Imagination as the crank of problem solving

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kolbæk, Ditte

into who “says” or “decides” what is preferred or favored in the sense of who seems to get the power in the team (Latour, Dunne & Raby). Or I could concentrate on the term “dialogue” (Bakhtin, Bohm, Oliveira). I hope the winterschool will add more view angles to this study.My premature research question is...

DISPERSION OF GLYPHOSATE IN SOILS UNDERGOING EROSION

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Gorana Todorovic Rampazzo

2010-08-01

Full Text Available Different physical, chemical and biological processes influence the behaviour of organic contaminants in soils. A better understanding of the organic pollutant behaviour in soils would improve the environmental protection. One possible way for better attenuation of the risk of pollution in agriculture can be achieved through ta better-specified pesticide management based on the adaptation of the pesticide type and application rates to the specific environmental characteristics of the area of application. Nowadays, one of the actually most applied herbicide world wide is glyphosate. Glyphosate is highly water soluble and traces have been found in surface and groundwater systems. For a better understanding of the natural influence of erosion processes on glyphosate behaviour and dispersion under heavy rain conditions after application in the field, two erosion simulation experiments were conducted on two different locations in Austria with completely different soil types in September 2008. The results of the experiments showed that under normal practical conditions (e.g. no rainfall is expected immediatly after application, the potential adsorption capacity of the Kirchberg soil (Stagnic Cambisol, with about 16.000 ppm Fe-oxides is confirmed compared to the low adsorption Chernosem soil (about 8.000 ppm pedogenic Fe-oxides.  Considering the enormous difference in the run-off amounts between the two sites Pixendorf and Kirchberg soils it can be concluded how important the soil structural conditions and vegetation type and cover are for the risks of erosion and, as a consequence, pollution of neighbouring waters. In the rainfall experiments under comparable simulation conditions, the amount of run-off was about 10 times higher at Kirchberg, owing to its better infiltration rate, than at the Pixendorf site. Moreover, the total loss of glyphosate (NT+CT through run-off at the Kirchberg site was more than double that at Pixendorf, which confirms the

Phytoplankton community and limnochemistry of Piburger See (Tyrol, Austria 28 years after lake restoration

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Hansjörg THIES

2002-02-01

Full Text Available Phytoplankton community and limnochemistry of Piburger See, a small soft-water, meromictic lake situated at 913 m a.s.l. in a crystalline area of the Central Eastern Alps of Tyrol (Austria, were investigated 28 years after the beginning of lake restoration. Although long-term data of the lake show a declining trend in total phosphorus concentrations and phytoplankton biovolume, the response of Piburger See to the restoration measures carried out in 1970 was delayed by about 20 years. At present the lake is approaching its former oligotrophic level. The most evident difference between the past and present phytoplankton species composition of Piburger See is the actual absence of the Cyanophycean Oscillatoria limosa C. A. Agardh, which markedly increased during the first two decades after the lake restoration (1970-1987. The phytoplankton biovolume recorded in 1998 was lower than in the 1970s and 1980s, while seasonal patterns were similar to those recorded before and later on in the lake restoration. The lowest annual phytoplankton biovolume in 1998 occurred in early winter, while the absolute maximum was observed in metalimnetic water layers in late spring. In 1998 the intra-annual patterns of phytoplankton biovolume and chlorophyll-a compare well. Phytoplankton succession started in early 1998 under ice with coccal green algae followed by flagellated Chrysophyceae during spring. The mid-summer phytoplankton community was dominated by centric Bacillariophyceae, which were later replaced by coccal Cyanophyceae. During autumn, Dinophyceae and Chrysophyceae prevailed. Epilimnetic dominance of centric diatoms during mid summer appears to be a new feature, which in 1998 was related to a strong depletion of dissolved silica and nitrate. Long-term water chemistry and phytoplankton data were checked against local weather data in order to explain the delay in the re-oligotrophication process of Piburger See. However, no clear relationship could be

Non-Supramenable Groups Acting on Locally Compact Spaces

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kellerhals, Julian; Monod, Nicolas; Rørdam, Mikael

2013-01-01

Supramenability of groups is characterised in terms of invariant measures on locally compact spaces. This opens the door to constructing interesting crossed product $C^*$-algebras for non-supramenable groups. In particular, stable Kirchberg algebras in the UCT class are constructed using crossed ...

Genomic analysis for managing small and endangered populations: A case study in Tyrol Grey cattle

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Gábor eMészáros

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Analysis of genomic data is increasingly becoming part of the livestock industry. Therefore the routine collection of genomic information would be an invaluable resource for management of breeding programs in small, endangered populations. The objectives of this project were to analyse 1. linkage disequlibrium decay and the effective population size; 2. Inbreeding level and effective population size (NeROH based on runs of homozygosity (ROH; 3. Prediction of genomic breeding values (GEBV within and across breeds. In addition, the use of genomic information for breed management is discussed. The study was based on all available genotypes of Tyrol Grey AI bulls. ROHs were derived based on regions covering at least 4 Mb, 8 Mb and 16 Mb regions, with the corresponding mean inbreeding coefficients 4.0%, 2.9% and 1.6%, respectively. The NeROH was 125 (NeROH>16Mb, 186 (NeROH>8Mb and 370 (NeROH>4Mb, indicating strict avoidance of close inbreeding in the population.The genomic selection was developed for and is working well in large breeds. Contrary to the expectations, the accuracy of GEBVs with very small within breed reference populations were very high, between 0.13-0.91 and 0.12-0.63, when EBVs and dEBVs were used as pseudo-phenotypes, respectively. Subsequent analyses confirmed the high accuracies being heavily influenced by parent averages. Multi-breed and across breed reference sets gave inconsistent and lower accuracies. Genomic information may have a crucial role in management of small breeds. It allows to assess relatedness between individuals, trends in inbreeding and to take decisions accordingly. These decisions would be based on the real genome architecture, rather than conventional pedigree information, which can be missing or incomplete. We strongly suggest the routine genotyping of all individuals that belong to a small breed in order to facilitate the effective management of endangered livestock populations.

