Factors Affecting European Farmers’Participation in Biodiversity Policies

This article reports the major findings from an interdisciplinary research project that synthesises key insights into farmers’ willingness and ability to co-operate with biodiversity policies. The results of the study are based on an assessment of about 160 publications and research reports from six EU member states and from international comparative research.We developed a conceptual framework to systematically review the existent literature relevant for our purposes. This framework provides a common structure for analysing farmers’ perspectives regarding the introduction into farming practices of measures relevant to biodiversity. The analysis is coupled and contrasted with a survey of experts. The results presented above suggest that it is important to view support for practices oriented towards biodiversity protection not in a static sense – as a situation determined by one or several influencing factors – but rather as a process marked by interaction. Financial compensation and incentives function as a necessary, though clearly not sufficient condition in this process

A Comprehensive Persona Template to Understand Citizens' Mobility Needs

In the city of Kaiserslautern, an urban district is being built, that aims to be climate-neutral. To achieve this aim, innovative concepts and technologies for energy generation and mobility services are to be applied. For the mobility concept, we needed personas as inhabitants and stakeholders are not living there yet. Since we could not find a persona template for the documentation of travelers’ needs, we designed a persona template that provides a comprehensive picture of travel needs. We took a template based on Alan Cooper’s idea and customized it to fit the topic of mobility, adding personality traits that are the basis of concrete mobility requirements. We also added characteristics of a person according to their stage of life, because personality traits hardly change over a person’s lifetime. In addition, we included attitudes towards sustainability and technology. A description of the life situation together with the usual travel destinations and trip companions is also part of the persona template. The design of our template allows it to be used in other projects as well. We created personas based on our template and used them in two different workshops. The participants were able to use the personas without much explanation. A plan for further evaluation is presented in the discussion

High-resolution MRI with cardiac and respiratory gating allows for accurate in vivo atherosclerotic plaque visualization in the murine aortic arch.

Genetically engineered mouse models provide enormous potential for investigation of the underlying mechanisms of atherosclerotic disease, but noninvasive imaging methods for analysis of atherosclerosis in mice are currently limited. This study aimed to demonstrate the feasibility of MRI to noninvasively visualize atherosclerotic plaques in the thoracic aorta in mice deficient in apolipoprotein-E, who develop atherosclerotic lesions similar to those observed in humans. To freeze motion, MR data acquisition was both ECG- and respiratory-gated. T(1)-weighted MR images were acquired with TR/TE approximately 1000/10 ms. Spatial image resolution was 49 x 98 x 300 micro m(3). MRI revealed a detailed view of the lumen and the vessel wall of the entire thoracic aorta. Comparison of MRI with corresponding cross-sectional histopathology showed excellent agreement of aortic vessel wall area (r = 0.97). Hence, noninvasive MRI should allow new insights into the mechanisms involved in progression and regression of atherosclerotic disease