Effects of climate change on the dispersion of white grub damages in the Austrian grassland

Recent changes in occurrence of agricultural pests in Austria might already reflect climate change phenomena. In this study, an inventory of white grub (Melolontha melolontha, Amphimallon solstitiale and Phyllopertha horticola) damages in Austrian grassland including organic cultivation was performed by questioning plant protection consultants of 74 Agricultural County Chambers. Altogether, a cumulated 14.800 hectares of white grub damages were recorded. From 2000 onwards, a steady increase of white grub damages occurred with a climax in the year of heat and drought 2003. The infested fields extended along the alpine main ridge from Vorarlberg up to the alpine foreland. Additionally, southern slopes of the Danube valley in Upper and Lower Austria were affected. Very likely, the damages were mainly due to the garden chafer P. horticola. From 2004 to 2006, the extent of damages decreased again all over Austria. By studying meteorological data, it became obvious that the damaged areas were mainly situated in regions with a strong precipitation deficit. On-farm investigations performed in 2007 strengthened the hypothesis that drought and elevated soil temperatures might be the decisive factors for a strong development of grub populations and subsequent feeding damages. Additionally, drought can increase the effects of grub damage by delaying the regeneration of the damaged sward. A strongly damaged sward on slopes can be dangerous for the farmers e.g. by slipping machines

Business process management tools as a measure of customer-centric maturity

In application of business process management (BPM) tools in European commercial sectors, this paper examines current maturity of customer centricity construct (CC) as an emerging dimension of competition and as a potential strategic management direction for the future of business. Processes are one of the key components of transformation in the CC roadmap. Particular departments are more customer orientated than others, and processes, customer-centric expertise, and approach can be built and utilized starting from them. Positive items within a current business process that only involve minor modification could be the basis for that. The evidence of movement on the customer-centric roadmap is found. BPM in European telecommunications, banking, utility and retail sector supports roadmap towards customer-centricity in process view, process alignment and process optimization. However, the movement is partial and not flawless, as BPM hasn’t been inquired for supporting many of customer-centric dimensions

Eco-Regions: How to link organic farming with territorial development

Organic farming in Austria has seen a rapid development as all over Europe. In some alpine regions over 50% of the farms have converted to organic. Thus the idea of forming “Eco-Regions” (“Bioregionen” in German), transforming organic farming values from a farm level to a regional scale, emerged. The paper presents the results of an action research based project to develop a model for the formation of Eco-Regions and to monitor the success in cross-sectoral networking. Besides a number of prerequisites also bottlenecks for the formation become apparent. The paper describes the model and the implementation in two distinct regions

Judging Covers

Cover versions form a loose but identifiable category of tracks and performances. We distinguish four kinds of covers and argue that they mark important differences in the modes of evaluation that are possible or appropriate for each: mimic covers, which aim merely to echo the canonical track; rendition covers, which change the sound of the canonical track; transformative covers, which diverge so much as to instantiate a distinct, albeit derivative song; and referential covers, which not only instantiate a distinct song, but for which the new song is in part about the original song. In order to allow for the very possibility of transformative and referential covers, we argue that a cover is characterized by relation to a canonical track rather than merely by being a new instance of a song that had been recorded previousl

Regionalisierte Strukturpolitik als Lernprozess: Verbundspezifische Projekte im Rahmen einer regionalisierten Strukturpolitik. Erfahrungen in Ziel 2 Regionen. Zwischenbilanz, Best-Practice und Konsequenzen für zukünftige Projekte

Im Rahmen der regionalisierten Strukturpolitik hat die Landesregierung Nordrhein-Westfalen seit 1994 Projekte gefördert, die auf eine enge Verzahnung zwischen regionaler und sektoraler Strukturpolitik abzielen. Insgesamt wurden durch diesen "verbundspezifischen" Ansatz 35 Einzelprojekte in den Regionen des Landes gefördert. Der vorliegende Projektbericht stellt die Ergebnisse einer Evaluierung dieser Projekte vor. Auf Basis einer Analyse der Projektunterlagen und ergänzender Expertengespräche wurden formale Rahmenbedingungen, der regionale und sektorale Kontext sowie das Vorgehen bei der Durchführung der Projekte untersucht. Darüber hinaus wurden vier best-pratice-Projekte tiefergehend mit dem Ziel untersucht, die möglichen Ergebnisse derartiger Projekte und deren Voraussetzungen genauer zu erfassen. Als Ergebnis der Evaluierung werden typische Spannungsfelder bei der Durchführung derartiger Projekte herausgearbeitet. Das Ergebnis bildet ein auf diese Spannungsfelder ausgerichteter Fragenkatalog. Dieser Fragekatalog soll dazu beitragen, die sich bei der Projektdurchführung stellenden Spannungsfelder kontinuierlich zu reflektieren und damit die Chancen auf eine Optimierung der Ergebnisse erhöhen.Beginning in 1994 the North-Rhine-Westphalian State Government initiated and supported cooperation projects that aimed at linking regional and sectoral structural policy. In the course of this program 35 projects had been supported. Based on the study of project documents and additional interviews with regional actors this study presents the result of an evaluation of these 35 projects. The study starts with a look at the formal framework, the regional and sectoral context of the projects and the practice of project management. Further on, four best practice projects are analysed in detail in order to find out what kind of results have been produced. The evaluation results in the formulation of bottlenecks that are typical for this type of projects. To overcome the bottlenecks in a reflexive way by both, program and project managers, the study finally concludes with questions that are meant to improve the quality of project management and to raise the chance to optimise the results

Haltung, Gesundheit und gegenseitiges Besaugen von Kälbern auf biologischen Betrieben in Österreich

The aim of this project was to collect data about housing and health of dairy calves and the occurrence of cross-sucking in organic dairy farms. A questionnaire was sent to 300 organic dairy cow farms in Lower Austria. 99 questionnaires were returned (33%). On average the farms kept 15 cows, nearly half of them in tie-stalls and half loose-housed. 52 farms declared to keep calves group-housed from the first or the second week of life (lw), 14 farms kept their calves always in single pens. 23 farms weaned calves before lw 12, starting with lw5. Cross-sucking in calves occurred on 62 farms, intersucking in cows on 26 farms. Cross-sucking in calves was observed on less farms with single housed calves compared to farms with group-housed calves, according to expectations. But early group housing (start at latest on second week) did not differ from later group housing (lw 3 – 8). Also, diseases were not associated with type of housing. In sum, there is need for further advancement and advice to improve calf housing and welfare

Einflüsse des Klimawandels auf landwirtschaftliche Schädlinge im Biologischen Landbau Ostösterreichs

From the year 2000 onwards, organic farmers in Eastern Austria have been complaining about damages in arable crops by former inconspicuous or recently immigrated insect pests. In our project, the recent obvious changes in occurrence of arable pests were investigated with respect to climate change. The literature was evaluated focussing on Austria and the adjacent Eastern Middle European countries. Further on, conspicuously, weather-related pest outbreaks in Austria in the last years were documented by interrogating plant protection experts. For a number of species from cereals, root crops, oil-, protein- and fodder crops, in recent years an increasing pest pressure was stated, caused rather by changes in cultivation systems (crop rotation, reduced soil cultivation) than by climate change. Several other pests, mainly from cereals (including maize) showed pest outbreaks from 2000 onwards, with a maximum in the extremely warm and dry year 2003. In a case study, the weather and climate-related background for the distribution and abundance of wheat bugs (Eurygaster sp., Aelia sp.) was investigated. In comparing the “wheat bug years” 1953 and 2003, similarities in weather trends were detected which might have caused the bug outbreaks in both years. Concluding, the implementation of a long-term monitoring system for pest occurrence and climate change is recommended aiming at risk avoidance of climate-related pest calamities in the future

Investigations on the occurrence of wheat bugs (Scutelleridae, Pentatomidae; Heteroptera) in organic farming of Eastern Austria

Wheat bugs, an umbrella term for a set of different species, damage wheat by sucking on semi-ripe grains. The proteolytic enzyme inserted with the saliva destroys the gluten. If more than 1.5 – 2% of the grains are infected, the ground wheat loses its baking quality. In 2003, for the first time since the fifties, a significant occurrence of wheat bugs was recorded in Eastern Austria. Since in organic farming no insecticides are available for direct control, the farmers were advised to grow quality wheat at the greatest possible distance to fallows, windbreaks and other uncultivated areas. To clarify their significance for the wheat bug occurrence, a diploma thesis was performed in the year 2004. The sampling sites were situated in Burgenland, Eastern Austria. The spatial and temporal distribution of the bugs (Scutelleridae, Pentatomidae) was evaluated by hand-searching the ground litter and by sampling with enclosures, sweep net and visual observations in windbreaks, forest edges, field margins, grasslands, fallows and winter–wheat fields (1, 10 and 60 meters from the field edge) and sporadically also in other crops (lucerne, barley, rye and spelt). As a total, 368 individuals from 22 species of bugs were collected. 316 individuals belonged to potentially harmful 10 wheat bug species, Eurygaster maura (67%), Aelia acuminata (16%) and E. austriaca (4%) being most abundant. The sweep net was the most efficient sampling method. The earliest wheat bugs occurred directly in the wheat fields. During the growing season, the species E. maura, A. acuminata und E. austriaca were found almost entirely in winter-wheat fields, whereas in the uncultivated habitats other species occurred. Our data do not suggest that landscape elements as well as fallows enhance wheat bug infestations. The wheat bug infestation of wheat fields might be influenced mainly by the weather conditions in spring and summer. After having compared the climatic conditions of 2003 with the “wheat bug years” 1953 and 1954, we suggest that the recent outbreak of wheat bugs might have been due to the significantly above average temperatures in the years 2000 to 2003

Analisis Pengaruh Suku Bunga (BI RATE), Financing To Deposit Ratio dan Pendapatan Bagi Hasil Terhadap Jumlah Simpanan Deposito MuḌārabah Pada Bank Umum Syariah Tahun 2013-2015

The objective of this research is to evaluate and analyze the influence of interest rate (BI Rate), financing to deposit ratio and revenue sharing to the amount of Deposits of Muḍārabah Deposits at Sharia Commercial Bank in 2013-2015 period. This research is quantitative with data taken from the annual report of Sharia Commercial Bank in 2013-2015. The data used in this research is time series data taken from Sharia Public Bank as its population. This study uses multiple linear regression analysis tool using panel data model. The result of the research shows that the variable of interest rate and revenue sharing have a significant influence on the amount of deposits of muḍārabah deposit at Sharia (BUS) with 5% significance level, while the financing to deposit ratio proved to have no significant effect on the amount of deposits of muḍārabah deposit at Bank General Sharia (BUS)