Agriculture’s contribution to rural viability: An approach to estimate regional economic impacts of agricultural policy in Swiss case study regions

This paper develops a thorough yet easily implementable approach to measuring agriculture’s contribution to rural viability. The approach is based on input-output modelling. It adopts a number of concepts from input-output modelling such as determining the explicit geographical origin of input requirements and the geographical destination of farm household expenditures without formerly developing an input-output table. The approach is applied to four case studies in the Swiss mountain regions and tested for three scenarios. Our results clarify the role that agriculture still plays in the context of rural viability. They demonstrate that agriculture’s contribution to rural viability differs considerably between the case study regions and that future developments lead to a marked decline in this contribution. Rural development strategies have to take these specific regional characteristics and development perspectives into account. Keywords: This paper develops a thorough yet easily implementable approach to measuring agriculture’s contribution to rural viability. The approach is based on input-output modelling. It adopts a number of concepts from input-output modelling such as determining the explicit geographical origin of input requirements and the geographical destination of farm household expenditures without formerly developing an input-output table. The approach is applied to four case studies in the Swiss mountain regions and tested for three scenarios. Our results clarify the role that agriculture still plays in the context of rural viability. They demonstrate that agriculture’s contribution to rural viability differs considerably between the case study regions and that future developments lead to a marked decline in this contribution. Rural development strategies have to take these specific regional characteristics and development perspectives into account.rural viability, employment, added value, agricultural production, input requirements, farm household expenditures, agricultural and rural policy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development,

Wie effizient sind Bio-Milchbetriebe im Schweizer Berggebiet?

In Swiss mountain regions, the number of organic farms has increased considerably during the past few years. In this context, we analyse the technical efficiency of dairy farming. The analysis shows that both organic and non-organic farms harbour considerable potential for improvement in this area. In comparison to the frontier production functions, this potential is greater in the case of organic farms than in non-organic farms. Dairy Farms, which use this potential, can improve their economic situation

Warum steigen Bergbetriebe aus dem Biolandbau aus?

Since 2005, the number of Swiss organic farms has been declining steadily contrary to the positive trend in demand. Between 2005 and 2009, 13 % of organic mountain farms were lost. In this context, we analyse the factors influencing a decision to opt out of mountain organic farming by using a written survey and logistic regression. The analysis shows that economic reasons (price of organic products, low direct payments), the time and effort of record-keeping and checks («Guidelines change too often») and problems obtaining suitable concentrated feed were the most commonly cited reasons for opting out. There is a high disposition towards opting out of organic farming, especially in the case of dairy farms. The regression analysis confirms the results of the survey

Astronomical-topographic levelling using high-precision astrogeodetic vertical deflections and digital terrain model data

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, a technological change took place in geodetic astronomy by the development of Digital Zenith Camera Systems (DZCS). Such instruments provide vertical deflection data at an angular accuracy level of 0".1 and better. Recently, DZCS have been employed for the collection of dense sets of astrogeodetic vertical deflection data in several test areas in Germany with high-resolution digital terrain model (DTM) data (10-50 m resolution) available. These considerable advancements motivate a new analysis of the method of astronomical-topographic levelling, which uses DTM data for the interpolation between the astrogeodetic stations. We present and analyse a least-squares collocation technique that uses DTM data for the accurate interpolation of vertical deflection data. The combination of both data sets allows a precise determination of the gravity field along profiles, even in regions with a rugged topography. The accuracy of the method is studied with particular attention on the density of astrogeodetic stations. The error propagation rule of astronomical levelling is empirically derived. It accounts for the signal omission that increases with the station spacing. In a test area located in the German Alps, the method was successfully applied to the determination of a quasigeoid profile of 23 km length. For a station spacing from a few 100 m to about 2 km, the accuracy of the quasigeoid was found to be about 1-2 mm, which corresponds to a relative accuracy of about 0.05-0.1 ppm. Application examples are given, such as the local and regional validation of gravity field models computed from gravimetric data and the economic gravity field determination in geodetically less covered regions

Die Terminologie der Zwölftonmusik im Deutschen, Englischen, Französischen und Italienischen

