Why do Farmers Spend Different Amounts of Transaction Costs in Agri-Environmental Schemes?

Agri-environmental schemes provide payments for farmers in return for environmental services. Implementation induces transaction costs (TCs). Borne by farmers (private TCs), their amount may inhibit participation. Research shows substantial variances in private TCs within single schemes, which are largely unexplained to date. Furthermore, no distinction has yet been made in research whether farmers spent TCs due to scheme-prescribed tasks, or voluntarily to achieve "transaction gains.‟ This might be an important factor in farmers‟ perceptions of TCs. The overall aim of this analysis is to explain within-scheme TC variances. TCs are defined functionally as “costs of participation.” The variance in TC spending is assumed to represent a different willingness to participate due to underlying motives. This is tested by ANOVAs and Pearson's correlations with the example of a German AES. Results show that all assumed motives are significant but differ along the implementation process and imply that different functions have TCs. Thus, general public reimbursement of private TCs, as allowed in current EU regulations, might therefore be inappropriate.Agri-environmental Schemes, Transaction Costs, Hesse, Germany, Agricultural Finance, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Integration von Bewegung und Training in den Alltag: Entwicklung und Evaluation eines neuen Trainingskonzepts für ältere Menschen

Bereits ab dem 30. Lebensjahr reduziert sich die motorische Leistungsfähigkeit, wobei vor allem die Gleichgewichtsfähigkeit und Kraft betroffen sind. Dieser Abbau beschleunigt sich nochmals rapide ab der siebten Lebensdekade, was in reduzierter Mobilität, Krankheit, Pflegebedürftigkeit und letztlich auch frühzeitigem Tod münden kann. Um dies zu vermeiden, besteht zunehmender Bedarf an präventiven Maßnahmen, vor allem vor dem Hintergrund des Bedeutungszuwachses der alternden Gesellschaft. Diese Maßnahmen sollen ein möglichst langes, selbstständiges Leben und gesundes Alter(n) ermöglichen. Bisher existieren keine Trainingskonzepte, welche spezifisch für die Prävention funktioneller Einschränkungen entwickelt wurden. Darüber hinaus mangelt es vorhandenen Trainingsprogrammen an Nachhaltigkeit. Gerade strukturierte Formate, gekennzeichnet durch standardisierte Übungen mit vorgegebener Wiederholungszahl und Intensität (beispielsweise 4 Übungen mit 12 Wiederholungen an 3 Tagen/Woche). Ältere Menschen ziehen es vielmehr vor, Übungen in ihren Alltag integrieren zu können, was einerseits die Motivation steigert und dadurch gleichzeitig die Nachhaltigkeit verbessert, andererseits eine kostengünstige, zeitsparende und flexible Möglichkeit ist, zu jeder Zeit und an jedem Ort aktiv zu sein (beispielsweise Einbeinstand beim Zähneputzen oder auf den Zehenspitzen den Flur entlang zu gehen). Entsprechend ist die Entwicklung eines alltagsintegrierten Trainingsprogramms eine Alternative, welche spezifisch in einer jüngeren Zielgruppe (60- 70 Jahre) eingesetzt werden könnte, um sowohl präventiv funktionellen Einschränkungen vorzubeugen als auch die Nachhaltigkeit und Effektivität zu erhöhen. Um dies zu realisieren, bedarf es jedoch vorab der Entwicklung geeigneter Messinstrumente, welche spezifisch für die Erfassung der individuellen funktionellen Leistungsfähigkeit einer jüngeren, fitteren Zielgruppe geeignet sind. Einerseits können dadurch gezielt Personen mit einem erhöhten Risiko für funktionelle Einschränkungen identifiziert werden, andererseits sind solche Tests auch