Prevention of vole damage in organic pomiculture

Vole damage is one of the most difficult phytosanitary problems to solve in organic pomiculture. A survey conducted in 2002 among German fruit growers showed that 90 % of the farms suffered from this damage. The water vole (A. terrestris) revealed to be the main pest in 80 % of the orchards. 61 % of the farmers announced a high interest in the development of new preventive and control methods. To stop immigration of voles into orchards a mechanical barrier system was developed and tested at two study sites in Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. At each location barrier systems with wire mesh (mesh size 10 mm) and polyolefine-foil were installed arround two 0.7 ha study plots. Two unprotected plots were used as a control. The barriers were anchored 20 cm deep into the soil. 30 cm of the material protruded over the surface. Automatic gates were installed for the entrance of vehicles. 4 persons needed approximately one day to install a barrier around a plot with the size of 1 ha. Not only was the wire mesh cheaper than the foil, it was permeable for wind, water and small beneficial organisms. After installing the barrier systems, voles were removed from all plots. Snap trap boxes were ranged along the outside of the barriers to catch migrating voles. A total of 33 water voles and 1263 common voles (M. arvalis) were captured on both study sites from October 2002 to November 2003. During the study period a total of 5 water voles immigrated into the first control plot and 6 settled into the other plot. Four water voles entered two of the barrier protected plots by using fresh mole galleries. The other protected plots stayed free from water voles. Simultaneous to the field studies, trials in two enclosures were carried out in Muenster. The barriers kept all water voles outside the protected plots. The results showed a high efficacy of the developed barrier system

BankCaR (Bank Capital-at-Risk): a credit risk model for U.S. commercial bank charge-offs

BankCaR is a credit risk model that forecasts the distribution of a commercial bank's charge-offs. The distribution depends only on systematic factors; BankCaR takes each bank and projects its expected charge-off across a distribution of good years and bad years. Since most bank failures occur in bad years, this analysis has promise for both banks and bank supervisors. In BankCaR, charge-offs depend on the bank's loan balances and the charge-off rates of twelve categories of lending. A joint distribution of the twelve charge-off rates is calibrated to a long history of regulatory reporting data. Applied to the US banking system, BankCaR finds that credit risk is rising and is concentrated most significantly in construction lending. Applied to individual banks, BankCaR efficiently identifies those that have an adverse combination of credit risk and capital. BankCaR uses publicly available regulatory reporting data, the most common credit portfolio model, and standard quantitative techniques. These generic qualities can provide a standard of comparison between banks. They also can provide an individual commercial bank with a benchmark for more elaborate vended credit models.Bank capital ; Risk management ; Bank failures

A retrospective on the stock market in 2000

During late 1998 and much of 1999, the price earnings ratio (P/E) of the S&P 500 index reached unprecedented levels. This was especially evident for the largest 18 technology firms, whose market-weighted P/E exceeded 125 in March of last year. These valuations, which dominated the NASDAQ, proved unsustainable. This Commentary reviews factors that affect P/E ratios and concludes that investors' expectations for earnings growth were overly optimistic, especially for large-cap technology stocks, and that investors could have known this before the bubble burst.Stock market ; Economic conditions - United States

Method for a structured identification of suitable safety and securing systems for Level Crossings

Safety and securing systems for level crossing have a long life time. Once a system reaches a life time when it is no longer conform to applicable regulations, it has to be modernized or replaced. The planner of the level crossing system alongside the road and railroad has to adapt the system to various local conditions and rules. He has to choose a suitable system by the use of his individual expert knowledge. The decisions he made are often hard to understand or to trace for the operating company. This paper presents a structured method, which was developed as a basis for the decision making. It helps to trace the decisions of the engineer and even enables the engineer to identify a suitable level crossing system

Do energy-price shocks affect core-price measures?