Die vorliegende Arbeit bietet dem Terminologen und Sprachmittler zunächst eine Einführung in Schönbergs Zwölftonreihentechnik und ihre Rezeption im Laufe der Zeit. Anhand von Beispielen aus dieser Fachsprache werden dann Phänomene einer im internationalen Diskurs iterativ ausgehandelten „Terminology in progress“ beschrieben unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von Besonderheiten der Fachsprache und Terminologie der Zwölftonreihentechnik im Vergleich zur allgemeinen Fachsprache der Musikwissenschaft, der Bedeutung gelungener ad-hoc-Benennungsbildungen im zwischensprachlichen Austausch, selbstreferentiell-autorenabhängiger Begriffssysteme im Konflikt mit dem Ideal einer allgemein verbindlichen Terminologie, des Einflusses polysemer Benennungen auf Begriffsebene, der Problematik einer stark von einer „Vaterfigur“ beeinflussten Terminologie, problematischer Benennungsbildungsverfahren durch Entlehnungen aus verwandten Fachgebieten, der relativen Vernachlässigbarkeit von Kultur- und Sprachspezifika im Vergleich zu terminologischen Unterschieden zwischen unterschiedlichen Denkrichtungen sowie begrifflicher Bedeutungs- verschiebungen bei gleichzeitiger Ein-Eindeutigkeit zwischen Benennung und Gegenstand. In einem dolmetschwissenschaftlichen Exkurs wird unter anderem die Frage gestellt, inwiefern musikalische Äußerungen wie Ansingen oder Anspielen auf dem Klavier im Rahmen eines musikwissenschaftlichen Vortrages in einer Dolmetschsituation als integraler Bestandteil des Textes anzusehen seien, und es werden Strategien zum praktischen Umgang mit solchen Problematiken angeboten.The present thesis provides terminologists and linguists with an introduction to Schoenberg's twelve-tone-row technique and its reception in the course of time. Examples from the language describing this technique allow for an examination of a „terminology in progress“ that keeps being negotiated in the framework of a heterogeneous international discourse. Special consideration is given to peculiarities of the language and terminology of twelve-tone-row music compared to those of musicology in general, the relevance of successful ad-hoc coining of new denominations through intercultural exchange, the phenomenon of self-referential conceptual systems specific to individual authors (opposed to the ideal of a universally accepted terminology), the influence of polysemous denominations on conceptual considerations, the problem of a terminology strongly influenced by a „father figure“, problematic denomination procedures based on appropriation of terms from related fields, and the relative irrelevance of cultural or linguistic differences compared to terminologically relevant differences between opposed schools of thought. Strong emphasis is also laid on the phenomenon of conceptual changes of meaning while reversible equivalence is preserved between denomination and object. In an excursus on interpretation research, the question is asked in how far musical utterances such as singing or piano playing as well as visual aides are to be considered as integral part of the “text” in a musicological conference setting, and strategies are offered on how to deal with such situations

Populationsstruktur und genetische Diversität von Schweizer Schafrassen

Das Jahr 2010 wurde von den Vereinten Nationen zum Jahr der Biodiversität erklärt. Der Schweizerische Schafzuchtverband stellte in diesem Kontext Herdebuchdaten der vier grössten Schweizer Schafrassen zur Analyse der genetischen Diversität zur Verfügung. Untersucht wur-den das Braunköpfige Fleischschaf (BFS; n=10 858), das Schwarzbraune Bergschaf (SBS; n=10 964), das Walliser Schwarznasenschaf (SN; n=14 371) und das Weisse Alpenschaf (WAS; n=32 169). Die Analysen beruhen auf allen Herdebuchtieren der Geburtsjahre 1996–2008 und ihren Ahnen bis und mit Geburtsjahr 1970. Ausgewertet wurden die Daten mit gängiger Software für populationsgenetische Fragestellungen. Die grösste Zunahme beim mittleren Inzuchtkoeffizienten konnte im untersuchten Zeitraum bei der Rasse SN (5,9 → 9,3 %) gefolgt von denRassen BFS (2,4 → 4,3 %), SBS (2,4 → 3,8 %) und WAS (1,4 → 2,5 %) beobachtet werden. Obwohl die Inzuchtraten im Zeitraum 1996 bis 2008 teilweise starke Schwankungen aufwiesen, zeigte sich bei allen vier Rassen grundsätzlich ein steigender Trend. Damit einher ging ein sinkender Trend bei der effektiven Populationsgrösse. Die grösste Anzahl an effektiven Gründertieren, Ahnen und Gründergenomen fanden sich beim weissen Alpenschaf. Bei allen vier Rassen war bei diesen drei Parametern im Laufe der Jahre eine sinkende Tendenz erkennbar, wobei die Abnahme bei der Rasse WAS im Vergleich mit den anderen Rassen viel ausgeprägter war. Ein weiterer Indikator für eine abnehmende genetische Vielfalt von 1996 bis 2008 ist der marginale Genanteil des wichtigsten Ahnen. Dieser ist bei allen vier Rassen angestiegen (SN 11,05 → 19,79 %; BFS 7,67 →11,27 %; SBS 4,45 → 5,19 %; WAS 2,84 →4,69 %).Aufgrund der Ergebnisse stellt sich die Frage nach gezielten Managementmassnahmen nur bei der SN-Population. Bei den anderen drei Rassen sollten die Trends der genetischen Diversitäts-parameter jedoch regelmässig überprüft werden

Safety Evaluation of a Medical Congress Held During the COVID-19 Pandemic-A Prospective Cohort

Objectives: During the COVID-19 pandemic, few scientific congresses have been held on-site. We prospectively evaluated the safety concept of the congress of the Swiss Societies of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Hygiene. Methods: The congress was held in Geneva (Switzerland) while local COVID-19 incidence (with SARS-CoV-2 wild type circulating) was 65/100,000 population (September 2020). A rigorous safety concept was implemented. Congress attendees filled out a questionnaire to assess risk perception, exposures, symptoms and diagnoses of SARS-CoV-2 before, during and after the congress. Dried blood spots were taken on-site and 4 weeks later to detect SARS-CoV-2 seroconversions. Results: Of 365 congress attendees, 196 (54%) either answered the questionnaire (N = 150) or provided baseline and follow-up blood samples (N = 168). None of the participants reported a positive PCR in the 2 weeks after the congress. Five of 168 (3%) participants were seropositive at follow-up, all of which had already been positive at baseline. Conclusion: Findings indicate that congresses with a rigorous safety concept may take place, even in areas with moderately-high COVID-19 activity. Whether this holds true in vaccinated populations and with more transmissible viral variants circulating remains unclear

Swarm accelerometer data processing from raw accelerations to thermospheric neutral densities

The Swarm satellites were launched on November 22, 2013, and carry accelerometers and GPS receivers as part of their scientific payload. The GPS receivers do not only provide the position and time for the magnetic field measurements, but are also used for determining non-gravitational forces like drag and radiation pressure acting on the spacecraft. The accelerometers measure these forces directly, at much finer resolution than the GPS receivers, from which thermospheric neutral densities can be derived. Unfortunately, the acceleration measurements suffer from a variety of disturbances, the most prominent being slow temperature-induced bias variations and sudden bias changes. In this paper, we describe the new, improved four-stage processing that is applied for transforming the disturbed acceleration measurements into scientifically valuable thermospheric neutral densities. In the first stage, the sudden bias changes in the acceleration measurements are manually removed using a dedicated software tool. The second stage is the calibration of the accelerometer measurements against the non-gravitational accelerations derived from the GPS receiver, which includes the correction for the slow temperature-induced bias variations. The identification of validity periods for calibration and correction parameters is part of the second stage. In the third stage, the calibrated and corrected accelerations are merged with the non-gravitational accelerations derived from the observations of the GPS receiver by a weighted average in the spectral domain, where the weights depend on the frequency. The fourth stage consists of transforming the corrected and calibrated accelerations into thermospheric neutral densities. We present the first results of the processing of Swarm C acceleration measurements from June 2014 to May 2015. We started with Swarm C because its acceleration measurements contain much less disturbances than those of Swarm A and have a higher signal-to-noise ratio than those of Swarm B. The latter is caused by the higher altitude of Swarm B as well as larger noise in the acceleration measurements of Swarm B. We show the results of each processing stage, highlight the difficulties encountered, and comment on the quality of the thermospheric neutral density data set.Astrodynamics & Space Mission

GOCE’s view below the ice of Antarctica: Satellite gravimetry confirms improvements in Bedmap2 bedrock knowledge

Accurate knowledge of Antarctica's topography, bedrock, and ice sheet thickness is pivotal for climate change and geoscience research. Building on recent significant progress made in satellite gravity mapping with European Space Agency's Gravity field and Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) mission, we here reverse the widely used approach of validating satellite gravity with topography and instead utilize the new GOCE gravity maps for novel evaluation of Bedmap1/2. Space-collected GOCE gravity reveals clear improvements in the Bedmap2 ice and bedrock data over Bedmap1 via forward modeled topographic mass and gravity effects at spatial scales of 400 to 80 km. Our study demonstrates GOCE's sensitivity for the subsurface mass distribution in the lithosphere and delivers independent evidence for Bedmap2's improved quality, reflecting new radar-derived ice thickness data. GOCE and Bedmap2 are combined to produce improved Bouguer gravity maps over Antarctica. We recommend incorporation of Bedmap2 in future high-resolution global topography and geopotential models and its use for detailed geoid modeling over Antarctica

Women with HIV transitioning through menopause: Insights from the Swiss HIV Cohort Study (SHCS)

OBJECTIVES We aimed to assess prevalence and age at menopause, identify factors associated with early menopause and explore the provision and utilization of healthcare in women living with HIV in Switzerland. METHODS This was a retrospective Swiss HIV Cohort Study analysis from January 2010 to December 2018. Descriptive statistics to characterise the population and menopause onset. Logistic regression analysis to identify risk factors for early menopause. RESULTS Of all women in the SHCS, the proportion of postmenopausal women tripled from 11.5% (n = 274) in 2010 to 36.1% (n = 961) in 2018. The median age at menopause was 50 years. Early menopause (< 45 years) occurred in 115 (10.2%) women and premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) (< 40 years) in 23 (2%) women. Early menopause was associated with black ethnicity (52.2% vs. 21.6%, p < 0.001), but not with HIV acquisition mode, CDC stage, viral suppression, CD4 cell count, hepatitis C, smoking or active drug use. While 92% of the postmenopausal women underwent a gynaecological examination during the 36 months before menopause documentation, only 27% received a bone mineral density measurement within 36 months after the last bleed and 11% were on hormone replacement therapy at the time of menopause documentation. CONCLUSIONS The median age of women living with HIV at menopause is around 2 years lower than that reported for HIV-negative women in Switzerland. HIV care providers need to adapt their services to the requirements of the increasing number of women living with HIV transitioning through menopause. They should be able to recognize menopause-associated symptoms and improve access to bone mineral density measurement as well as hormone replacement therapy