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The value of travel time savings (VTTS) representing the willingness to pay to reduce travel time, consists of two components: the value of liberating time [equal to the value of leisure (VoL)] and the value of time assigned to travel (VTAT), representing the travel conditions of a trip. Their relative values indicate which dimension to emphasize when investing in transport: speed or comfort. In this paper, we formulate and estimate a framework aimed at the improvement in the estimation of the VoL. By introducing a novel treatment of time assigned to domestic work, we consider that unpaid labor should be assigned a wage rate as a measure of the expenses avoided when assigning time to those chores. We use state-of-the-art data on time use and expenses as well as online data on gig workers collected in Austria, and apply the time-use and expenditure model of Jara-Diaz et al. (Transp Res Part B 42(10):946–957, 2008). The wage rates for paid and unpaid work were combined to re-formulate the budget constraint, which affected women more than men due to the higher involvement of the former in domestic activities. Compared against the original estimation, the VoL changed from €10/h for men and €6/h for women to €9/h for both genders, which in turn yields a larger average VTAT, which becomes positive for public transport. As a conclusion, the novel treatment of domestic labor contributes to closing the gap in the VoL between genders and highlights the power of unveiling the components behind the VTTS. The empirical findings imply that investments in travel time reductions rather than in comfort should be prioritized, given the very good conditions of public transport in Austria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production of synthetic pesticides is energy intensive and can emit even more greenhouse gases (GHG) per kg than the production of synthetic fertilizers. However, this aspect is largely neglected when it comes to agriculture's contribution to GHG emissions. Using official pesticide sales data from Austria from 2000 to 2019, we analyzed (i) trends in insecticide, fungicide, and herbicide use and calculated production-related GHG emissions, and (ii) the share of pesticide-related versus fertilizer-related GHG emissions in three agricultural crops with different pesticide intensities: sugar beets, apples, and grapevines. We found that between 2000 and 2019, insecticide amounts increased by 58%, fungicide amounts increased by 29%, and herbicide amounts decreased by 29%; associated GHG emissions showed similar patterns. During the same period, acreage under conventional arable crops, orchards, and vineyards decreased by an average of 19%, indicating an increase in management intensity. In intensive apple production, GHG emissions associated with pesticide production and application accounted for 51% of total GHG emissions, in viticulture 37%, and in sugar beets 12%. We have shown that GHG emissions due to pesticide production and application can be significant, especially for pesticide-intensive crops. We therefore recommend that these pesticide-derived GHG emissions should also be attributed to the agricultural sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pesticide use has been associated with risks for human health and an overall decline in biodiversity. Although herbicides are the most commonly used pesticides worldwide, they have received less attention in this debate. We investigated the extent to which long-term trends in herbicide use in Austria influence potential toxic exposures to non-target organisms and potential risks to humans. We analyzed official sales data of 101 herbicide active ingredients (AIs) approved in Austria between 2010 and 2019 regarding their ecotoxicological properties based on lethal doses (LD50 and LC50) weighed by their persistence in the environment (DT50) for honeybees (Apis mellifera), earthworms (Eisenia fetida), and birds (Serinus serinus). Human health risks were qualitatively assessed based on official hazard statements for the AIs used. Results: In Austria, herbicide amounts sold decreased significantly by 24% from 1480 to 1123 tonnes between 2010 and 2019. This also led to a considerable decrease in the amounts of AIs classified by H-statements of the EU Pesticides Database: − 71% acute inhalation toxicity, − 58% reproductive toxicity,− 47% specific target organ toxicity. Yet, 36% of herbicides used were still classified as highly hazardous pesticides according to the Pesticide Action Network. Surprisingly, over the same period, toxic loads to honeybees increased by 487% (oral exposure), while lethal toxic loads to earthworms increased by 498%, and to birds by 580%. This can be attributed to a shift toward the use of more acutely toxic and especially more persistent AIs. The most problematic AI for honeybees, earthworms, birds and humans was the highly persistent diquat. The further ranking of the most toxic herbicides varied considerably depending on the organism. It is important to note that this toxic load assessment, like official environmental risk assessments, evaluates the potential risk but not the actual fatalities or real-world exposure. Conclusions: Our results show a trade-off between herbicide amounts and toxicological hazards to humans and other