Precarity: causes, effects and consequences of insecure working and living conditions in a multicultural, rural area of northern Italy (South Tyrol

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Christine Tschöll

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The research project deals with the current issue of precarity, its mechanisms, risks, effects, coping strategies as well as coping competences and addresses the impact of work-based insecurities, rising social inequalities within and across nations, with a specific regional focus on South Tyrol - a multicultural, rural area in northern Italy, bordering with Austria. Finally, it is important to identify possible innovative solutions for the labour market, Human Resources strategies and social policies. The concept of work will be related to all securitized fundamental rights, their socialization context, the global change of values and the social change in the welfare state. The recent transformation from discourses on inequality and poverty towards social exclusion and inclusion indicates a conceptual shift in the societal management of social inequalities. The global financial crisis has highlighted the connectedness between corporate and household risk behaviour and management, and their socially inequitable effects. The interdisciplinary view enables a focus on multiple insecurities and how they interact to produce precarious work relations, in reference to working conditions and the experience of social exclusion, the links between de-regulation, liberalization and the individualization of employment risks, but also the development of interest representation and social organizations for supporting labour market outsiders. The paper describes the current process of defining the research design, preliminary reflections for the case study and shows first outcomes of the project.

Risk-based damage potential and loss estimation of extreme flooding scenarios in the Austrian Federal Province of Tyrol

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M. Huttenlau

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Within the last decades serious flooding events occurred in many parts of Europe and especially in 2005 the Austrian Federal Province of Tyrol was serious affected. These events in general and particularly the 2005 event have sensitised decision makers and the public. Beside discussions pertaining to protection goals and lessons learnt, the issue concerning potential consequences of extreme and severe flooding events has been raised. Additionally to the general interest of the public, decision makers of the insurance industry, public authorities, and responsible politicians are especially confronted with the question of possible consequences of extreme events. Answers thereof are necessary for the implementation of preventive appropriate risk management strategies. Thereby, property and liability losses reflect a large proportion of the direct tangible losses. These are of great interest for the insurance sector and can be understood as main indicators to interpret the severity of potential events. The natural scientific-technical risk analysis concept provides a predefined and structured framework to analyse the quantities of affected elements at risk, their corresponding damage potentials, and the potential losses. Generally, this risk concept framework follows the process steps hazard analysis, exposition analysis, and consequence analysis. Additionally to the conventional hazard analysis, the potential amount of endangered elements and their corresponding damage potentials were analysed and, thereupon, concrete losses were estimated. These took the specific vulnerability of the various individual elements at risk into consideration. The present flood risk analysis estimates firstly the general exposures of the risk indicators in the study area and secondly analyses the specific exposures and consequences of five extreme event scenarios. In order to precisely identify, localize, and characterize the relevant risk indicators of buildings

Regional variability of grassland CO2 fluxes in Tyrol/Austria

Science.gov (United States)

Irschick, Christoph; Hammerle, Albin; Haslwanter, Alois; Wohlfahrt, Georg

2010-05-01

The FLUXNET project [1] aims at quantifying the magnitude and controls on the CO2, H2O and energy exchange of terrestrial ecosystems. Ideally, the various biomes of the Earth would be sampled in proportion to their spatial extent - in reality, however, study site selection is usually based on other (more practical) criteria so that a bias exists towards certain biomes and ecosystem types. This may be problematic because FLUXNET data are used to calibrate/parameterize models at various scales - if certain ecosystems are poorly replicated this may bias model predictions. Here we present data from a project in Tyrol/Austria where we have been investigating the CO2, H2O and energy exchange of five grassland sites during 2005-2007. The five permanent grassland sites were exposed to similar climate, but differed slightly in management. In a FLUXNET style approach, any of these sites might have been selected for making long-term flux measurements - the aim of this project was to examine the representativeness of these sites and, if evident, elucidate the causes for and controls on differences between sites. To this end we conducted continuous eddy covariance flux measurements at one (anchor) site [2, 3], and episodic, month long flux measurements at the four additional sites using a roving eddy covariance tower. These data were complemented by measurements of environmental drivers, the amount of above ground phytomass and basic data on vegetation and soil type, as well as management. Data are subject to a rigorous statistical analysis in order to quantify significant differences in the CO2, H2O and energy exchange between the sites and to identify the factors which are responsible for these differences. In the present contribution we report results on CO2 fluxes. Our major findings are that (i) site-identity of the surveyed grassland ecosystems was a significant factor for the net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE), somewhat less for gross primary production (GPP) and not for

Regional earthquake loss estimation in the Autonomous Province of Bolzano - South Tyrol (Italy)

Science.gov (United States)

Huttenlau, Matthias; Winter, Benjamin

2013-04-01

Beside storm events geophysical events cause a majority of natural hazard losses on a global scale. However, in alpine regions with a moderate earthquake risk potential like in the study area and thereupon connected consequences on the collective memory this source of risk is often neglected in contrast to gravitational and hydrological hazards processes. In this context, the comparative analysis of potential disasters and emergencies on a national level in Switzerland (Katarisk study) has shown that earthquakes are the most serious source of risk in general. In order to estimate the potential losses of earthquake events for different return periods and loss dimensions of extreme events the following study was conducted in the Autonomous Province of Bolzano - South Tyrol (Italy). The applied methodology follows the generally accepted risk concept based on the risk components hazard, elements at risk and vulnerability, whereby risk is not defined holistically (direct, indirect, tangible and intangible) but with the risk category losses on buildings and inventory as a general risk proxy. The hazard analysis is based on a regional macroseismic scenario approach. Thereby, the settlement centre of each community (116 communities) is defined as potential epicentre. For each epicentre four different epicentral scenarios (return periods of 98, 475, 975 and 2475 years) are calculated based on the simple but approved and generally accepted attenuation law according to Sponheuer (1960). The relevant input parameters to calculate the epicentral scenarios are (i) the macroseismic intensity and (ii) the focal depth. The considered macroseismic intensities are based on a probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) of the Italian earthquake catalogue on a community level (Dipartimento della Protezione Civile). The relevant focal depth are considered as a mean within a defined buffer of the focal depths of the harmonized earthquake catalogues of Italy and Switzerland as well as

Contemporary suspended sediment yield of a partly glaciated catchment, Riffler Bach (Tyrol, Austria)

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Weber, Martin; Baewert, Henning; Morche, David

2015-04-01

Due to glacier retreat since the LIA (Little Ice Age) proglacial areas in high mountain landscapes are growing. These systems are characterized by a high geomorphological activity, especially in the fluvial subsystem. Despite the long tradition of geomorphological research in the European Alps there is a still a lack of understanding in the interactions between hydrology, sediment sources, sediments sinks and suspended sediment transport. As emphasized by ORWIN ET AL. (2010) those problems can be solved by gathering data in a higher frequency and/or in a higher spatial resolution or density - both leading to a big amount of data. In 2012 a gauging station was installed at the outlet of the partly glaciated catchment of the Riffler Bach (Kaunertal valley, Tyrol). During the ablation seasons in 2012 and 2013 water stage was logged automatically every 15 minutes. In both seasons discharge was measured at different water levels to calculate a stage-discharge relation. Additionally, water samples were taken by an automatic water sampler. Within 16 sampling cycles with sampling frequencies ranging from 1 to 24 hours 389 water samples have been collected. The samples were filtered to calculate the suspended sediment concentration (SSC) of each sample. Furthermore, the climate station Weißsee provided meteorological data at a 15 minute interval. Due to the high variability in suspended sediment transport in proglacial rivers it is impossible to compute a robust annual Q-SSC-relation. Hence, two other approaches were used to calculate the suspended sediment load (SSL) and the suspended sediment yield (SSY): A) Q-SSC-relations for every single sampling cycle (e.g. GEILHAUSEN ET AL. 2013) B) Q-SSC-relations based on classification of dominant runoff-generating processes (e.g. ORWIN AND SMART 2004). The first approach uses commonly operated analysis methods that are well understood. While the hydro-climatic approach is more feasible to explain discharge generation and to

