Review of concepts for the evaluation of sustainable agriculture in Germany and comparison of measurement schemes for farm sustainability

Within the EU research project SVAPPAS, a method of sustainability measurement based on principles of financial markets, will be tested wrt sustainability issues in agriculture, and further developed. This analysis is oriented to farm level approach based on FADN data. The study goes in two directions; first, measurement concepts available in German are reviewed, and second, the different methods are applied to a sample of dairy farms selected from the national FADN. The results of DEA, Sustainable Value and economic indicators lead to similar conclusions in most assessments. In contrast to the high correlation between Sustainable Value and DEA, a rather low correlation with the ecological indicators can be observed. Moreover, results of SV and economic indicators are generally contrary to ecological indicators. In each case it seems to be reasonable to use more than one approach for the assessment, to get a more detailed and comprehensive picture of the individual dimensions and issues of sustainability. -- Im Rahmen des EU-Forschungsprojekts SVAPPAS wird die Anwendung einer Methode für Nachhaltigkeitsbewertung, basierend auf Prinzipien von Finanzmärkten (Sustainable Value (SV)), im Bereich der Landwirtschaft getestet und weiter entwickelt. Für die vorliegende Analyse werden Daten aus dem deutschen Testbetriebsnetz verwendet. Sie zielt darauf ab, verschiedene in Deutschland verfügbare und im Rahmen des Projektes weiter entwickelte Bewertungskonzepte am Beispiel von Milchvieh haltenden Betrieben anzuwenden und zu testen. Die Ergebnisse der Data Envelopment Analyse (DEA) und es SV-Ansatzes führen zu ähnlichen Bewertungen. Im Gegensatz zur hohen Korrelation zwischen SV und DEA kann eine ziemlich niedrige Korrelation mit den ökologischen Indikatoren beobachtet werden; zudem sind Ergebnisse von SV und ökologischen Indikatoren entgegengesetzt. Deshalb scheint es notwendig, mehrere Bewertungskonzepte zu verwenden, um ein umfassenderes Bild der einzelnen Dimensionen der Nachhaltigkeit zu bekommen.Sustainability,efficiency analysis,indicators,dairy farms,Nachhaltigkeit,Effizienzanalyse,Indikatoren,Milchviehbetriebe

The Effect of Luxury Taxes on Competitive Balance, Club Profits, and Social Welfare in Sports Leagues

This paper provides a game-theoretic model of a professional sports league and analyzes the effect of luxury taxes on competitive balance, club profits and social welfare. We show that a luxury tax increases aggregate salary payments in the league as well as produces a more balanced league. Moreover, a higher tax rate increases the profits of large-market clubs, whereas the profits of small-market clubs only increase if the tax rate is not set inadequately high. Finally, we show that social welfare increases with a luxury tax.Sports League, Luxury Tax, Social Welfare, Competitive Balance

Energy Efficient and Reliable Wireless Sensor Networks - An Extension to IEEE 802.15.4e

Collecting sensor data in industrial environments from up to some tenth of battery powered sensor nodes with sampling rates up to 100Hz requires energy aware protocols, which avoid collisions and long listening phases. The IEEE 802.15.4 standard focuses on energy aware wireless sensor networks (WSNs) and the Task Group 4e has published an amendment to fulfill up to 100 sensor value transmissions per second per sensor node (Low Latency Deterministic Network (LLDN) mode) to satisfy demands of factory automation. To improve the reliability of the data collection in the star topology of the LLDN mode, we propose a relay strategy, which can be performed within the LLDN schedule. Furthermore we propose an extension of the star topology to collect data from two-hop sensor nodes. The proposed Retransmission Mode enables power savings in the sensor node of more than 33%, while reducing the packet loss by up to 50%. To reach this performance, an optimum spatial distribution is necessary, which is discussed in detail

Non-specific binding of antibodies in immunohistochemistry: Fakes and facts

Protocols for blocking non-specific antibody (Ab) binding in immunohistochemistry are based on rather contradictory and outdated reports. This prompted us to prove, whether non-specific Ab binding may really lead to unwanted background staining in routinely processed cell and tissue probes. In this study, the probes were fixed and processed according to routine protocols with and without a blocking step (goat serum or BSA). Surprisingly, all Ab in probes processed without a blocking step did not show any propensity towards non-specific binding that might lead to background staining, thus implying that endogenous Fc receptors do not retain their ability to bind Fc portion of Ab after standard fixation. Likewise in routinely fixed probes, we did not find any non-specific Ab binding ascribed to a combination of ionic and hydrophobic interactions. The traditionally used protein blocking step is useless in immunostaining of routinely fixed tissues

IT-Supported Management of Mass Casualty Incidents: The e-Triage Project

Emergencies arise out of disasters and are characterized by limited resources in terms of medical personnel and infrastructure, underlining the importance of mobilizing regional, supra-regional and/or international help to the affected regions. Effective deployment of this help is crucial, but only possible if a common operational picture among authorities, coordination centers, and staff working in the field is developed as quickly as possible. Since mass casualty incidents (MCIs) normally overwhelm the regularly available rescue resources (rescue personnel, transport vehicles, hospital capacity, etc.), a particularly effective crisis management has to be applied. In general, for co-ordination centers it is a challenge to get an immediate and accurate situation overview (i.e. number of victims, injury categories and their location). Indeed, triage and registration performed at different places by different teams maintaining different lists are indubitably an error-prone approach. Furthermore, it can happen that all later attempts to track the way of single patient, their attendants and transport vehicles are not very successful, although this could be of key interest in scenarios with nuclear, biological or chemical hazards. Within the e-Triage project, which is sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, an integrated concept for electronic registration of affected persons is under development

Phytotherapeutische Behandlung einer Influenza-Infektion in einem Bioschweinebetrieb - Fallbericht

In spring 2006 an outbreak of swine influenza occurred in a small organic pig farm. Sows, fatteners and suckling piglets were affected. Due to the good farming conditions and optimal veterinary care, animals were treated with phytotherapeutic remedies solely, antibiotics and antipyretics were not applied. Infusions of Species pectorals and macerate of Radix Altheae were administered for 7 days. The animals recovered within a few days. None of the animals died. Reports from the slaughterhouse showed sporadic cases of lung alterations especially caused by Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae. Phytotherapeutic treatment was effective, even so recommendations can only be given for farmers with good housing conditions and the willingness for optimal animal care

C-XSC and Closely Related Software Packages

C-XSC and Closely Related Software Package