This paper investigates the relationship between energy-price shocks and three core measures of inflation in a vector autoregression model that incorporates measures of monetary policy and inflation expectations. The sample set includes data at monthly frequencies from 1980 through 2000. The authors find that that positive energy-price shocks have significant, though small, effects on all core-price measures after a lag of 12 to 18 months, but that negative shocks have no discernable impact. The results suggest that relative energy-price changes do not distort the inflation signals that standard core-price measures provide.Inflation (Finance) ; Petroleum industry and trade ; Power resources - Prices

Bound states and extended states around a single vortex in the d-wave superconductors

Making use of the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equation for the d-wave superconductors, we investigate the quasi-particle spectrum around a single vortex. Taking $p_F\xi=10$, we found that there are bound states which are localized around the vortex core, and extended states which are rather uniform, for $|E|<\Delta$ where $E$ is the quasi-particle energy and $\Delta$ is the asymptotic value of the order parameter for away from the vortex.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure

Techno-economic comparison of renewable energy systems using multi-pole system analysis (MPSA)

The recently published method of multi-pole system analysis (MPSA) is used to techno-economically compare two wind-energy converters: offshore wind turbines and the energy ship concept. According to the method, both systems are (i) modeled, (ii) energetically and economically analyzed, (iii) technoeconomically optimized and, finally, (iv) expected uncertainties are calculated and assessed. The results of the method are used to derive the necessary cost reduction of the wind-energy converters to be economically competitive to fossil-fuel-based technologies.The authors would like to thank the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) for the financial support in the framework of the Excellence Initiative, Darmstadt Graduate School of Excellence Energy Science and Engineering (GSC 1070)

How expensive is vole damage?

Vole species, especially Arvicola terrestris and Microtus arvalis cause significant economical damage in organic pomiculture by gnawing the root system of trees. The importance of voles as pest organisms is well known. Nevertheless, the estimation of financial loss caused by voles is difficult for German fruit growers. We conducted a survey among organic fruit growers to get data on kind and amount of annual damage. Using the available publications and official statistics we calculated economical values of organic apple trees for different types of orchard processing and tree ages. Furthermore we calculated the number of trees lost due to voles in one year

Neurobiologische Korrelate der Belohnungs- und Suchtreizverarbeitung im Rahmen der Alkoholabhängigkeit und deren pharmakologische Modifikation mit Baclofen