Zooplankton community composition of high mountain lakes in the Tatra Mts., the Alps in North Tyrol, and Scotland: relationship to pH, depth, organic carbon, and chlorophyll-a concentration

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Skála Ivan

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The European EMERGE (European Mountain lake Ecosystems: Regionalisation, diaGnostic & socio-economic Evaluation project was a survey of high mountain lakes (above treeline across Europe using unified methods of sampling and analysis. The sampling was carried out in summer or autumn 2000, and comprised biological samples, and samples for chemical analysis. Data from three lake districts are used in this paper: the Tatra Mts. in Slovakia and Poland (45 lakes, the Alps in Tyrol in Austria (22 lakes, and Scotland (30 lakes. As it is shown by multiple regression analysis, DTOC (dissolved or total organic carbon is the key variable for most groups of zooplankton. With increasing DTOC and mostly with chlorophyll-a decreasing, pH increasing and depth decreasing, macrofitrators with coarse filter meshes are replaced by microfiltrators with fine filter meshes. Higher DTOC may increase bacterioplankton production and advantage species able to consume bacteria (microfiltrators. Other zooplankton species also differ in their preference for DTOC, chlorophyll-a, pH and depth, but DTOC being positively correlated with chlorophyll-a and pH positively correlated with depth. It may be caused by their different preference for food quality in terms of C:P ratio.

Electronic Properties of High-Tc Superconductors. The Normal and the Superconducting State of High-Tc Materials. Proceedings of the International Winter School held in Kirchberg, Tyrol on March 7 - 14, 1992

Science.gov (United States)

1992-03-14

conductivity (upper panel ) and effective number of car- riers (lower panel ) on chemical modification (see text) On the basis of the observed changes, we...1 b,c shows the photographs of crystals of CGo and C70 . X-ray c,.aracterization confirmed that these crystals are really monocrystalline . For the C0

Transformation of traditional knowledge of medicinal plants: the case of Tyroleans (Austria) who migrated to Australia, Brazil and Peru

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Background In ethnobotanical research, the investigation into traditional knowledge of medicinal plants in the context of migration has been of increasing interest in recent decades since it is influenced and changed by new environmental and social conditions. It most likely undergoes transformation processes to match the different living circumstances in the new location. This study compares the traditional knowledge of medicinal plants held by Tyroleans – and their descendants – who emigrated to Australia, Brazil and Peru at different time scales. The study’s findings allow a discussion of the complexities and dynamics that influence this knowledge within the context of long-distance migration. Methods Information was obtained from 65 informants by free-listing, semi-structured interviews and non-participatory observation in Tyrol (Austria) and the migrants’ countries: Australia, Brazil and Peru. The collected data was analysed using different quantitative approaches, including statistical tests, and compared between the countries of investigation. Results All respondents in all four investigation areas claimed that they had knowledge and made use of medicinal plants to treat basic ailments in their day-to-day lives. Informants made 1,139 citations of medicinal plants in total in free lists, which correspond to 164 botanical taxa (genus or species level) in Tyrol, 87 in Australia, 84 in Brazil and 134 in Peru. Of all the botanical taxa listed, only five (1.1%) were listed in all four countries under investigation. Agreement among informants within free lists was highest in Tyrol (17%), followed by Peru (12.2%), Australia (11.9%) and Brazil (11.2%). The proportion of agreement differs significantly between informants in Australia and Tyrol (p = 0.001), Brazil and Tyrol (p = 0.001) and Peru and Tyrol (p = 0.001) and is similar between informants in the migrant countries, as indicated by statistical tests. We recorded 1,286 use citations

Runoff scenarios of the Ötz catchment (Tyrol, Austria) considering climate change driven changes of the cryosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Helfricht, Kay; Schneeberger, Klaus; Welebil, Irene; Schöber, Johannes; Huss, Matthias; Formayer, Herbert; Huttenlau, Matthias; Schneider, Katrin

2014-05-01

The seasonal distribution of runoff in alpine catchments is markedly influenced by the cryospheric contribution (snow and ice). Long-term climate change will alter these reservoirs and consequently have an impact on the water balance. Glacierized catchments like the Ötztal (Tyrol, Austria) are particularly sensitive to changes in the cryosphere and the hydrological changes related to them. The Ötztal possesses an outstanding role in Austrian and international cryospheric research and reacts sensitive to changes in hydrology due to its socio-economic structure (e.g. importance of tourism, hydro-power). In this study future glacier scenarios for the runoff calculations in the Ötztal catchment are developed. In addition to climatological scenario data, glacier scenarios were established for the hydrological simulation of future runoff. Glacier outlines and glacier surface elevation changes of the Austrian Glacier Inventory were used to derive present ice thickness distribution and scenarios of glacier area distribution. Direct effects of climate change (i.e. temperature and precipitation change) and indirect effects in terms of variations in the cryosphere were considered for the analysis of the mean runoff and particularly flood frequencies. Runoff was modelled with the hydrological model HQSim, which was calibrated for the runoff gauges at Brunau, Obergurgl and Vent. For a sensitivity study, the model was driven by separate glacier scenarios. Keeping glacier area constant, variable climate input was used to separate the effect of climate sensitivity. Results of the combination of changed glacier areas and changed climate input were subsequently analysed. Glacier scenarios show first a decrease in volume, before glacier area shrinks. The applied method indicates a 50% ice volume loss by 2050 relative to today. Further, model results show a reduction in glacier volume and area to less than 20% of the current ice cover towards the end of the 21st century. The effect

On the hydrology and fluvial sediment transport of the proglacial river Riffler Bach (Weißseeferner, Ötztal Alps, Tyrol)

Science.gov (United States)

Morche, David; Baewert, Henning; Weber, Martin; Schmidt, Karl-Heinz

2013-04-01

The hydrology of proglacial rivers is strongly affected by glacier melting. With ongoing glacier retreat the proportion of glacier meltwater in proglacial rivers is declining over longer time periods. Snow melt or rain fall events will play a more important role as water source. Due to glacial erosion the glacier system is also an important player in the orchestra of sediment sources/processes contributing to proglacial sediment budgets. The consequence of increasing deglaciation is a growing importance of other sediment sources/processes, mainly known as paraglacial, for sediment budgets in glacier forefields. The sediment export out of proglacial areas is mainly done by solid river load. Knowledge on the quantity of the exported sediments is important for reservoir management and torrent control. In order to measure fluvial sediment transport in the catchment area of the Gepatsch reservoir in the Ötztal Alps (Tyrol/Austria) we have installed a gauging station at the proglacial river Riffler Bach in June 2012. The catchment area of this station is about 20 km² with an altitudinal range from 1929 m to 3518 m. The higher altitudes in the southern part of the area are covered by the glacier Weißseeferner. Our station is equipped with an automatic water sampler (AWS 2002) and probes for water level, turbidity and electrical conductivity. All parameters are recorded in 5-15 minute intervals during the ablation period. Discharge is measured with current meters during wadable stages and salt dilution during higher floods. Bed load is measured concurrent to discharge measurements using a Helley-Smith sampler. In 2012, 189 water samples were taken and will be analyzed for suspended sediment concentration and ion content. Additionally, the grain size distribution will be determined using a Malvern laser diffractometer. Rating-curves will be used to calculate discharge from stage recordings. Solid load of the Riffler Bach will be quantified using the discharge data and

Winter School 2011 of the North Rhine Westphalia Research School "Fuel production based on renewable resources" associated with the Cluster of Excellence "Tailor-Made Fuels from Biomass"

CERN Document Server

Pischinger, Stefan; Schröder, Wolfgang

2015-01-01

The book reports on the results of the BrenaRo Winterschool 2011, held on November 21-22 in Aachen, Germany. The different chapters cover a number of aspects of the topic of energy generation, with a particular focus on energy generation from biomass. They presents new findings concerning engine development, process engineering, and biological and chemical conversion of biomass to fuels, and highlight the importance of an interdisciplinary approach, combining chemistry, biology and engineering research, to the use of renewable energy sources. All in all, this book provides readers with a snapshot of the state-of-the-art in renewable energy conversion, and gives an overview of the ongoing work in this field in Germany.

Problems of the climate and environment protection complicate the use of hydropower; Klimaproblematik und Umweltschutz erschweren Wasserkraftnutzung. Stromerzeugung in Suedtirol

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berger, W. [Orizzonti, Verona (Italy)

2008-01-07

Since the year 2000 warming and dryness have led to a strong reduction of electricity production from hydropower in Southern Tyrol. However, due to the attractive ''Green Certificates''-Scheme, there is still a strong interest in further developing hydropower activities. Such pressing must find its limits in nature conservation, particularly important for Southern Tyrol as a tourist area. The design of a detailed Water Use Plan of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano pleads clearly for restriction regarding the construction of new plants. This signals an opportunity for Southern Tyrol to further explore the development of its new renewable energy sources. (orig.)

A Multilingual Approach to Analysing Standardized Test Results: Immigrant Primary School Children and the Role of Languages Spoken in a Bi-/Multilingual Community

Science.gov (United States)

De Angelis, Gessica

2014-01-01

The present study adopts a multilingual approach to analysing the standardized test results of primary school immigrant children living in the bi-/multilingual context of South Tyrol, Italy. The standardized test results are from the Invalsi test administered across Italy in 2009/2010. In South Tyrol, several languages are spoken on a daily basis…

Local knowledge held by farmers in Eastern Tyrol (Austria) about the use of plants to maintain and improve animal health and welfare.

Science.gov (United States)

Vogl, Christian R; Vogl-Lukasser, Brigitte; Walkenhorst, Michael

2016-09-12

The sustainable management of animal health and welfare is of increasing importance to consumers and a key topic in the organic farming movement. Few systematic studies have been undertaken investigating farmers' local knowledge related to this issue. Ethnoveterinary medicine (EVM) is a discipline focusing on local knowledge and folk methods in veterinary medicine, however most ethnoveterinarian studies primarily address the treatment of animal diseases. Very few studies have explored prophylactic methods. An ethnoveterinary research project in Eastern Tyrol (Austria) was conducted in 2004 and 2005 to gather information about local knowledge of animal husbandry from 144 informants, with the emphasis on plants that maintain livestock health and welfare. Informants mentioned a total of 87 plants and 22 plant-based generic terms in the context of maintaining and improving livestock health and welfare. The most important preventive measures for maintaining and improving animal health and welfare were practices related to "fodder" and "feeding". In this category the plants mentioned could be grouped according to three different perceptions about their effect on animals: "Good or bad fodder", "Functional fodder" and "Fodder medicine". In addition to fodder, environmental management, the human-animal relationship, household remedies and cultural/religious activities were also mentioned. When asked about practices in the past that maintained animal health and well-being, interviewees mentioned, for example, the importance of the diversity of sources that used to be available to obtain feed and fodder. The informants' approach that feeding is central to livestock welfare is in line with the standard scientific literature on animal health, including in organic farming. Various scientific studies into common fodder evaluate the nutritive and dietary value, efficiency and safety of fodder. Future studies also have to consider the evaluation of traditional, local fodder

Estimating regional long-term economic consequences of natural hazards - a case study of the 2005 flood event in Tyrol (Austria)

Science.gov (United States)

Pfurtscheller, C.; Lochner, B.; Brucker, A.

2012-04-01

The interaction of relief-driven alpine natural processes with the anthropogenic sphere often leads to natural disasters which significantly impact on remote alpine economies. When evaluating the effects of such events for future risk prevention strategies, it is essential to assess indirect losses. While the economic measurement of direct effects - the physical impact on structures and infrastructure - seems fairly manageable, less is known about the dimensions of indirect effects, especially on a local and regional scale within the Alps. The lack of standardized terminology, empirical data and methods to estimate indirect economic effects currently hampers profound decision support. In our study of the 2005 flood event in Tyrol, we surveyed companies from all sectors of the economy to identify the main drivers of indirect effects and interrupted economic flows. In collaboration with the Federal State administration, we extrapolate the total regional economic effects of this catastrophic event. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, we established and analysed a data pool of questionnaire and interview results as well as direct loss data. We mainly focus on the decrease in value creation and the negative impacts on tourism. We observed that disrupted traffic networks can have a highly negative impact, especially for the tourism sector in lateral alpine valleys. Within a month, turnover fell by approximately EUR 3.3 million in the investigated area. In the short run (until August 2006), the shortfall in touristic revenues in the Paznaun valley aggregated to approx. EUR 5.3 million. We observed that overnight stays rebound very quickly so that long-term effects are marginal. In addition, we tried to identify possible economical losers as well as winners of severe hazard impacts. In response to such flood events, high investments are made to improve disaster and risk management. Nearly 70% of the respondents specified the (re)construction sector and similar

Circle Maps and C*-algebras

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmidt, Thomas Lundsgaard; Thomsen, Klaus

2015-01-01

We consider a construction of $C^*$-algebras from continuous piecewise monotone maps on the circle which generalizes the crossed product construction for homeomorphisms and more generally the construction of Renault, Deaconu and Anantharaman-Delaroche for local homeomorphisms. Assuming that the map...... is surjective and not locally injective we give necessary and sufficient conditions for the simplicity of the $C^*$-algebra and show that it is then a Kirchberg algebra. We provide tools for the calculation of the K-theory groups and turn them into an algorithmic method for Markov maps....

The price of safety: costs for mitigating and coping with Alpine hazards

Science.gov (United States)

Pfurtscheller, C.; Thieken, A. H.

2013-10-01

Due to limited public budgets and the need to economize, the analysis of costs of hazard mitigation and emergency management of natural hazards becomes increasingly important for public natural hazard and risk management. In recent years there has been a growing body of literature on the estimation of losses which supported to help to determine benefits of measures in terms of prevented losses. On the contrary, the costs of mitigation are hardly addressed. This paper thus aims to shed some light on expenses for mitigation and emergency services. For this, we analysed the annual costs of mitigation efforts in four regions/countries of the Alpine Arc: Bavaria (Germany), Tyrol (Austria), South Tyrol (Italy) and Switzerland. On the basis of PPP values (purchasing power parities), annual expenses on public safety ranged from EUR 44 per capita in the Free State of Bavaria to EUR 216 in the Autonomous Province of South Tyrol. To analyse the (variable) costs for emergency services in case of an event, we used detailed data from the 2005 floods in the Federal State of Tyrol (Austria) as well as aggregated data from the 2002 floods in Germany. The analysis revealed that multi-hazards, the occurrence and intermixture of different natural hazard processes, contribute to increasing emergency costs. Based on these findings, research gaps and recommendations for costing Alpine natural hazards are discussed.

Inter- and intra-annual variability of fluvial sediment transport in the proglacial river Riffler Bach (Weißseeferner, Ötztal Alps, Tyrol)

Science.gov (United States)

Baewert, Henning; Weber, Martin; Morche, David

2015-04-01

The hydrology of a proglacial river is strongly affected by glacier melting. Due to glacier retreat the effects of snow melt and rain storms will become more important in future decades. Additionally, the development of periglacial landscapes will play a more important role in the hydrology of proglacial rivers. The importance of paraglacial sediment sources in sediment budgets of glacier forefields is increasing, while the role of glacial erosion is declining. In two consecutive ablation seasons the fluvial sediment transport of the river Riffler Bach in the Kaunertal (Tyrol/Austria) was quantified. The catchment area of this station is 20 km² with an altitudinal range from 1929 m to 3518 m above msl. The "Weißseeferner" glacier (2.34 km² in 2012) is the greatest of the remaining glaciers. An automatic water sampler (AWS 2002) and a probe for water level were installed were installed at the outlet of the catchment. In order to calculate annual stage-discharge-relations, discharge (Q) was repeatedly measured with current meters. Concurrent to the discharge measurements bed load was collected using a portable Helley-Smith sampler. Bed load (BL) samples were weighted and sieved in the laboratory to gain annual bed load rating curves and grain size distributions. In 2012, 154 water samples were sampled during 7 periods and subsequently filtered to quantify suspended sediment concentrations (SSC). A Q-SSC-relation was calculated for every period due to the high variability in suspended sediment transport. In addition, the grain size distribution of the filtered material was determined by laser diffraction analysis. In 2013, the same procedure was performed for 232 water samples which were collected during 9 periods. Meteorological data were logged at the climate station "Weißsee", which is located in the centre of the study area. First results show a high variability of discharge and solid sediment transport both at the inter-annual as well as at the intra

Turbulence, orbit equivalence, and the classification of nuclear C^∗-algebras

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Farah, Ilijas; Toms, Andrew; Törnquist, Asger Dag

2014-01-01

Choquet simplexes. As a by-product we recover a result of Kechris and Solecki, namely, that homeomorphism of compacta in the Hilbert cube is Borel reducible to a Polish group action. These results depend intimately on the classification theory of nuclear simple C*-algebras by K-theory and traces. Both...... of necessity and in order to lay the groundwork for further study on the Borel complexity of C*-algebras, we prove that many standard C*-algebra constructions and relations are Borel, and we prove Borel versions of Kirchberg's O2-stability and embedding theorems. We also find a C*-algebraic witness for a Kσ...

Pasture names with Romance and Slavic roots facilitate dissection of Y chromosome variation in an exclusively German-speaking alpine region.

Science.gov (United States)

Niederstätter, Harald; Rampl, Gerhard; Erhart, Daniel; Pitterl, Florian; Oberacher, Herbert; Neuhuber, Franz; Hausner, Isolde; Gassner, Christoph; Schennach, Harald; Berger, Burkhard; Parson, Walther

2012-01-01

The small alpine district of East Tyrol (Austria) has an exceptional demographic history. It was contemporaneously inhabited by members of the Romance, the Slavic and the Germanic language groups for centuries. Since the Late Middle Ages, however, the population of the principally agrarian-oriented area is solely Germanic speaking. Historic facts about East Tyrol's colonization are rare, but spatial density-distribution analysis based on the etymology of place-names has facilitated accurate spatial mapping of the various language groups' former settlement regions. To test for present-day Y chromosome population substructure, molecular genetic data were compared to the information attained by the linguistic analysis of pasture names. The linguistic data were used for subdividing East Tyrol into two regions of former Romance (A) and Slavic (B) settlement. Samples from 270 East Tyrolean men were genotyped for 17 Y-chromosomal microsatellites (Y-STRs) and 27 single nucleotide polymorphisms (Y-SNPs). Analysis of the probands' surnames revealed no evidence for spatial genetic structuring. Also, spatial autocorrelation analysis did not indicate significant correlation between genetic (Y-STR haplotypes) and geographic distance. Haplogroup R-M17 chromosomes, however, were absent in region A, but constituted one of the most frequent haplogroups in region B. The R-M343 (R1b) clade showed a marked and complementary frequency distribution pattern in these two regions. To further test East Tyrol's modern Y-chromosomal landscape for geographic patterning attributable to the early history of settlement in this alpine area, principal coordinates analysis was performed. The Y-STR haplotypes from region A clearly clustered with those of Romance reference populations and the samples from region B matched best with Germanic speaking reference populations. The combined use of onomastic and molecular genetic data revealed and mapped the marked structuring of the distribution of Y

Determination of gaseous compounds using online mass spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Praun, S.

1999-08-01

The work is divided in three major parts and describes various measurements of gaseous compounds. The first part tasks the problem of transit traffic along the motorway from Kufstein, Northern Tyrol/Austria until Ala, Trentino/Italy. During three periods measurements of the immissions of many compounds were carried out simultaneously in Northern Tyrol, Southern Tyrol and Trentino. The influence of the ban of heavy lorry traffic during the weekend and during the night on the reduction of NO 2 could be demonstrated. Furthermore certain compounds (e.g. Benzene) were monitored online for the first time along the motorway at lowest concentrations using the mass spectrometer 'Airsense 500'. In the second part online measurements of exhaled human breath after the oral application of a medicine against bronchitis was performed. In that way beside clinical and pharmacological studies the effectiveness of this pharmacon could be proved. The last part of the present work shows adsorption- and desorption measurements on four different adsorbents. During this procedure seven different gases with an increasing number of carbon atoms were monitored online by the hyphenation of these adsorbents with the mass spectrometer 'Airsense 500'. Thereby, the various properties of the adsorbents in the interaction with the gases could be demonstrated. (author)

Malý zámeček s šesti cípy do tvaru hvězdy. Rozhovor se Sylvou Dobalovou, Blankou Kubíkovou a Ivanem P. Muchkou nejen o neobvyklém půdorysu letohrádku Hvězda, ale také o jeho výzdobě a poslání

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Dobalová, Sylva; Kubíková, B.; Muchka, Ivan; Bůžek, V.

2017-01-01

Roč. 39, č. 7 (2017), s. 23-25 ISSN 0418-5129 Institutional support: RVO:68378033 Keywords : Archduke Ferdinand II of Tyrol * summer palace * Prague Subject RIV: AL - Art, Architecture, Cultural Heritage

Geomorphological survey and remote sensing analysis: a multidisciplinary approach to reconstruct triggering factors of a DSGSD in Maso Corto (South Tyrol, Italy)

Science.gov (United States)

Amato, Gabriele; Fubelli, Giandomenico; Piccin, Gianluca; Chinellato, Giulia; Iasio, Christian; Mosna, David; Morelli, Corrado

2015-04-01

In the Alpine regions, it is essential and urgent to define an improved and specific set of monitoring methods for the evolution of instability phenomena in order to avoid the closure of the installations because of the occurrence of natural calamities and to ensure the safety of citizens. In this context the SloMove Project aims at consolidate know-how of the ordinary monitoring applications of surface movements, evaluate their pros and cons and optimize the expected technical procedures of investigation. Within the SloMove project, an experimental composite monitoring has been carried out in the touristic site of Maso Corto (South Tyrol, Italy). Structural-Geomorphological Survey, GPS measurements and Time series analysis of SAR Interferometry data have been integrated. The purposes of this experiment are: 1) to reconstruct the geomorphological dynamics and their state of activity; 2) to provide considerations on the role of permafrost as an influential factor for landslide activity. Structural-Geomorphological survey highlighted control of structural asset of the outcropping lithologies on geomorphological markers, such as trenches, counterscarps, outcropping sliding surfaces. The area is characterized by metamorphic rocks, affected by foliation oriented between N350 and N30. Moreover, joints due to frost thaw activity are common in the shallow portions and the presence of two sets of tectonics fractures (N45, 45°-60° and N360, sub-vertical) has been recognized. In order to evaluate the state of permafrost, rock glaciers in the area have been investigated. SAR interferometry data have been processed by TRE® through the SqueeSAR™ analysis using Radarsat and Envisat images acquired during a period between 2003 and 2009. GPS surveys were carried out through the technique of Rapid-Static Relative Positioning during the summer months of 2012 and 2013. Data shows that an area of 2km2, north of Maso Corto, is affected by a Deep Seated Gravitational Slide

Fixed point algebras for easy quantum groups

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gabriel, Olivier; Weber, Moritz

2016-01-01

Compact matrix quantum groups act naturally on Cuntz algebras. The first author isolated certain conditions under which the fixed point algebras under this action are Kirchberg algebras. Hence they are completely determined by their K-groups. Building on prior work by the second author,we prove...... that free easy quantum groups satisfy these conditions and we compute the K-groups of their fixed point algebras in a general form. We then turn to examples such as the quantum permutation group S+ n,the free orthogonal quantum group O+ n and the quantum reflection groups Hs+ n. Our fixed point......-algebra construction provides concrete examples of free actions of free orthogonal easy quantum groups,which are related to Hopf-Galois extensions....

Drahocenné objekty ze zlata, handštajny či slonovina. Ke kunstkomoře Ferdinanda Tyrolského

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Bukovinská, Beket

2017-01-01

Roč. 39, č. 7 (2017), s. 20-22 ISSN 0418-5129 Institutional support: RVO:68378033 Keywords : Archduke Ferdinand II of Tyrol * kunstkammer * 16th century Subject RIV: AL - Art, Architecture, Cultural Heritage

From the valley floor to the peaks: Stratigraphy and landscape evolution of the Alpine Lateglacial in the Kitzbühel Alps (Tyrol, Austria)

Science.gov (United States)

Dippenaar, Elijah; Reitner, Jürgen

2017-04-01

(following the approach of Reitner et al. 2016). The result of which was that the glacial sedimentary sequences were very similar. Through the comparison of ELAs and sedimentary sequences, the Frommbach advance is correlated to the Phase of Ice-decay. Compared to the data of Reitner (2007) the Frommbach advance represents a second glacier advance in the Kelchsau Valley within this short-lasting phase around 19 ka. The Arnbach halt represents most likely the Gschnitz stadial (16-17 ka). The Küharn halt is correlated to the Younger Dryas-aged Egesen stadial (Younger Dryas; 12.8-11.7 ka). In addition, the relative timing of the activity of (nowadays relict) rock glaciers and of the onset of deep-seated gravitational slope deformations (DSGSDs) could be constrained based on the overlap of those features with the reconstructed glacial record. References: Reitner J.M., 2007: Glacial dynamics at the beginning of Termination I in the Eastern Alps and their stratigraphic implications. Quaternary International 164-165: 64-84. Reitner, J.M., Ivy-Ochs, S., Drescher-Schneider, R., Hajdas, I., Linner, M., 2016: Reconsidering the current stratigraphy of the Alpine Lateglacial: Implications of the sedimentary and morphological record of the Lienz area (Tyrol/Austria). E&G Quaternary Science Journal 65: 113-144.

Trichinella britovi beim Rotfuchs (Vulpes vulpes) in Österreich

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Krois, E.; Nöckler, K.; Duscher, G.

2005-01-01

infections in foxes. Materials and methods: Masseter and tongue samples from 1,546 foxes with known origin (sample coordinates from the provinces of Carinthia [n=401], Salzburg [108], Styria [493], Tyrol [395] and Vorarlberg [149] were determined by Geographic Information System), sent to the State...... Veterinary Laboratory in Moedling for rabies testing, were examined for Trichinella with the compression technique. Positive samples were evaluated quantitatively by digestion and differentiated by PCR. Results: 24 foxes (1.55%) were positive (Carinthia: 1.52%, Salzburg: 2.77%, Styria: 1.62%, the Tyrols: 1.......26%, Vorarlberg: 1.44%). In addition to the formerly known distribution of vulpine trichinellosis, positive animals were also found close to the border to Slovenia. Highest numbers of larval per gram muscle tissue (lpg) were found in the tongues (1-257 lpg compared to 0-43 lpg in masseter muscle tissue...

Participatory Approach to Long-Term Socio-Economic Scenarios as Building Block of a Local Vulnerability and Risk Assessment Tool - The Case Study Lienz (East-Tyrol)

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, Ina; Eder, Brigitte; Hama, Michiko; Leitner, Markus

2016-04-01

Risks associated with climate change are mostly still understood and analyzed in a sector- or hazard-specific and rarely in a systemic, dynamic and scenario-based manner. In addition, socio-economic trends are often neglected in local vulnerability and risk assessments although they represent potential key determinants of risk and vulnerability. The project ARISE (Adaptation and Decision Support via Risk Management Through Local Burning Embers) aims at filling this gap by applying a participatory approach to socio-economic scenario building as building block of a local vulnerability assessment and risk management tool. Overall, ARISE aims at developing a decision support system for climate-sensitive iterative risk management as a key adaptation tool for the local level using Lienz in the East-Tyrol as a test-site City. One central building block is participatory socio-economic scenario building that - together with regionalized climate change scenarios - form a centrepiece in the process-oriented assessment of climate change risks and vulnerability. Major vulnerabilities and risks may stem from the economic performance, the socio-economic or socio-demographic developments or changes in asset exposition and not from climate change impacts themselves. The IPCC 5th assessment report underlines this and states that for most economic sectors, the impact of climate change may be small relative to the impacts of other driving forces such as changes in population growth, age, income, technology, relative prices, lifestyle, regulation, governance and many other factors in the socio-economy (Arent et al., 2014). The paper presents the methodology, process and results with respect to the building of long-term local socio-economic scenarios for the City of Lienz and the surrounding countryside. Scenarios were developed in a participatory approach using a scenario workshop that involved major stakeholders from the region. Participatory approaches are increasingly recognized as

Geographically predominant genotypes of Aspergillus terreus species complex in Austria: s microsatellite typing study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lackner, M.; Coassin, S.; Haun, M.; Binder, U.; Kronenberg, F.; Haas, H. de; Jank, M.; Maurer, E.; Meis, J.F.; Hagen, F.; Lass-Florl, C.

2016-01-01

Aspergillus terreus species complex is recognized as a frequent agent of invasive aspergillosis in Tyrol. The reason for this specific epidemiological situation is unclear. Aspergillus terreus strains isolated from environmental and clinical sources were genotyped using a novel panel of short tandem

Risk-based consequences of extreme natural hazard processes in mountain regions - Multi-hazard analysis in Tyrol (Austria)

Science.gov (United States)

Huttenlau, Matthias; Stötter, Johann

2010-05-01

weighting within the risk concept, this has sufficient implications on the results of risk analyses. Thus, an equal and scale appropriated balance of those risk components is a fundamental key factor for effective natural hazard risk analyses. The results of such analyses inform especially decision makers in the insurance industry, the administration, and politicians on potential consequences and are the basis for appropriate risk management strategies. Thereby, results (i) on an annual or probabilistic risk comprehension have to be distinguished from (ii) scenario-based analyses. The first analyses are based on statistics of periodically or episodically occurring events whereas the latter approach is especially applied for extreme, non-linear, stochastic events. Focusing on the needs especially of insurance companies, the first approaches are appropriate for premium pricing and reinsurance strategies with an annual perspective, whereas the latter is focusing on events with extreme loss burdens under worst-case criteria to guarantee accordant reinsurance coverage. Moreover, the demand of adequate loss model approaches and methods is strengthened by the risk-based requirements of the upcoming capital requirement directive Solvency II. The present study estimates the potential elements at risk, their corresponding damage potentials and the Probable Maximum Losses (PMLs) of extreme natural hazards events in Tyrol (Austria) and considers adequatly the scale dependency and balanced application of the introduced risk components. Beside the introduced analysis an additionally portfolio analysis of a regional insurance company was executed. The geocoded insurance contracts of this portfolio analysis were the basis to estimate spatial, socio-economical and functional differentiated mean insurance values for the different risk categories of (i) buildings, (ii) contents or inventory, (iii) vehicles, and (iv) persons in the study area. The estimated mean insurance values were

The formation of phosphoran olivine and stanfieldite from the pyrometamorphic breakdown of apatite in slags from a prehistoric ritual immolation site (Goldbichl, Igls, Tyrol, Austria)

Science.gov (United States)

Schneider, Philipp; Tropper, Peter; Kaindl, Reinhard

2013-04-01

In this study we report P-rich olivine and the tric-calcium phosphate (TCP) stanfieldite in partially molten quartzphyllites from the ritual immolation site at the Goldbichl, near Innsbruck in the Tyrol, Austria. During partial melting, foamy patches of dark glassy material formed at the surface of the rocks and also as layers within the rocks. The pyrometamorphic rocks contain mostly the mineral assemblage olivine + orthopyroxene + plagioclase + spinel + glass. During the investigation of slag samples from this prehistoric ritual immolation site, extremely P-rich, apatite-bearing micro-domains were found. In these domains phosphoran olivine was found whose P contents are approaching the maximum P contents in olivine according to the experimental investigations of Boesenberg and Hewins (Geochim Cosmochim Acta 74:1923-1941, 2010). The textures within these domains indicate strongly disequilibrium conditions. The phosphoran olivines formed due to reactions involving apatite and the mineral assemblage of the quartzphyllites, and coexist with plagioclase and a tri-calcium phosphate phase (TCP) showing stanfieldite Ca4(Mg, Fe2+, Mn2+)5(PO4)6 composition. In terms of its chemical composition, olivine shows a wide range in composition with P ranging from 0.3 to 0.54 a.p.f.u, which corresponds to maximal 23 wt.% P2O5. These are the highest P-contents in olivine reported from rocks so far. The incorporation of P correlates with decreasing Si contents according to the charge balancing scheme 2{{P}^{5+ }}+□{{M}_{1,2 }}=2S{{i}^{4+ }}+{{( {Mg,Fe} )}^{2+ }}{{M}_{1,2 }} . Therefore P can only be incorporated in combination with a vacancy on the M1,2 position. Micro-Raman spectroscopy of phosphoran olivines indicates that these olivines can easily be identified with this method due to the strong signals of the SiO4 and PO4 vibrations. The external vibrations of the M1,2 sites at low wave-numbers are more complex than for P-free olivine. This might be due to the effect of P5+ on

