Food Sector Study : Figures, Structure, Forces of Change, and Development Potential of the Swiss Food Industry

Corrected edition of https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-1125The food industry is not only important to Switzerland in terms of keeping the country fed; it is of great importance to the Swiss economy as a whole. This study provides comprehensive definition and analysis of the most important industry data and the forces which drive it. It has two objectives: Firstly, the food industry is described in terms of its sales development, propensity to export, and commitment to the domestic market. Secondly, global trends, drivers of growth, and development perspectives for the industry are identified

Branchenstudie Food : Kennzahlen, Struktur, Veränderungstreiber und Entwicklungspotenziale der Schweizer Lebensmittelindustrie

Korrigierte Ausgabe von https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-1126Die Lebensmittelindustrie ist nicht nur wichtig für die Versorgung der Schweiz mit Nahrungsmitteln, sie hat insgesamt für die Schweizer Volkswirtschaft eine grosse Bedeutung. Die vorliegende Studie liefert eine umfassende Definition und Analyse der wichtigsten Branchenkennzahlen und ihre Treiber. Sie verfolgt zwei Ziele: Zum einen soll die Lebensmittelindustrie anhand ihrer Umsatzentwicklung, der Exportneigung und der Bindung an den Heimmarkt beschrieben werden. Zum anderen gilt es, globale Trends, Wachstumstreiber und Entwicklungsperspektiven der Branche aufzuzeigen

Virtual issue by COST Action BM1203 (EU-ROS) “Emerging concepts in redox biology and oxidative stress”

descripción no proporcionada por scopusPeer Reviewe

Cardiorespiratory and gastrointestinal parasites of dogs in north-west Italy

The present study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of gastrointestinal and cardio-respiratory parasites in dogs in Liguria (northwest Italy) which is a region that has scarcely been studied. A total of 450 dogs (260 males and 190 females) were enrolled in the study from 2009 and 2013. All dogs lived in a rural or semi-rural environment in the provinces of Imperia (n = 352) or Savona (n = 98), Liguria. Coprological examinations showed that 197 dogs (43.8 %, CI 38.7-48.9 %) were infected by parasites. Specifi cally, 3.3 % of the dogs presented only cardio-respiratory species, 32.4 % only intestinal species, and 8.0 % presented a mixed infection. The most frequent intestinal parasites were Toxocara canis (20 %), Trichuris vulpis (17.8 %), Ancylostomatidae (12 %), Coccidia (2.7 %), Aonchotheca putorii (1.8 %) and Toxascaris leonina (1.8 %). The cardio-respiratory species found were Eucoleus aerophilus (9.6 %), Eucoleus boehmi (1.6 %), Angiostrongylus vasorum (0.7 %), and Crenosoma vulpis (0.2 %). A total of 116 dogs (25.8 %) were parasitized by a single species, multiple infections were observed in 81 dogs (18.0 %) up to a six-order infection. This preliminary study highlighted that the prevalence of intestinal parasites in investigated area is high. Cardio respiratory parasites were detected in an area that has not been investigated before. The creation of a more extensive sampling programme of the area, on a provincial basis in order to build a more detailed map of prevalences for different species of dog parasites throughout Liguria, a more extensive sampling programme of the area needs to be created - ideally for each province

The External Cost of European Crude Oil Imports

This paper is the first to assess operational and probabilistic externalities of oil extraction and transportation to Europe on the basis of a comprehensive evaluation of realistic future oil demand-supply scenarios, of the relative relevance of import routes, of the local specificities in terms of critical passages and different burdens and impacts along import routes. The resulting externalities appear reasonable both under the assumption of high future demand and under low demand. Estimates range from 2.32 Euro in 2030 in the low demand scenario to 2.60 Euro in 2010 in the high demand scenario per ton of imported oil.Oil Transport, Externalities Oil Spills, Risk Analysis

Directional changes of the geomagnetic field in West Africa: Insights from the metallurgical site of Korsimoro

