The Future of Swiss Hydropower A Review on Drivers and Uncertainties

Swiss Hydropower (HP) is currently facing a wide range of challenges that have initiated a debate about future prospects and its role within the envisioned energy transition. Building on this debate, this paper provides an overview of the status and prospects of Swiss HP by identifying and evaluating the different drivers and uncertainties that Swiss HP faces. Based on a review and the perceptions held by some of the main Swiss HP stakeholders the two main topics that need to be addressed are the market driven impacts and the political, legal and social aspects. While the market dynamics cannot directly be influenced by Swiss companies or authorities, the regulatory framework can and needs to be adjusted. However, this requires a comprehensive stakeholder process and is at least a medium-term process

Effects of intrauterine food restriction and long-term dietary supplementation with L-arginine on age-related changes in renal function and structure of rats

We have previously demonstrated that restricting intrauterine food by 50% in 3-mo-old rats produced lower nephron numbers and early-onset hypertension, the latter being normalized by L-arginine administration. in 18-mo-old rats, such restriction increased glomerulosclerosis. in this study, we expanded our investigation, evaluating functional, morphologic, and immunohistochemical parameters in intrauterine-food-restricted 18-mo-old rats, either receiving L-arginine (RA18) or not (R18). Age-matched, non-food-restricted controls were assigned to similar groups with L-arginine (CA18) and without (C18). After weaning, L-arginine was given daily for 17 mo. No functional or morphologic changes were observed in C IS rats. the R18 rats developed early-onset hypertension, which persisted throughout the observation period, as well its significant proteinuria from 12 mo on. in RA18 rats, L-arginine decreased both blood pressure levels and proteinuria, and glomerular diameter was si,significantly smaller than in R18 rats (115.63 +/- 2.2 versus 134.8 +/- 1.0 mu m, p < 0.05). However, in RA18 rats, glomerular filtration rate remained depressed. Although L-arginine prevented glomerulosclerosis (R18 = 14%, RA18 = 4%; p < 0.05), glomerular expression of fibronectin and desmin was still greater in RA18 rats than in controls. Our data show that, although L-arginine prevented hypertension and proteinuria, glomerular injury still occurred, suggesting that intrauterine food restriction may be one of the leading causes of impaired renal function in adult life.Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Physiol, EPM, Dept Physiol, BR-04023900 São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Physiol, EPM, Dept Morphol,Embrol Div, BR-04023900 São Paulo, BrazilUniv São Paulo, Ribeirao Preto Sch Med, Dept Physiol & Biophys, Brookline, MA 02146 USAUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Physiol, EPM, Dept Physiol, BR-04023900 São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Physiol, EPM, Dept Morphol,Embrol Div, BR-04023900 São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Direct Mediation and Metastable Supersymmetry Breaking for SO(10)

We examine a metastable $\mathcal{N}=1$ Macroscopic SO(N) SQCD model of Intriligator, Seiberg and Shih (ISS). We introduce various baryon and meson deformations, including multitrace operators and explore embedding an SO(10) parent of the standard model into two weakly gauged flavour sectors. Direct fundamental messengers and the symmetric pseudo-modulus messenger mediate SUSY breaking to the MSSM. Gaugino and sfermion masses are computed and compared for each deformation type. We also explore reducing the rank of the magnetic quark matrix of the ISS model and find an additional fundamental messenger.Comment: 43 pages, Latex. Version to appear in JHEP

Einleitung: Indologie und „Ariertum“: Wissen über Indien in NS-Deutschland – Eine Einladung zur neuen Forschung

The introduction to our special issue offers a brief survey of the historical literature on knowledge about India in Nazi Germany and distinguishes three different, but interrelated layers of such knowledge: disciplinary knowledge of Indology as an academic field, knowledge fulfilling the needs of state agencies, and popular knowledge (and beliefs) about India.Die Einleitung zu unserem Themenheft bietet einen kurzen Überblick über bisherige historische Literatur zum Wissen über Indien im nationalsozialistischen Deutschland und skizziert drei verschiedene, aber miteinander verbundene Schichten solchen Kenntnissen: Disziplinäre Kenntnisse der Indologie als akademisches Fachgebiet, Wissen, das den Bedürfnissen staatlicher Stellen gerecht wird, und Allgemeinwissen (und Überzeugungen) über Indien

Gene-gene Interaction Analyses for Atrial Fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a heritable disease that affects more than thirty million individuals worldwide. Extensive efforts have been devoted to the study of genetic determinants of AF. The objective of our study is to examine the effect of gene-gene interaction on AF susceptibility. We performed a large-scale association analysis of gene-gene interactions with AF in 8,173 AF cases, and 65,237 AF-free referents collected from 15 studies for discovery. We examined putative interactions between genome-wide SNPs and 17 known AF-related SNPs. The top interactions were then tested for association in a