Voraussetzung für eine korrekte Evaluation des Trainingskonzepts, insbesondere mit Blick auf dessen Effektivität. Basierend auf diesen Überlegungen befasst sich die vorliegenden Arbeit mit der Entwicklung und Evaluation eines neuen alltagsintegrierten Trainingskonzepts für junge ältere Menschen (60-70 Jahre) sowie der Identifikation und Evaluation geeigneter Messinstrumente für diese Zielgruppe. Manuskript 1 ist eine systematische Übersichtsarbeit der vorhandenen Tests zur Erfassung der Kraft und/oder Gleichgewichtsfähigkeit in der Zielgruppe gesunder, junger älterer Menschen (60-70 Jahre). Dabei zeigt sich, dass zahlreiche klinische Tests, welche ohne aufwendiges Laborequipment durchgeführt werden können, existieren. Jedoch fehlt es insbesondere an geeigneten Gleichgewichtstests, welche die Gleichgewichtsfähigkeit gesunder, junger älterer Menschen adäquat abbilden. Aufbauend auf dem ersten Manuskript wird in Manuskript 2 die Eignung einer anspruchsvollen Skala zur Erfassung der Gleichgewichtsfähigkeit und Mobilität, die Community Balance & Mobility (CBM)-Skala, bei jungen älteren Menschen analysiert. Die CBM erweist sich dabei als valides Messinstrument mit exzellenter Test-Retest- Reliabilität und zeigt, im Gegensatz zu anderen Tests, keine Deckeneffekte (das heißt die maximal mögliche Punktzahl wurde nicht erreicht). Entsprechend empfiehlt sich die CBM-Skala zur Ermittlung von Gleichgewichts- und Mobilitätsdefiziten in dieser Zielgruppe, insbesondere vor dem Hintergrund der frühzeitigen Aufdeckung von funktionellen Einschränkungen. Manuskript 3 ist eine systematische Übersichtsarbeit vorhandener Studien mit Fokus auf alltagsintegrierte Trainingsprogramme. Im Ergebnis zeigt sich, dass das „Lifestyle- integrated Functional Exercise“ (LiFE) Programm bislang das am besten evaluierte Trainingsprogramm ist. Andere Studien kombinieren alltagsintegriertes und strukturiertes Training, vorwiegend im institutionellen Bereich (beispielsweise Pflegeheime). In Bezug auf die Nachhaltigkeit des Trainings erweisen sich beide Ansätze als effektiver verglichen mit einem strukturierten Training. Trotz dieser vielversprechenden Befunde fehlt es an umfassend angelegten Studien zur Durchführbarkeit als auch Effektivität des alltagsintegrierten Trainings in verschiedenen Zielgruppen. Basierend auf den Befunden aus Manuskript 3 wird in Manuskript 4 die Durchführbarkeit eines an junge ältere Menschen angepassten LiFE (aLiFE)-Programms überprüft. Dabei zeigt sich, dass sowohl die Teilnehmenden als auch Trainer/innen aLiFE positiv beurteilten. Die Teilnehmenden schätzten insbesondere den individuellen Ansatz, den präventiven Fokus und die Unterstützung seitens der Trainer/innen. Die Trainer/innen betonten ebenfalls die Flexibilität des Programms. Dennoch bemängelten sowohl Teilnehmende als auch Trainer/innen die umfangreiche Papierarbeit. Nichtsdestotrotz berichteten die Teilnehmenden von einer Verinnerlichung einzelner Übungen innerhalb des kurzen 4-wöchigen Zeitraums, auch ohne kontinuierliche Selbstkontrolle. Aufgrund dieser Befunde empfiehlt sich die Testung der Durchführbarkeit und Effektivität von aLiFE im Rahmen einer randomisiert-kontrollierten Studie. Insgesamt belegen die Studienergebnisse die Durchführbarkeit und hohe Akzeptanz des neu entwickelten aLiFE-Programms. Zudem erweist sich die CBM als geeignetes Messinstrument zur Erfassung der Gleichgewichtsfähigkeit und Mobilität bei jungen Älteren. Weitere Forschung ist notwendig, um die Ergebnisse in größeren randomisiert- kontrollierten Studien zu evaluieren sowie alternative Vermittlungsformen des Programms zu testen