This work shows the first archeomagnetic directions from Western Africa measured on 32 iron smelting kilns dated between 650 and 1800 AD. The archeological excavation of the vast metallurgical site of Korsimoro established the existence of four distinct iron-smelting techniques. The time-frame of each technique could be clearly determined with radiocarbon dating. Many of the kilns investigated in this study could also be dated individually with residual charcoals found in their inside. The results indicate that the inclination of the field changed gradually from shallow normal to shallow reversed during 800 to 1300 AD, and then went back to shallow normal around 1600–1700 AD. The declination was instead stable around 10°E between 800 and 1400 AD, thereafter it started changing towards North. This trend correlates well with available secular variation curves from the Balkan and from Spain, and indicates that the field variation in West Africa was similar to the one in Europe

Metallicity gradients in local field star-forming galaxies: Insights on inflows, outflows, and the coevolution of gas, stars and metals

We present metallicity gradients in 49 local field star-forming galaxies. We derive gas-phase oxygen abundances using two widely adopted metallicity calibrations based on the [OIII]/Hbeta, [NII]/Halpha and [NII]/[OII] line ratios. The two derived metallicity gradients are usually in good agreement within +/-0.14 dex/R25 (R25 is the B-band iso-photoal radius), but the metallicity gradients can differ significantly when the ionisation parameters change systematically with radius. We investigate the metallicity gradients as a function of stellar mass (8<log(M*/Msun)<11) and absolute B-band luminosity (-16 > MB > -22). When the metallicity gradients are expressed in dex/kpc, we show that galaxies with lower mass and luminosity, on average, have steeper metallicity gradients. When the metallicity gradients are expressed in dex/R25, we find no correlation between the metallicity gradients, and stellar mass and luminosity. We provide a local benchmark metallicity gradient of field star-forming galaxies useful for comparison with studies at high redshifts. We investigate the origin of the local benchmark gradient using simple chemical evolution models and observed gas and stellar surface density profiles in nearby field spiral galaxies. Our models suggest that the local benchmark gradient is a direct result of the coevolution of gas and stellar disk under virtually closed-box chemical evolution when the stellar-to-gas mass ratio becomes high (>>0.3). These models imply low current mass accretion rates (<0.3xSFR), and low mass outflow rates (<3xSFR) in local field star-forming galaxies.Comment: 25 pages, 21 figures, accepted to MNRA

Morphological and chemical analysis of Tremolite related to natural asbestos in the road paving

Tremolite group minerals could be present in the aggregate used as filler in the mix asphalt floor in the road sur- faces and are subject to wear for vehicular traffic and materials ageing. Dust produced by the degradation of asphalt surfaces can disperse tremolite group minerals present in road paving causing exposure by asbestos fiber to an increasing number of people and animals. In recent years, attention has been focused on naturally occurring asbestos (NOA) as the greatest frequency of lung cancer has been observed in environments characterized by rocks and soils rich in Tremolite that characterize asbestos minerals. Asphalt samples object of this study were collected in a motorway segment of the Lombardia Region (north of Italy) for an exposure assessment research on road paving workers. The evaluation was performed using a metrological approach based on petrographic and mineralogical analyses in order to reduce the epidemiologic risks and to define the best treatment strategies on waste management with sustainable costs in fulfilment of Council Directive 67/548/EEC (1967) and EC Regulation 1272/2008 (2008) (Paglietti et al., 2016). The fibers are generally not broken down to other compounds in the environment, but asbestos hazard could be related to the occurrence of tremolite fiber in road paving arises when natural weathering processes (e.g., erosion) or human activities (e.g., continuous passage of motorized vehicles) separate and breakdown the fibers, which could be lost into the environment as airborne and easily penetrate into the human respiratory tract (Punturo et al., 2019). Despite this, this work is not an epidemiological risk analysis but obtained data could be useful to other specialists to define the exposure risks