Schweizer Energiesystem 2050 : Wege zu netto null CO2 und Versorgungssicherheit

Eine sichere Energieversorgung in der Schweiz mit netto null Treibhausgasemissionen 2050 ist mit einem koordinierten Vorgehen über alle Energiesektoren realisierbar. Basis dafür sind ein starker Ausbau der erneuerbaren Stromproduktion im Inland und der Import synthetischer Brenn- und Treibstoffe. Eine vollständige Energieautarkie ist kaum möglich und wenn überhaupt nur mit sehr hohen Kosten

Decline of Ambient Air Pollution Levels and Improved Respiratory Health in Swiss Children

The causality of observed associations between air pollution and respiratory health in children is still subject to debate. If reduced air pollution exposure resulted in improved respiratory health of children, this would argue in favor of a causal relation. We investigated whether a rather moderate decline of air pollution levels in the 1990s in Switzerland was associated with a reduction in respiratory symptoms and diseases in school children. In nine Swiss communities, 9,591 children participated in cross-sectional health assessments between 1992 and 2001. Their parents completed identical questionnaires on health status and covariates. We assigned to each child an estimate of regional particles with an aerodynamic diameter < 10 μg/m(3) (PM(10)) and determined change in PM(10) since the first survey. Adjusted for socioeconomic, health-related, and indoor factors, declining PM(10) was associated in logistic regression models with declining prevalence of chronic cough [odds ratio (OR) per 10-μg/m(3) decline = 0.65, 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.54–0.79], bronchitis (OR = 0.66; 95% CI, 0.55–0.80), common cold (OR = 0.78; 95% CI, 0.68–0.89), nocturnal dry cough (OR = 0.70; 95% CI, 0.60–0.83), and conjunctivitis symptoms (OR = 0.81; 95% CI, 0.70–0.95). Changes in prevalence of sneezing during pollen season, asthma, and hay fever were not associated with the PM(10) reduction. Our findings show that the reduction of air pollution exposures contributes to improved respiratory health in children. No threshold of adverse effects of PM(10) was apparent because we observed the beneficial effects for relatively small changes of rather moderate air pollution levels. Current air pollution levels in Switzerland still exceed limit values of the Swiss Clean Air Act; thus, children’s health can be improved further

Lattice results for the decay constant of heavy-light vector mesons

We compute the leptonic decay constants of heavy-light vector mesons in the quenched approximation. The reliability of lattice computations for heavy quarks is checked by comparing the ratio of vector to pseudoscalar decay constant with the prediction of Heavy Quark Effective Theory in the limit of infinitely heavy quark mass. Good agreement is found. We then calculate the decay constant ratio for B mesons: $f_{B^*}/f_B= 1.01(0.01)(^{+0.04}_{-0.01})$. We also quote quenched $f_{B^*}=177(6)(17)$ MeV.Comment: 11 pages, 3 postscript figs., revtex; two references adde

Differences in Heart Rate Variability Associated with Long-Term Exposure to NO2

BACKGROUND: Heart rate variability (HRV), a measure of cardiac autonomic tone, has been associated with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Short-term studies have shown that subjects exposed to higher traffic-associated air pollutant levels have lower HRV. OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to investigate the effect of long-term exposure to nitrogen dioxide on HRV in the Swiss cohort Study on Air Pollution and Lung Diseases in Adults (SAPALDIA). METHODS: We recorded 24-hr electrocardiograms in randomly selected SAPALDIA participants >or= 50 years of age. Other examinations included an interview investigating health status and measurements of blood pressure, body height, and weight. Annual exposure to NO2 at the address of residence was predicted by hybrid models (i.e., a combination of dispersion predictions, land-use, and meteorologic parameters). We estimated the association between NO2 and HRV in multivariable linear regression models. Complete data for analyses were available for 1,408 subjects. RESULTS: For women, but not for men, each 10-microg/m3 increment in 1-year averaged NO2 level was associated with a decrement of 3% (95% CI, -4 to -1) for the standard deviation of all normal-to-normal RR intervals (SDNN), -6% (95% CI, -11 to -1) for nighttime low frequency (LF), and -5% (95% CI, -9 to 0) for nighttime LF/high-frequency (HF) ratio. We saw no significant effect for 24-hr total power (TP), HF, LF, or LF/HF or for nighttime SDNN, TP, or HF. In subjects with self-reported cardiovascular problems, SDNN decreased by 4% (95% CI, -8 to -1) per 10-microg/m3 increase in NO2. CONCLUSIONS: There is some evidence that long-term exposure to NO2 is associated with cardiac autonomic dysfunction in elderly women and in subjects with cardiovascular disease