No Teacher Left Behind: Educating Students with ASD and ADHD in the Inclusion Classroom

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of a token economy on on-task behaviors by two seventh grade boys with varying disabilities within a public school inclusion classroom setting. At the end of the study, the participant identified with ASD increased his on-task behaviors approximately 52%. The participant identified with ADHD increased about 59% and decreased an average of 3.3 talk-outs per minute, although there were environmental limitations that impacted the design and confounded the ability to determine an educational effect. One specific limitation was the lack of support for the general education teacher to influence the learning environment to be conducive for the students who required more structure than the curriculum typically provided. It is likely that increased support from the administration to provide training and collaboration with special educators for general education teachers would have increased the on-task behavior and participation of both participants

Is global ozone recovering?

Thanks to the Montreal Protocol, the stratospheric concentrations of ozone-depleting chlorine and bromine have been declining since their peak in the late 1990s. Global ozone has responded: The substantial ozone decline observed since the 1960s ended in the late 1990s. Since then, ozone levels have remained low, but have not declined further. Now general ozone increases and a slow recovery of the ozone layer is expected. The clearest signs of increasing ozone, so far, are seen in the upper stratosphere and for total ozone columns above Antarctica in spring. These two regions had also seen the largest ozone depletions in the past. Total column ozone at most latitudes, however, does not show clear increases yet. This is not unexpected, because the removal of chlorine and bromine from the stratosphere is three to four times slower than their previous increase. Detecting significant increases in total column ozone, therefore, will require much more time than the detection of its previous decline. The search is complicated by variations in ozone that are not caused by declining chlorine or bromine, but are due, e.g., to transport changes in the global Brewer–Dobson circulation. Also, very accurate observations are necessary to detect the expected small increases. Nevertheless, observations and model simulations indicate that the stratosphere is on the path to ozone recovery. This recovery process will take many decades. As chlorine and bromine decline, other factors will become more important. These include climate change and its effects on stratospheric temperatures, changes in the Brewer–Dobson circulation (both due to increasing CO2), increasing emissions of trace gases like N2O, CH4, possibly large future increases of short-lived substances (like CCl2H2) from both natural and anthropogenic sources, and changes in tropospheric ozone

An Explanation of the Enactment of Nonconsensual Pornography Policies within States: External and Internal Pressures

Nonconsensual pornography entails the sharing of intimate images, along with personal information and details, within the Internet realm. It is commonly referred to as “revenge porn” because of its vindictive nature. Out of all 50 states, only 27 states have a policy criminalizing the distribution of nonconsensual pornography in effect. For a policy that associates Internet usage with a question of women’s rights, and a theme denoting a sexual connotation, why haven’t more states taken up efforts to enact this particular policy? I argue that the studies of policy diffusion and policy dispersion help explain the enactment of nonconsensual pornography policies. Policy diffusion involves external pressures, such as one government’s policy choices being influenced by the previous choices of other government. Policy diffusion involves internal pressures, such as attitudes of legislators or composition of the state government. In this context, two sets of internal pressures and two sets of external pressures are examined. The internal pressures include characteristics of each individual state and the evaluation of a state score that corresponds to current Internet regulation policies in effect. The external pressures include geographic clustering, which includes diffusion of policies influencing neighboring states, and analyzing the wording that relates to the degree of punishment associated with the act of distributing nonconsensual pornography. Analyzing the wording of the punishment will help draw the effect neighbor-to-neighbor flow had on the policy enactment. Exploring both internal and external pressures affecting each state allows for an in depth study into a topic not widely discussed, nonconsensual pornography, but also a better look at the rate of success in enacting a criminalization policy

Herbaria Heritage: Visualising Colonial Bias in Natural History Collections

As a result of the colonial entanglements of many natural history collections,much of the world’s biodiversity heritage is housed in Europe. Increasingly, natural history institutions have started to address this history. However, computational methods for analysing large collections often consist in static visualisations of collection provenance. We argue that interactive visualisations allow users to understand collections better: their content gaps as well as interesting patterns and trends. Using a dataset containing metadata of five million entries from the botanical collection of Naturalis Biodiversity Center, we created an interactive visualisation with Microsoft PowerBI. The visualisation depicts colonial origins and the botany collection’s movement to the Netherlands over time on an interactive map and timeline. This project thus addresses a gap in historical research on the colonial legacy of Dutch botanical collections, and also a gap in computer science research regarding computational techniques for distant reading of natural heritage data. Our interactive visualisation increases the accessibility of the available scientific data. It also contributes to understanding the cultural history of natural history collections and ultimately, highlights the importance of accurate and accessible visual representations of biodiversity collection histories. This project suggests a way forward for naturalhistory museums grappling with their colonial past

Prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella enterica subsp. diarizonae serovar 61:k:1,5,(7) in Swiss sheep flocks.

Salmonella (S.) enterica subspecies diarizonae (IIIb) serovar 61:k:1,5,(7) (S. IIIb 61:k:1,5,(7)) is considered to be sheep-associated, as it can be found in the intestine, tonsils and nose of clinically healthy sheep, but it has also been described in separate clinical disorders in sheep. In particular, S. IIIb 61:k:1,5,(7) is described as the causative agent of chronic proliferative rhinitis (CPR) in sheep. In Switzerland, CPR in sheep due to S. IIIb 61:k:1,5,(7) was first described in 2017 in a flock of Texel sheep. Therefore, we assessed the prevalence of S. IIIb 61:k:1,5,(7) within the Swiss sheep population using a representative sampling strategy. From May 2017 to June 2018 a total of 681 nasal swabs from individual clinically healthy sheep of 141 different flocks throughout Switzerland were taken. Swabs were analysed by selective enrichment for the presence of S. IIIb 61:k:1,5,(7). Additionally, antimicrobial resistance of the isolates was determined by broth microdilution. A total of 146 out of 681 nasal swabs tested positive for S. IIIb 61:k:1,5,(7), which corresponds to a prevalence on animal level of 21% (95%CI 18%-25%). In 73 out of 141 flocks tested, at least one sheep tested positive for S. IIIb 61:k:1.5,(7), resulting in a minimal prevalence on flock level of 52% (95%CI 43%-60%). Positive flocks were found in all cantons except the canton of Jura. Adults were significantly more affected than sheep under one year/lambs and positive sheep were found in several breeds. No microbiologically resistant isolates were detected, except for one isolate showing resistance against ampicillin. Because of its widespread occurrence in the Swiss sheep population, further research should focus on the pathogenic impact of S. IIIb 61:k:1,5,(7) on the health status of sheep

Identifying transferable skills to enhance Early Career Researchers employability

EURODOC conference 2018, 18-19 April, Tampere, FinlandDoctoral candidates are facing a diverse employment landscape that shifted significantly in the last decades, with less than 30 % of doctoral graduates working in academia or in research and development related jobs. In addition to becoming more inter-sectoral, working environments are becoming increasingly inter-national and inter-disciplinary. This development can make the employment requirements often demanding and sometimes overwhelming for doctoral graduates. However, recent research shows that training in transferable skills (i.e. skills learned in one context that are useful in another) can significantly increase doctoral candidates’ employability and promote diverse careers paths. Thus, doctoral candidates have to prepare already during their doctoral period and take sufficient training to successfully satisfy the qualification demands of today’s labor markets. Nevertheless, with (too often) poor supervision and a lack of awareness and structure for transferable skills training in many doctoral programmes, many doctoral candidates struggle to identify the set of transferable skills relevant for their individual situation and, as a consequence, fail to acquire the necessary training and experience. Considering this context, the objective of this study is twofold: (1) identify transferable skills that are relevant for early career researchers to gather during their doctoral training programme, independently of the discipline, in order to increase their employability in multiple work sectors; (2) provide advice on how to gather these skills and, in cases where this is necessary, on how to document them