Jobs with green potential in Switzerland: Demand and possible skills shortages

We use a data-driven methodology to quantify the importance of different skills in performing green tasks. For Switzerland, we estimate the green potential to be 16.7% of the total of employed persons and 18.8% of full-time equivalents in 2017, respectively. Employed persons in jobs with high green potential are, on average, younger, more often men, have a higher level of educational attainment and a higher probability of having immigrated than employed persons in other occupations. Moreover, there is a shortage of skilled labour in the group of jobs with high green potential, particularly pronounced for the occupational groups managers and professionals. In light of the already tense situation for skilled workers in jobs with high green potential and the expected increase in demand for these occupations, increased efforts will be necessary, especially in the area of labour qualication (education as well as post-qualication and upgrading), to meet the demand for skilled workers for the transition to a sustainable economy

Social life cycle assessment : specific approach and case study for Switzerland

This article proposes a specific social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) approach, to be applied in a case study on energy production in Switzerland. The aim of the present study is to describe the social conditions along the global supply chains and to compare them with the social situation in Switzerland. Therefore, a specific S-LCA methodology was developed that combines a relevance analysis with a performance reference point (PRP) assessment. The relevance analysis is carried out to identify the most relevant unit processes and S-LCA indicators and the Swiss PRPs (SPRPs) are designed to compare the social issues along the value chain to the situation in Switzerland. The methodology was applied to two life cycle stages of the copper supply chain (resource extraction and wire production), relevant for the production of renewable energy technologies, where it was found that the most critical step is mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) due to the artisanal way of mining. The proposed methodology offers a comprehensive overview for the analysis of supply chains and the comparison of different life cycle phases. Nevertheless, the methodology can result in a very coarse resolution with low validity. However, if the data and the results are treated transparently, they provide meaningful information about the social conditions along the supply chain

NF-M is an essential target for the myelin-directed “outside-in” signaling cascade that mediates radial axonal growth

Neurofilaments are essential for acquisition of normal axonal calibers. Several lines of evidence have suggested that neurofilament-dependent structuring of axoplasm arises through an “outside-in” signaling cascade originating from myelinating cells. Implicated as targets in this cascade are the highly phosphorylated KSP domains of neurofilament subunits NF-H and NF-M. These are nearly stoichiometrically phosphorylated in myelinated internodes where radial axonal growth takes place, but not in the smaller, unmyelinated nodes. Gene replacement has now been used to produce mice expressing normal levels of the three neurofilament subunits, but which are deleted in the known phosphorylation sites within either NF-M or within both NF-M and NF-H. This has revealed that the tail domain of NF-M, with seven KSP motifs, is an essential target for the myelination-dependent outside-in signaling cascade that determines axonal caliber and conduction velocity of motor axons

The Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis M114T PFN1 Mutation Deregulates Alternative Autophagy Pathways and Mitochondrial Homeostasis

International audienceMutations in profilin 1 (PFN1) have been identified in rare familial cases of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). PFN1 is involved in multiple pathways that could intervene in ALS pathology. However, the specific pathogenic role of PFN1 mutations in ALS is still not fully understood. We hypothesized that PFN1 could play a role in regulating autophagy pathways and that PFN1 mutations could disrupt this function. We used patient cells (lymphoblasts) or tissue (post-mortem) carrying PFN1 mutations (M114T and E117G), and designed experimental models expressing wild-type or mutant PFN1 (cell lines and novel PFN1 mice established by lentiviral transgenesis) to study the effects of PFN1 mutations on autophagic pathway markers. We observed no accumulation of PFN1 in the spinal cord of one E117G mutation carrier. Moreover, in patient lymphoblasts and transfected cell lines, the M114T mutant PFN1 protein was unstable and deregulated the RAB9-mediated alternative autophagy pathway involved in the clearance of damaged mitochondria. In vivo, motor neurons expressing M114T mutant PFN1 showed mitochondrial abnormalities. Our results demonstrate that the M114T PFN1 mutation is more deleterious than the E117G variant in patient cells and experimental models and suggest a role for the RAB9-dependent autophagic pathway in ALS

Misfolded SOD1 Associated with Motor Neuron Mitochondria Alters Mitochondrial Shape and Distribution Prior to Clinical Onset

Mutations in superoxide dismutase (SOD1) are causative for inherited amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. A proportion of SOD1 mutant protein is misfolded onto the cytoplasmic face of mitochondria in one or more spinal cord cell types. By construction of mice in which mitochondrially targeted enhanced green fluorescent protein is selectively expressed in motor neurons, we demonstrate that axonal mitochondria of motor neurons are primary in vivo targets for misfolded SOD1. Mutant SOD1 alters axonal mitochondrial morphology and distribution, with dismutase active SOD1 causing mitochondrial clustering at the proximal side of Schmidt-Lanterman incisures within motor axons and dismutase inactive SOD1 producing aberrantly elongated axonal mitochondria beginning pre-symptomatically and increasing in severity as disease progresses. Somal mitochondria are altered by mutant SOD1, with loss of the characteristic cylindrical, networked morphology and its replacement by a less elongated, more spherical shape. These data indicate that mutant SOD1 binding to mitochondria disrupts normal mitochondrial distribution and size homeostasis as early pathogenic features of SOD1 mutant-mediated ALS

Green potential of Europe's labour force: Relative share and possible skills imbalances

Using a data-driven methodology that allows to quantify the importance of different skills in performing green tasks, we estimate the green potential for 26 European countries. By green potential we mean the share of employed persons in occupations characterised by skills that are important for the exercise of green tasks to total employment. For the countries considered, we estimate a green potential between 7.1% and 16.8%, with the manufacturing and energy & construction sectors having above-average and the resources and services sectors below-average shares. We further examine the green potential with regard to a possible shortage of skilled workers by means of indicators that reflect different dimensions of skills shortages. Estimates of skills short ages related to the green potential reveal considerable heterogeneity among the investigated countries. Nevertheless, occupations with a high green potential are generally characterised by a tense skilled labour situation. Looking at four occupational groups, results reveal that the need for skilled workers with high green potential is particularly pronounced for managers and professionals, while being lower for technicians and smallest for craft & related trades workers

The green potential of occupations in Switzerland

We use a data-driven methodology to quantify the importance of different skills in performing green tasks, aiming to estimate the green potential of occupations in Switzerland. By this we mean the potential of an occupation to be able to perform green tasks on the basis of the skills attributed to it, whereby it is irrelevant whether the occupation already bundles green tasks or not. The results show that occupations with a high green potential are predominantly those with an engineering and technical background. In order to substantiate our green potential measure, we provide evidence of a positive association between demand of employment in occupations with high green potential and an increase in the implicit tax rate on greenhouse gas emissions. The share of employment in occupations with a green potential above a reasonable threshold in the total Swiss labour force is 16.7% (number of persons employed) and 18.8% (full-time equivalents). These employed persons are, on average, younger, more often men, have a higher level of educational attainment and a higher probability of having immigrated than employed persons in occupations with low green potential