Are greenhouse gas signals of Northern Hemisphere winter extra-tropical cyclone activity dependent on the identification and tracking algorithm?

For Northern Hemisphere extra-tropical cyclone activity, the dependency of a potential anthropogenic climate change signal on the identification method applied is analysed. This study investigates the impact of the used algorithm on the changing signal, not the robustness of the climate change signal itself. Using one single transient AOGCM simulation as standard input for eleven state-of-the-art identification methods, the patterns of model simulated present day climatologies are found to be close to those computed from re-analysis, independent of the method applied. Although differences in the total number of cyclones identified exist, the climate change signals (IPCC SRES A1B) in the model run considered are largely similar between methods for all cyclones. Taking into account all tracks, decreasing numbers are found in the Mediterranean, the Arctic in the Barents and Greenland Seas, the mid-latitude Pacific and North America. Changing patterns are even more similar, if only the most severe systems are considered: the methods reveal a coherent statistically significant increase in frequency over the eastern North Atlantic and North Pacific. We found that the differences between the methods considered are largely due to the different role of weaker systems in the specific methods

IMILAST: a community effort to intercompare extratropical cyclone detection and tracking algorithms

The variability of results from different automated methods of detection and tracking of extratropical cyclones is assessed in order to identify uncertainties related to the choice of method. Fifteen international teams applied their own algorithms to the same dataset—the period 1989–2009 of interim European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Re-Analysis (ERAInterim) data. This experiment is part of the community project Intercomparison of Mid Latitude Storm Diagnostics (IMILAST; see www.proclim.ch/imilast/index.html). The spread of results for cyclone frequency, intensity, life cycle, and track location is presented to illustrate the impact of using different methods. Globally, methods agree well for geographical distribution in large oceanic regions, interannual variability of cyclone numbers, geographical patterns of strong trends, and distribution shape for many life cycle characteristics. In contrast, the largest disparities exist for the total numbers of cyclones, the detection of weak cyclones, and distribution in some densely populated regions. Consistency between methods is better for strong cyclones than for shallow ones. Two case studies of relatively large, intense cyclones reveal that the identification of the most intense part of the life cycle of these events is robust between methods, but considerable differences exist during the development and the dissolution phases

Virus Movements on the Plasma Membrane Support Infection and Transmission between Cells

How viruses are transmitted across the mucosal epithelia of the respiratory, digestive, or excretory tracts, and how they spread from cell to cell and cause systemic infections, is incompletely understood. Recent advances from single virus tracking experiments have revealed conserved patterns of virus movements on the plasma membrane, including diffusive motions, drifting motions depending on retrograde flow of actin filaments or actin tail formation by polymerization, and confinement to submicrometer areas. Here, we discuss how viruses take advantage of cellular mechanisms that normally drive the movements of proteins and lipids on the cell surface. A concept emerges where short periods of fast diffusive motions allow viruses to rapidly move over several micrometers. Coupling to actin flow supports directional transport of virus particles during entry and cell-cell transmission, and local confinement coincides with either nonproductive stalling or infectious endocytic uptake. These conserved features of virus–host interactions upstream of infectious entry offer new perspectives for anti-viral interference

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis