A Compensating Anastigmatic Submillimeter Array Imaging System for STEAMR

In this paper, we present a novel technique for the removal of astigmatism in submillimeter-wave optical systems through employment of a specific combination of so-called astigmatic off-axis reflectors. This technique treats an orthogonally astigmatic beam using skew Gaussian beam analysis, from which an anastigmatic imaging network is derived. The resultant beam is considered truly stigmatic, with all Gaussian beam parameters in the orthogonal directions being matched. This is thus considered an improvement over previous techniques wherein a beam corrected for astigmatism has only the orthogonal beam amplitude radii matched, with phase shift and phase radius of curvature not considered. This technique is computationally efficient, negating the requirement for computationally intensive numerical analysis of shaped reflector surfaces. The required optical surfaces are also relatively simple to implement compared to such numerically optimized shaped surfaces. This technique is implemented in this work as part of the complete optics train for the STEAMR antenna. The STEAMR instrument is envisaged as a mutli-beam limb sounding instrument operating at submillimeter wavelengths. The antenna optics arrangement for this instrument uses multiple off-axis reflectors to control the incident radiation and couple them to their corresponding receiver feeds. An anastigmatic imaging network is successfully implemented into an optical model of this antenna, and the resultant design ensures optimal imaging of the beams to the corresponding feed horns. This example also addresses the challenges of imaging in multi-beam antenna systems.

Sustainable Wastewater Management: Is it Possible to Regulate Micropollution in the Future by Learning from the Past? A Policy Analysis

This paper applies a policy analysis approach to the question of how to effectively regulate micropollution in a sustainable manner. Micropollution is a complex policy problem characterized by a huge number and diversity of chemical substances, as well as various entry paths into the aquatic environment. It challenges traditional water quality management by calling for new technologies in wastewater treatment and behavioral changes in industry, agriculture and civil society. In light of such challenges, the question arises as to how to regulate such a complex phenomenon to ensure water quality is maintained in the future? What can we learn from past experiences in water quality regulation? To answer these questions, policy analysis strongly focuses on the design and choice of policy instruments and the mix of such measures. In this paper, we review instruments commonly used in past water quality regulation. We evaluate their ability to respond to the characteristics of a more recent water quality problem, i.e., micropollution, in a sustainable way. This way, we develop a new framework that integrates both the problem dimension (i.e., causes and effects of a problem) as well as the sustainability dimension (e.g., long-term, cross-sectoral and multi-level) to assess which policy instruments are best suited to regulate micropollution. We thus conclude that sustainability criteria help to identify an appropriate instrument mix of end-of-pipe and source-directed measures to reduce aquatic micropollution.

Optical Tolerance Analysis of the Multi-Beam Limb Viewing Instrument STEAMR

In this paper, we report on an optical tolerance analysis of the submillimeter atmospheric multi-beam limb sounder, STEAMR. Physical optics and ray-tracing methods were used to quantify and separate errors in beam pointing and distortion due to reflector misalignment and primary reflector surface deformations. Simulations were performed concurrently with the manufacturing of a multi-beam demonstrator of the relay optical system which shapes and images the beams to their corresponding receiver feed horns. Results from Monte Carlo simulations show that the inserts used for reflector mounting should be positioned with an overall accuracy better than 100 μm (~ 1/10 wavelength). Analyses of primary reflector surface deformations show that a deviation of magnitude 100 μm can be tolerable before deployment, whereas the corresponding variations should be less than 30 μm during operation. The most sensitive optical elements in terms of misalignments are found near the focal plane. This localized sensitivity is attributed to the off-axis nature of the beams at this location. Post-assembly mechanical measurements of the reflectors in the demonstrator show that alignment better than 50 μm could be obtained.

Swiss Policies for more Food Security

Resource-poor yet blissful Switzerland is also one of the most food-secure countries in the world: there are abundant food supplies, relatively low retail prices in terms of purchasing power parity, with few poverty traps. Domestic production covers 70% of net domestic consumption. A vast and efficient food reserve scheme insures against import disruptions. Nonetheless, the food security contribution by the four sectoral policies involved is mutually constrained: our agriculture is protected by the world’s highest tariffs. Huge subsidies, surface payments, and some production quotas substitute market signals with rent maximisation. Moreover, these inefficiencies also prevent trade and investment policies which would keep markets open, development policies which would provide African farmers with the tools to become more competitive, and supply policies which would work against speculators. The paralysing effect of Swiss agricultural policies is exacerbated by new “food security subsidies” in the name of “food sovereignty” while two pending people’s initiatives might yet increase the splendid isolation which in effect reduce Swiss farmer competitiveness and global food security. Is there a solution? Absent a successful conclusion of the Doha Round (WTO) or a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement (TTIP) further market openings and a consequent “recoupling” of taxpayer support to public goods production remain highly un-likely. To the very minimum Switzerland should resume the agricultural reform process, join other countries trying to prevent predatory behaviour of its investors in developing countries, and regionalise its food reserve.

MRI findings in a case of canine tick born meningoencephalomyelitis

Tick borne encephalitis virus (TBE) is an endemic infectious agent in northeastern Switzerland causing mainly meningoencephalomyelitis in dogs. We report a canine case of tick born meningoencephalomyelitis resulting in flaccid tetraplegia and, subsequently, fatal respiratory failure. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated intra-axial bilateral, symmetric, and hyperintense lesions in T2-weighted and Fluid Attenuated Inversion Recovery (FLAIR) sequences affecting thalamus, basal nuclei, cerebral white matter and ventral horns of the caudal cervical spine. These radiological findings overlap those described during flavivirus encephalitis affecting human beings. These lesions in MRI and diffusion weighted images correlated with areas of vasogenic edema detected histopathologically. In endemic regions, clinicians should be aware that bilateral, symmetrical hyperintense thalamic lesions in T2WI can be suggestive of flavivirus infection in dogs with encephalitis

Can the green economy enhance sustainable mountain development? The potential role of awareness building

Mountain socio-ecological systems produce valuable but complex ecosystem services resulting from biomes stratified by altitude and gravity. These systems are often managed and shaped by smallholders whose marginalization is exacerbated by uncertainties and a lack of policy attention. Human–environment interfaces in mountains hence require holistic policies. We analyse the potential of the Global Mountain Green Economy Agenda (GMGEA) in building awareness and thus prompting cross-sectoral policy strategies for sustainable mountain development. Considering the critique of the green economy presented at the Rio + 20 conference, we argue that the GMGEA can nevertheless structure knowledge and inform regional institutions about the complexity of mountain socio-ecological systems, a necessary pre-condition to prompt inter-agency collaboration and cross-sectoral policy formulation. After reviewing the content of the GMGEA, we draw on two empirical cases in the Pakistani and Nepali Himalayas. First, we show that lack of awareness has led to a sequence of fragmented interventions with unanticipated, and unwanted, consequences for communities. Second, using a green economy lens, we show how fragmentation could have been avoided and cross-sectoral policies yielded more beneficial results. Project fragmentation reflects disconnected or layered policies by government agencies, which inherently keep specialized agendas and have no incentive to collaborate. Awareness makes agencies more likely to collaborate and adopt cross-sectoral approaches, allowing them to target more beneficiaries, be more visible, and raise more funds. Nevertheless, we also identify four factors that may currently still limit the effect of the GMGEA: high costs of inter-agency collaboration, lack of legitimacy of the green economy, insufficiently-secured smallholder participation, and limited understanding of the mechanisms through which global agendas influence local policy.

Linking Landscape Protection and Nature Conservation: Switzerland’s Experience with Protected Mire Landscapes

Since 1987, Switzerland’s Federal Inventory of Mire Landscapes of Particular Beauty and National Importance has provided an instrument for the integration of nature conservation and landscape protection. Mires and mire landscape protection are strictly regulated. However, research results show that neither the goals of mire protection nor those of mire landscape protection are being achieved. The reasons for this are manifold and, in particular, have to do with a lack of coordination between the various policy areas that shape mire environments and mire landscapes. There are several key challenges involving different political and administrative levels. At the national level, mechanisms must be devised that enable differentiated regional implementation of national sectoral policies. In the context of cantonal structure planning, regional nature conservation and landscape protection priorities should be established based on existing regional potentials vis-à-vis the natural environment and landscapes (including protected biotopes and landscapes). At the regional level (spanning multiple communes), integrated planning instruments and governance structures should be developed so that implementation of national and cantonal sectoral policies may be harmonized under the umbrella of regional and integrated development plans. These adjustments to Switzerland’s institutional system are necessary to enable far-reaching integration of nature conservation and landscape protection when setting regional policy priorities. This would strengthen the protection of mire landscapes and other integrative instruments such as regional nature parks of national importance.