The performance of Protected Areas for biodiversity under climate change

Global environmental changes have been driving large-scale shifts in the distributions of species and in the composition of biological communities. This has thrown the continuing value of Protected Areas (PAs) into question, given that PAs remain static, whereas species move, and they are predicted to continue to move under future climate scenarios. We consider empirical evidence on the observed performance of PAs during the last 40 years of anthropogenic climate change. Despite some losses of populations and species, PAs have continued to accommodate many species, which have shifted to higher elevations, to polewards-facing aspects, and into cooler microhabitats within PAs as the climate has warmed. Even when species have declined in some PAs, they often remain more abundant inside than outside PAs. Furthermore, losses from some PAs are offset by increases in others. As species expand their ranges polewards across fragmented landscapes in response to climate warming, the majority are disproportionately colonizing PAs as they go. Hence, PA networks are acting as stepping-stones of suitable breeding conditions and facilitating range shifts, with many species remaining protected across PA networks as a whole. Finally, there is some evidence that appropriate management of PAs may be able to slow climate-related declines and accelerate expansions. The 40-year track record of species responding to environmental change in PAs suggests that networks of PAs have been essential to biodiversity conservation and are likely to continue to fulfil this role in the future. The challenge for managers will be to consider the balance between retaining current species and encouraging colonization by new species

Large-scale analyses of common and rare variants identify 12 new loci associated with atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation affects more than 33 million people worldwide and increases the risk of stroke, heart failure, and death. Fourteen genetic loci have been associated with atrial fibrillation in European and Asian ancestry groups. To further define the genetic basis of atrial fibrillation, we performed large-scale, trans-ancestry meta-analyses of common and rare variant association studies. The genome-wide association studies (GWAS) included 17,931 individuals with atrial fibrillation and 115,142 referents; the exome-wide association studies (ExWAS) and rare variant association studies (RVAS) involved 22,346 cases and 132,086 referents. We identified 12 new genetic loci that exceeded genome-wide significance, implicating genes involved in cardiac electrical and structural remodeling. Our results nearly double the number of known genetic loci for atrial fibrillation, provide insights into the molecular basis of atrial fibrillation, and may facilitate the identification of new potential targets for drug discovery

Measurement of the forward Z boson production cross-section in pp collisions at s=13\sqrt{s} = 13 TeV

A measurement of the production cross-section of Z bosons in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV is presented using dimuon and dielectron final states in LHCb data. The cross-section is measured for leptons with pseudorapidities in the range $2.0 \eta 4.5$, transverse momenta $p_\text{T} 20$ GeV and dilepton invariant mass in the range $60 m(\ell\ell) 120$ GeV. The integrated cross-section from averaging the two final states is \begin{equation*}\sigma_{\text{Z}}^{\ell\ell} = 194.3 \pm 0.9 \pm 3.3 \pm 7.6\text{ pb,}\end{equation*} where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is due to systematic effects, and the third is due to the luminosity determination. In addition, differential cross-sections are measured as functions of the Z boson rapidity, transverse momentum and the angular variable $\phi^*_\eta$

Impacts of the Tropical Pacific/Indian Oceans on the Seasonal Cycle of the West African Monsoon

The current consensus is that drought has developed in the Sahel during the second half of the twentieth century as a result of remote effects of oceanic anomalies amplified by local land–atmosphere interactions. This paper focuses on the impacts of oceanic anomalies upon West African climate and specifically aims to identify those from SST anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Oceans during spring and summer seasons, when they were significant. Idealized sensitivity experiments are performed with four atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs). The prescribed SST patterns used in the AGCMs are based on the leading mode of covariability between SST anomalies over the Pacific/Indian Oceans and summer rainfall over West Africa. The results show that such oceanic anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Ocean lead to a northward shift of an anomalous dry belt from the Gulf of Guinea to the Sahel as the season advances. In the Sahel, the magnitude of rainfall anomalies is comparable to that obtained by other authors using SST anomalies confined to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean. The mechanism connecting the Pacific/Indian SST anomalies with West African rainfall has a strong seasonal cycle. In spring (May and June), anomalous subsidence develops over both the Maritime Continent and the equatorial Atlantic in response to the enhanced equatorial heating. Precipitation increases over continental West Africa in association with stronger zonal convergence of moisture. In addition, precipitation decreases over the Gulf of Guinea. During the monsoon peak (July and August), the SST anomalies move westward over the equatorial Pacific and the two regions where subsidence occurred earlier in the seasons merge over West Africa. The monsoon weakens and rainfall decreases over the Sahel, especially in August.Peer reviewe