malformed) infants in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study (1997–2007) and developed a multivariable model for employment status anytime during pregnancy and the 3 months before conception. Results: Sixteen factors were independently associated with employment before or during pregnancy, including: maternal age, pre-pregnancy body mass index, pregnancy intention, periconceptional/first trimester smoking and alcohol consumption, and household income. Conclusions: Employment status was significantly associated with many common risk factors for adverse pregnancy outcomes. Pregnancy outcome studies should consider adjustment or stratification by employment status. In studies of occupational exposures, these differences may cause uncontrollable confounding if non-employed women are treated as unexposed instead of excluded from analysis. Am. J. Ind. Med. 60:329–341, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Agri-Environmental Policy Measures in Israel: The Potential of Using Market-Oriented Instruments

This paper examines the possibilities of developing agri-environmental policy measures in Israel, focusing on market-oriented instruments. A conceptual framework for developing agri-environmental policy measures is presented, first in very broad lines (mandatory regulations, economic instruments and advisory measures) and subsequently focusing on economic instruments, and specifically, on market-oriented ones. Two criteria of choice between the measures are suggested: their contribution to improving the effectiveness of the policy; and the feasibility of their implementation. This is the framework used for analyzing agri-environmental measures in Israel. Israel currently implements a mix of mandatory regulations, economic instruments and advisory measures to promote the agri-environment. The use of additional economic instruments may improve the effectiveness of the policy. When comparing the effectiveness of various economic measures, we found that the feasibility of implementation of market-oriented instruments is greater, due to the Israeli public’s preference for strengthening market orientation in the agricultural sector. Four market-oriented instruments were practiced in a pilot project conducted in an Israeli rural area. We found that in this case study, the institutional feasibility and acceptance by stakeholders were the major parameters influencing the implementation of the market-oriented instruments, whereas the instruments’ contribution to enhancing the ecological or economic effectiveness were hardly considered by the stakeholders as arguments in favor of their use

Maternal exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls and the secondary sex ratio: an occupational cohort study

Though commercial production of polychlorinated biphenyls was banned in the United States in 1977, exposure continues due to their environmental persistence. Several studies have examined the association between environmental polychlorinated biphenyl exposure and modulations of the secondary sex ratio, with conflicting results. Our objective was to evaluate the association between maternal preconceptional occupational polychlorinated biphenyl exposure and the secondary sex ratio. We examined primipara singleton births of 2595 women, who worked in three capacitor plants at least one year during the period polychlorinated biphenyls were used. Cumulative estimated maternal occupational polychlorinated biphenyl exposure at the time of the infant's conception was calculated from plant-specific job-exposure matrices. A logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the association between maternal polychlorinated biphenyl exposure and male sex at birth (yes/no). Maternal body mass index at age 20, smoking status, and race did not vary between those occupationally exposed and those unexposed before the child's conception. Polychlorinated biphenyl-exposed mothers were, however, more likely to have used oral contraceptives and to have been older at the birth of their first child than non-occupationally exposed women. Among 1506 infants liveborn to polychlorinated biphenyl-exposed primiparous women, 49.8% were male; compared to 49.9% among those not exposed (n = 1089). Multivariate analyses controlling for mother's age and year of birth found no significant association between the odds of a male birth and mother's cumulative estimated polychlorinated biphenyl exposure to time of conception. Based on these data, we find no evidence of altered sex ratio among children born to primiparous polychlorinated biphenyl-exposed female workers

Entry of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 (HSV-1) into the Distal Axons of Trigeminal Neurons Favors the Onset of Nonproductive, Silent Infection

Following productive, lytic infection in epithelia, herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) establishes a lifelong latent infection in sensory neurons that is interrupted by episodes of reactivation. In order to better understand what triggers this lytic/latent decision in neurons, we set up an organotypic model based on chicken embryonic trigeminal ganglia explants (TGEs) in a double chamber system. Adding HSV-1 to the ganglion compartment (GC) resulted in a productive infection in the explants. By contrast, selective application of the virus to distal axons led to a largely nonproductive infection that was characterized by the poor expression of lytic genes and the presence of high levels of the 2.0-kb major latency-associated transcript (LAT) RNA. Treatment of the explants with the immediate-early (IE) gene transcriptional inducer hexamethylene bisacetamide, and simultaneous co-infection of the GC with HSV-1, herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) or pseudorabies virus (PrV) helper virus significantly enhanced the ability of HSV-1 to productively infect sensory neurons upon axonal entry. Helper-virus-induced transactivation of HSV-1 IE gene expression in axonally-infected TGEs in the absence of de novo protein synthesis was dependent on the presence of functional tegument protein VP16 in HSV-1 helper virus particles. After the establishment of a LAT-positive silent infection in TGEs, HSV-1 was refractory to transactivation by superinfection of the GC with HSV-1 but not with HSV-2 and PrV helper virus. In conclusion, the site of entry appears to be a critical determinant in the lytic/latent decision in sensory neurons. HSV-1 entry into distal axons results in an insufficient transactivation of IE gene expression and favors the establishment of a nonproductive, silent infection in trigeminal neurons

Size-selective electrostatic sampling and removal of nanoparticles on silicon cantilever sensors for air-quality monitoring

This paper reports the size-selective sampling and removal of airborne nanoparticles (NP) using a silicon resonant micro cantilever mass balance combined with a miniaturized electrostatic precipitator (ESP). This allows to design an overnight-refreshable, pocket-sized, autarkic monitor for NP mass concentration and size in the range below 300 nm

Analysis of asymmetric resonance response of thermally excited silicon micro-cantilevers for mass-sensitive nanoparticle detection

In this paper, the asymmetric resonance frequency (f ₀) responses of thermally in-plane excited silicon cantilevers for a pocket-sized, cantilever-based airborne nanoparticle detector (Cantor) are analysed. By measuring the shift of f ₀ caused by the deposition of nanoparticles (NPs), the cantilevers are used as a microbalance. The cantilever sensors are low cost manufactured from silicon by bulk-micromachining techniques and contain an integrated p-type heating actuator and a sensing piezoresistive Wheatstone bridge. f ₀ is tracked by a homemade phase-locked loop (PPL) for real-time measurements. To optimize the sensor performance, a new cantilever geometry was designed, fabricated and characterized by its frequency responses. The most significant characterisation parameters of our application are f ₀ and the quality factor (Q), which have high influences on sensitivity and efficiency of the NP detector. Regarding the asymmetric resonance signal, a novel fitting function based on the Fano resonancereplacing the conventionally used function of the simple harmonic oscillator and a method to calculate Q by its fitting parameters were developed for a quantitative evaluation. To obtain a better understanding of the resonance behaviours, we analysed the origin of the asymmetric line shapes. Therefore, we compared the frequency response of the on-chip thermal excitation with an external excitation using an in-plane piezo actuator. In correspondence to the Fano effect, we could reconstruct the measured resonance curves by coupling two signals with constant amplitude and the expected signal of the cantilever, respectively. Moreover, the phase of the measurement signal can be analysed by this method, which is important to understand the locking process of the PLL circuit. Besides the frequency analysis, experimental results and calibration measurements with different particle types are presented. Using the described analysis method, decentresults to optimize a next generation of Cantor are expected