Hintergrund: In der Erforschung alkoholbezogener psychischer Störungen konnte festgestellt werden, dass eine veränderte neurobiologische Verarbeitung des mesokortikolimbischen dopaminergen Systems, des sogenannten Belohnungssystems, vorliegt. In den letzten Jahren rückten vermehrt pharmakologische Behandlungsansätze der Alkoholabhängigkeit in den Fokus, mit überwiegend moderaten Effekten. Einen derzeit diskutierten Therapieansatz stellt die Off-Label Behandlung mit dem GABAB-Rezeptor Agonisten Baclofen zur Abstinenzerhaltung als auch zur Trinkmengenreduktion dar. Methodik: In dieser publikationsbasierten Dissertationsschrift wurden zunächst die pharmakologischen Effekte von individuell titriertem Hochdosis-Baclofen bezüglich der assoziierten Abstinenzraten bei alkoholabhängigen Patient*innen in einer klinischen Studie analysiert (Publikation 1). Diese Patient*innen wurden in Publikation 2 mittels sogenannten pharmako-fMRT-Ansatzes untersucht. Dieser Ansatz umfasst die Kombination aus der Behandlung mit Baclofen und der neurobiologischen Untersuchung mittels funktioneller Magnetresonanztomografie (fMRT) zu zwei Messzeitpunkten; vor und nach zweiwöchiger Behandlung mit Baclofen oder Placebo. Gegenstand von Publikation 2 war demnach die zusätzliche Aussage über die assoziierte neuronale Sucht-Reiz-Verarbeitung dieser Patient*innen mittels Cue-Reactivity Paradigma, welches die Reaktion auf alkoholbezogene Reize abbildet. Im Gegensatz dazu wurde in Publikation 3 die nicht-sucht-relatierte neuronale Belohnungsverarbeitung während der Belohnungsantizipation von Geldgewinnen im MRT bei gesunden Jugendlichen mit dem Slot Machine Paradigma untersucht, einem herkömmlich als „einarmigen Banditen“ bezeichneten Spielautomaten. Ergebnisse: Bei der Behandlung mit individuellem Hochdosis-Baclofen konnten signifikant höhere Abstinenzraten in der Baclofen- als in der Placebo-Gruppe berichtet werden (Publikation 1). Mittels Pharmako-fMRT-Ansatzes konnte eine Reduktion der neuronalen Aktivierung bei der Verarbeitung alkohol-relatierter Reize in der Baclofen- im Vergleich zur Placebo-Gruppe beobachtet werden (Publikation 2). Gesunde Jugendliche wiesen eine veränderte Belohnungsantizipation auf, wenn sie eine irrtümliche Kontrollüberzeugung, den Spielautomaten beeinflussen zu können („Illusion of Control; IOC“), innehatten (Publikation 3). Diskussion: Die genannten Studienergebnisse leisten einen wichtigen Beitrag in der Evaluierung der Behandlung mit Baclofen bei alkoholabhängigen Patient*innen und geben zudem Hinweise auf die zugrundeliegenden neurobiologischen Mechanismen, im Speziellen auf die Verarbeitung belohnungsanzeigender, alkohol-relatierter Reize. Bei gesunden Jugendlichen führte der Faktor einer irrtümlichen Kontrollüberzeugung („IOC“) zu einer veränderten Belohnungsverarbeitung und könnte eine mögliche Prädisposition für eine spätere Suchtentwicklung (z. B. Spielsucht) darstellen. Zusammenfassend trägt die publikationsbasierte Arbeit zum weiteren Verständnis der Alkoholabhängigkeit bei und gibt wichtige Hinweise auf die neurobiologische Funktionsweise eines vielversprechenden pharmakologischen Behandlungsansatzes mit Baclofen.Background: In the course of alcohol dependence, an altered neurobiological processing in the mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic system – the so-called reward system – has been shown. The current pharmacological treatment options for alcohol-dependent patients showed only modest effects. Newsworthy, baclofen a GABAB-receptor agonist has been investigated to prevent relapse behavior or to support alcohol reduction in alcohol-dependent patients. Methods: In this publication-based dissertation, the pharmacological effects of baclofen on abstinence rates in alcohol-dependent patients have been investigated in a clinical trial (publication 1). These patients were also enrolled with a so-called pharmaco-fMRI approach in publication 2. Pharmaco-fMRI is described as a combination of pharmacological treatment with baclofen or placebo and the neurobiological investigation using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at baseline and after two weeks of individual titrated high-dose intake. During fMRI, a cue-reactivity paradigm comprising the presentation of alcohol- and non-alcohol-related stimuli, has been conducted twice. In publication 3, the processing of non-drug-related stimuli has been investigated via a slot machine paradigm with a focus on the anticipation phase of monetary gains. Results: Pharmacological treatment with individual high-dose baclofen revealed superiority over placebo in terms of abstinence rates (publication 1). Using pharmaco-fMRI, a reduced activation was observed during an alcohol-associated cue-reactivity paradigm in the baclofen compared to placebo group (study 2). FMRI investigation during non-drug-related gain anticipation revealed higher fronto-striatal activation in adolescents who misconceived an “illusion of control” (IOC group) compared to the noIOC group (adolescents who had no illusion of control). Discussion: The results significantly contribute to the evaluation of the treatment with individual high-dose baclofen in alcohol-dependent patients sustaining abstinence behavior. Furthermore, the associated neurobiological findings might indicate a rehabilitation effect. Illusion of control during neural gain anticipation might further predispose adolescents to a development of addiction-related problems like gambling disorders. In summary, the present publication-based dissertation contributes to the understanding of alcohol dependence and provides important new insights into the neurobiological mode of action during a new promising pharmacological treatment with baclofen