non-target organisms. These interdependencies need to be considered when implementing pesticide reduction targets to protect public health and biodiversity, such as the EU´s "farm-to-fork" strategy, which aims to reduce the amounts and risks of synthetic pesticides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wildlife-related accidents, especially deer-vehicle accidents, pose a serious problem for road safety and animal protection in many countries. Knowledge of spatial and temporal patterns of deer-vehicle accidents is inevitable for accident analysis and mitigation efforts with temporal deer-vehicle accident data being much more difficult to obtain in sufficient data quality. We described the temporal patterns of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) roadkills occurring in the period 2002–2006 in southeastern Austria. Using a comprehensive dataset, consisting of 11.771 data points, we examined the influence of different time units (i.e. season, month, day of week, day of year), illumination categories (coarse and fine temporal resolution) and lunar phases on deer-vehicle accidents by performing linear and generalized additive models. Thereby, we identified peak accident periods within the analyzed time units. Highest frequencies of deer-vehicle accidents occurred in November, May and October, on Fridays, and during nights. Relationships between lunar phases and roe deer-vehicle accidents were analysed, providing evidence for high frequencies of deer-vehicle accidents during full moon phases. We suggest that deer-vehicle accidents are dependent both on human activity in traffic and wildlife activity, which is in turn affected by phenology, intra- and interspecific competition, climatic and astronomical events. Our results highlight, that short-term mitigation measures (e.g. traffic controls and speed limits) can be highly effective to reduce deer-vehicle accidents, but should be flexibly adapted to specific temporal periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farm investments in the European Union are supported by the governmental programmes. The evaluation of this programme is challenged through the voluntary participation and heterogeneous observation units. Therefore, we combine the Matching Method with the Difference-in-Difference estimation in order to overcome these problems and to estimate the impact of supported farm-investment activities on the economic performance of the Austrian farm holdings. In particular, we detect an increase in production, land renting and capital borrowing. Furthermore, a shift from the non-farm to farm activities, but with no statistically significant impact on the total income is shown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Cognitive behavioural guided self-help has been shown to be effective in mild and moderate depressive disorder. It is not known, however, if it is effective in individuals with partially remitted depressive disorder, which is a serious clinical problem in up to 50-60% of treated patients. This study is the first one to examine the clinical benefit of this intervention in this patient population. Design For the purpose of this study, a single-blind, randomized controlled design was used. Method We randomized 90 individuals with partially remitted depressive disorder either to cognitive behavioural guided self-help plus psychopharmacotherapy ( n = 49) or psychopharmacotherapy alone ( n = 41). They were clinically assessed at regular intervals with ratings of depressive symptoms and stress-coping strategies over a 3-week run-in period and a 6-week treatment period. Results After 6 weeks, intention-to-treat analysis ( n = 90) showed that patients treated with cognitive behavioural guided self-help plus psychopharmacotherapy did not have significantly lower scores on the Hamilton Rating Scale of Depression (17-item version; HRSD-17) and on the Beck Depression Inventory ( BDI) compared to patients treated with psychopharmacotherapy alone. When negative stress-coping strategies were considered, there was a significant difference between the two groups at the end of treatment with respect to the BDI but not to the HRSD-17. Conclusions Guided self-help did not lead to a significant reduction in symptom severity in patients with partially remitted depressive disorder after a 6-week intervention. However, the intervention leads to a reduction of negative stress-coping strategies. Practitioner points Cognitive behavioural guided self-help did not significantly improve depressive symptoms measured with the Hamilton Rating Scale of Depression (17-item version; HRSD-17) in patients with partially remitted depressive disorder., Improvements were found in reducing negative stress-coping strategies for those allocated to the cognitive behavioural guided self-help, which significantly improved Beck Depression Inventory but not HRSD-17., These findings suggest that cognitive behavioural guided self-help may offer some assistance in managing negative stress-coping strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Presents an a posteriori segmentation study of winter tourists in Austria. Number of respondents questioned during their stays in Austria in the winter season of 1997-1998; List of motive statements; Information on the behavioral and psychographic types of winter tourists.