Horn Growth and Reproduction in a Long-Lived Male Mammal: No Compensation for Poor Early-Life Horn Growth

Secondary sexual traits in males of polygynous species are important determinants of reproductive success. It is, however, unknown if and how the development of continuously growing traits at different life-stages is related to reproduction in long-lived male mammals. In this study, we evaluated the relationship of early and late horn growth on social status and reproduction in long-lived male Alpine ibex (Capra ibex). For this, we analysed individual horn growth and assessed its effect on dominance and reproduction. No evidence was detected for compensatory horn growth, as late-life horn growth positively depended on early-life horn growth in males. Still, individuals with longer horn segments grown during early adulthood experienced a stronger age-dependent length decline in annual horn growth during the late development. Accordingly, a divergence between individual growth potential and realized horn growth late in life has to be assumed. Residual age-specific horn length and length of early grown horn segments both positively affected dominance and reproductive success, whereas, contrary to our expectation, no significant effect of the length of horn segments grown during the late development was detected. Suspected higher somatic costs incurred by high-quality males during their late development might at least partly be responsible for this finding. Overall, our study suggests that the total length of horns and their early development in long-lived male Alpine ibex is a reliable indicator of reproductive success and that individuals may be unable to compensate for poor early-life growth performance at a later point in life.

Sustainability principles put into practice: case studies of network analysis in Swiss climate change adaptation

Climate adaptation policies increasingly incorporate sustainability principles into their design and implementation. Since successful adaptation by means of adaptive capacity is recognized as being dependent upon progress toward sustainable development, policy design is increasingly characterized by the inclusion of state and non-state actors (horizontal actor integration), cross-sectoral collaboration, and inter-generational planning perspectives. Comparing four case studies in Swiss mountain regions, three located in the Upper Rhone region and one case from western Switzerland, we investigate how sustainability is put into practice. We argue that collaboration networks and sustainability perceptions matter when assessing the implementation of sustainability in local climate change adaptation. In other words, we suggest that adaptation is successful where sustainability perceptions translate into cross-sectoral integration and collaboration on the ground. Data about perceptions and network relations are assessed through surveys and treated via cluster and social network analysis.

Fragmentation of Natural Resources Management: Experiences from Lake Kariba

This book is an output of the Defragmenting African Resources Management (DARMA) Project. Lake Kariba and its environs are a complex transboundary ecosystem with multiple, competing and often contested resource uses. The individual chapters in the book describe the current sectoral approach to natural resource management, the interconnections, and the need to adopt an ecosystem approach. The book is an essential reading for students, researchers, academics and managers in the environmental and natural resources sectors interested in advancing the ecosystems approach in management of commons in general and Southern Africa in particular. - See more at: http://www.plaas.org.za/plaas-publication/DARMA-Kariba-LV#sthash.7giSiWiB.dpuf

A 1.8-kb insertion in the 3'-UTR of RXFP2 is associated with polledness in sheep

Sheep breeds show a broad spectrum of different horn phenotypes. In most modern production breeds, sheep are polled (absence of horns), whereas horns occur mainly in indigenous breeds. Previous studies mapped the responsible locus to the region of the RXFP2 gene on ovine chromosome 10. A 4-kb region of the 3'-end of RXFP2 was amplified in horned and polled animals from seven Swiss sheep breeds. Sequence analysis identified a 1833-bp genomic insertion located in the 3'-UTR region of RXFP2 present in polled animals only. An efficient PCR-based genotyping method to determine the polled genotype of individual sheep is presented. Comparative sequence analyses revealed evidence that the polled-associated insertion adds a potential antisense RNA sequence of EEF1A1 to the 3'-end of RXFP2 transcripts.

Segmentation and Segregation Patterns of Women-Owned High-Tech Firms in Four Metropolitan Regions in the United States

Mayer H. Segmentation and segregation patterns of women-owned high-tech firms in four metropolitan regions in the United States, Regional Studies. The number of women starting and owning a business has increased dramatically and female entrepreneurs are entering non-traditional sectors such as high technology, construction and manufacturing. This paper investigates the trends in high-tech entrepreneurship by women in four US metropolitan regions (Silicon Valley, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Washington, DC; and Portland, Oregon). The research examines the sectoral and spatial segmentation patterns of women-owned high-tech firms. Although women are entering non-traditional sectors, the research finds that women entrepreneurs tend to own businesses in female-typed high-tech sectors. In established high-tech regions like Silicon Valley and Boston, male-typed and female-typed women-owned high-tech firms differ significantly in terms of sectoral and spatial segmentation regardless of firm age. While differences between male-typed and female-typed firms are not significant at the regional level for Washington, DC, the analysis shows significant intra-metropolitan differences for the female-typed high-tech firms. The paper concludes that sectoral and spatial segmentation are powerful dynamics that shape business ownership by women in high technology.

Racking the brain: detection of cerebral edema on postmortem computed tomography compared with forensic autopsy

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to compare postmortem computed tomography with forensic autopsy regarding their diagnostic reliability of differentiating between pre-existing cerebral edema and physiological postmortem brain swelling. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study collective included a total of 109 cases (n=109/200, 83 male, 26 female, mean age: 53.2 years) and were retrospectively evaluated for the following parameters (as related to the distinct age groups and causes of death): tonsillar herniation, the width of the outer and inner cerebrospinal fluid spaces and the radiodensity measurements (in Hounsfield Units) of the gray and white matter. The results were compared with the findings of subsequent autopsies as the gold standard for diagnosing cerebral edema. p-Values <0.05 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS Cerebellar edema (despite normal postmortem swelling) can be reliably assessed using postmortem computed tomography and is indicated by narrowed temporal horns and symmetrical herniation of the cerebellar tonsils (p<0.001). There was a significant difference (p<0.001) between intoxication (or asphyxia) and all other causes of death; the former causes demonstrated higher deviations of the attenuation between white and gray matter (>20 Hounsfield Units), and the gray to white matter ratio was >1.58 when leukoencephalopathy was excluded. CONCLUSIONS Despite normal postmortem changes, generalized brain edema can be differentiated on postmortem computed tomography, and white and gray matter Hounsfield measurements help to determine the cause of death in cases of intoxication or asphyxia. Racking the brain about feasible applications for a precise and reliable brain diagnostic forensic radiology method has just begun.

Climate change in mountain regions: how local communities adapt to extreme events

This paper examines how local communities adapt to climate change and how governance structures can foster or undermine adaptive capacity. Climate change policies, in general, and disaster risk management in mountain regions, in particular, are characterised by their multi-level and multi-sectoral nature during formulation and implementation. The involvement of numerous state and non-state actors at local to national levels produces a variety of networks of interaction and communication. The paper argues that the structure of these relational patterns is critical for understanding adaptive capacity. It thus proposes an expanded concept of adaptive capacity that incorporates (horizontal and vertical) actor integration and communication flow between these actors. The paper further advocates the use of formal social network analysis to assess these relational patterns. Preliminary results from research on adaptation to climate change in a Swiss mountain region vulnerable to floods and other natural hazards illustrate the conceptual and empirical significance of the main arguments.

Natural Hedging of Exchange Rate Risk: The Role of Imported Input Prices

In this paper, we estimate ERPT into imported input prices and export prices using disaggregated quarterly trade data for Switzerland over 2004–2011. We find evidence for high pass-through rates into imported input prices. This demonstrates the effectiveness of natural hedging. On the export side, ERPT exhibits substantial sectoral heterogeneity and changes in imported input costs are not transmitted to foreign consumers in most cases. This suggests the use of cheaper imported inputs to offset adverse effects of currency appreciation on export profit margins.