• First joint time-use expenditure and mode choice model estimation with expenditure equation. • First estimation of the joint model in panel setting. • First representative VTAT estimates with standard deviations (based on the joint estimation). • First decomposition of user-type effects of the VTTS into effects of the VoL and of the VTAT. • Confirmation of the importance of expenditure information for the estimation of values of time. • First estimation of the joint time-use expenditure and mode choice model with weekly mode choice data This paper presents the joint time-use, expenditure and mode choice model, based on the theoretical framework of Jara-Díaz and Guevara (2003), for the first time estimated in panel setting while using surveyed expenditure data. This extended estimation takes into account multiple trips per individual, as well as mode availability. The model was estimated using the novel dataset gathered in Austria in 2015. It includes individual-specific information on time-use, expenditures and mode choice. As a result, we calculate the value of leisure (VoL), travel time savings (VTTS) and time assigned to travel (VTAT), that are relevant inputs to appraisals of transport policies. We also show that, at least for the Austrian working population, the omission of expenditures in the model might result in a significant overestimation of the value of leisure (16.83%); the VoL (9.29€/h) was estimated to be considerably lower than the wage rate (12.14€/h) and the VTTS varies strongly between the modes (9.98€/h for car, 3.91€/h for public transport, 9.25€/h for bike and 17.53€/h for walk). The joint estimation framework produced positive estimates of VTAT (5.38€/h) only for public transport, reflecting the favorable public transport conditions in Austria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Previous studies noted significant health and behavioural problems in cattle accommodated on fully slatted floors. As the majority of beef bulls in Austria are still housed on fully slatted floors the development of alternative housing systems becomes vitally important. On the basis of behavioural analyses, we wanted to test the suitability of alternative housing systems under on-farm conditions. Data was collected on seven Austrian farms between January 2006 and April 2007. The resting, social and sexual behaviour of 219 Simmental bulls accommodated in four different housing systems was observed for 48h at an average live weight of 450kg and 600kg using continuous and scan sampling method. The studied housing systems were (a) fully concrete slatted floor pens (CS), (b) fully slatted floor pens covered with rubber mats (RS), (c) straw bedded pens (ST) and (d) a system combining straw bedded pens (for bulls weighing less than 450kg) and fully slatted floor pens (for bulls weighing more than 450kg), (SS). The number of lying (P >0.001) and short standing bouts (P <0.001) was significantly higher in ST and RS than in CS and the mean duration of lying bouts significantly lower (P <0.001). Bulls in ST showed less atypical lying down movements and difficulties to stand up than bulls in the other systems (P <0.001). The number of lying down intentions was significantly lower in ST and RS than in CS (P <0.001). Moreover, we found a significantly lower mean duration of lying down (P =0.005) and standing up (P <0.001) in ST than in CS and SS. It is concluded that rubber mats for slatted floors have a positive effect on the bulls’ behaviour but do not reach the welfare potential of straw bedding. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We examined 89 normal volunteers using Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). Genotyping the 102T/C polymorphism of the serotonin 5HT2A receptor gene and the ser9gly polymorphism in exon 1 of the dopamine D3 receptor (DRD3) gene was performed using PCR-RFLP, whereas the dopamine transporter (DAT1) gene variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) polymorphism was investigated using PCR amplification followed by electrophoresis in an 8% acrylamide gel with a set of size markers. We found a nominally significant association between gender and harm avoidance (P=0.017; women showing higher scores). There was no association of either DAT1, DRD3 or 5HT2A alleles or genotypes with any dimension of the TCI applying Kruskal-Wallis rank-sum tests. Comparing homozygote and heterozygote DAT1 genotypes, we found higher novelty seeking scores in homozygotes (P=0.054). We further found a nominally significant interaction between DAT1 and 5HT2A homo-/heterozygous gene variants (P=0.0071; DAT1 and 5HT2A genotypes P value of 0.05), performing multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). Examining the temperamental TCI subscales, this interaction was associated with persistence (genotypes: P=0.004; homo-/heterozygous gene variants: P=0.0004). We conclude that an interaction between DAT1 and 5HT2A genes might influence the temperamental personality trait persistence.

Background: Despite the widely accepted view that schizophrenia and bipolar disorder represent independent illnesses and modes of inheritance, some data in the literature suggest that the diseases may share some genetic susceptibility. The objective of our analyses was to search for vulnerability loci for the two disorders., Methods: A genomewide map of 388 microsatellite DNA markers was genotyped in five schizophrenia and three bipolar disorder Austrian families. Linkage analyses was used to compute the usual parametric logarithm of the likelihood of linkage (LOD) scores and nonparametric linkage analysis (NPL scores Z(all)) was used to assess the pattern of allele sharing at each marker locus relative to the presence of the disease (GENEHUNTER). Affected status was defined as severe affective disorder or schizophrenia., Results: Across the genome, p values associated with NPL scores resulted in evidence (i.e., p <.0007) for linkage at marker D3S1265 on chromosome 3q (NPL score Z (all) = 3.74, p =.0003). Two other markers (on 3q and 6q) showed p values of <.01., Conclusions: We detected a potential susceptibility locus for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia on chromosome 3q, which has not been reported previously. The possibility of a false positive result has to be taken into account. Our data suggest shared loci for schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorders and are consistent with the continuum model of psychosis.