Jam Session reloaded: Von der Marmeladenfabrik zum Kultur- und Kreativraum : Revitalisierung und Umnutzung der Zuegg-Marmeladenfabrik am Tribusplatz in Lana, Südtirol

OpenAIRE

Hillebrand, Annika

2015-01-01

von Annika Hillebrand Zusammenfassung in englischer Sprache Parallelt. [Übers. des Autors]: Jam Session Reloaded: From the jam factory to the cultural and creative space revitalization and redevelopment of Zuegg jam factory on Tribusplatz in Lana, South Tyrol Technische Universität Wien, Univ., Diplomarbeit, 2015

Risk assessment for canine leishmaniasis spreading in the north of Italy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giulia Morosetti

2009-11-01

Full Text Available The incidence of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis has not only been recognized but is, in fact, increasing in territories of northern continental Italy previously regarded as non-endemic. Recent findings of sporadic autochthonous canine infections and the presence of phlebotomine vectors in some provinces of north-eastern Italy have stimulated risk assessment for the spreading of leishmaniasis in the autonomous province of Bolzano-South Tyrol, the northernmost territory of the Italian eastern Alps. In July 2008, 61 phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera, Psychodidae were caught and identified as Phlebotomus perniciosus and Sergentomyia minuta. This is the first record in South Tyrol of P. perniciosus, the most competent vector of Leishmania infantum in Mediterranean countries. Leishmania serology on local dogs kept in kennels gave negative results, while only imported canine leishmaniasis cases were reported by local veterinarians through a questionnaire survey. Bio-geographic aspects and epidemiological consequences are analyzed in relation with the risk of leishmaniasis introduction into the area.

Classification of non-simple C*-algebras of real rank zero

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Arklint, Sara Esther

for real rank zero graph algebras over primitive ideal spaces that admit classification. As a consequence of completeness of filtered K-theory combined with this range result, one can conclude that real rank zero extensions of stabilized Cuntz-Krieger algebras are stabilized Cuntz-Krieger algebras......This thesis deals with classification of nonsimple C-algebras of real rank zero, and whether filtered K-theory is a suitable invariant for this purpose. As a consequence of the result of E. Kirchberg for purely infinite, nuclear C-algebras with a finite primitive ideal space, it suffices to lift...... the thesis is the following: is it possible to achieve the desired classification result for arbitrary finite primitive ideal spaces by restricting to C-algebras of real rank zero that possibly satisfy further restrictions on K-theory? The thesis consists of an account of the relevant theory and the relevant...

Emerging Multilingual Awareness in Educational Contexts: From Theory to Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Jessner, Ulrike; Allgäuer-Hackl, Elisabeth; Hofer, Barbara

2016-01-01

The aim of this article is to stress the importance of a dynamic systems or complexity theory approach as a necessary prerequisite to understanding the development of multi-competence in multilingual learners. Selected results from a study on emergent multilingual awareness in children, carried out in South Tyrol, are outlined and discussed. The…

How Does Linguistic Competence Enhance Cognitive Functions in Children? A Study in Multilingual Children with Different Linguistic Competences

Science.gov (United States)

Videsott, Gerda; Della Rosa, Pasquale Anthony; Wiater, Werner; Franceschini, Rita; Abutalebi, Jubin

2012-01-01

The aim of the present study was to investigate the attentional mechanisms of multilingual children with differential degrees of language competence. For this purpose, 118 children (61 female/57 male; mean age 10.9 years (SD = 0.29); early acquisition multilinguals) from the Ladin valleys in South Tyrol, Italy, performed the Attentional Network…

Leavitt path algebras

CERN Document Server

Abrams, Gene; Siles Molina, Mercedes

2017-01-01

This book offers a comprehensive introduction by three of the leading experts in the field, collecting fundamental results and open problems in a single volume. Since Leavitt path algebras were first defined in 2005, interest in these algebras has grown substantially, with ring theorists as well as researchers working in graph C*-algebras, group theory and symbolic dynamics attracted to the topic. Providing a historical perspective on the subject, the authors review existing arguments, establish new results, and outline the major themes and ring-theoretic concepts, such as the ideal structure, Z-grading and the close link between Leavitt path algebras and graph C*-algebras. The book also presents key lines of current research, including the Algebraic Kirchberg Phillips Question, various additional classification questions, and connections to noncommutative algebraic geometry. Leavitt Path Algebras will appeal to graduate students and researchers working in the field and related areas, such as C*-algebras and...

[Skiing injuries in school sport and possibilioties to prevent them].

Science.gov (United States)

Greier, K

2011-12-01

Tyrol (Austria) is one of the regions which pioneered skiing. Skiing is considered as a national sport and is deeply rooted within the school system. Thus most pupils partake in skiing courses in this period. It is clear that such a large group of pupils also leads to a significant number of skiing injuries. Preventive issues may be derived from an analysis of the pattern and circumstances of skiing injuries. During a period of ten years (2000 - 2009) 1522 school sports injuries have been reported to the health insurance agency (Allgemeine Unfallversicherungsanstalt) from all secondary schools in Tyrol. The major disciplines were ski (48 %, n = 734) ice skateing (23 %, n = 349) and snowboard injuries (21 %, n = 315), followed by tobogganing (6 %, n = 91), cross-country skiing (1 %, n = 17) and other wintersports (1 %, n = 16). Fractures (31 %) dominated in skiing, followed by contusions (23 %), and sprains (22 %). In the analysis of the distribution of injuries during alpine skiing accidents, lower extremity injuries (39 %) dominated followed by upper extremity injuries (34 %). Head and spine injuries (13 %) were rare. Analysing the circumstances of the injuries, most injuries during skiing occurred without person to person collision (82 %), 81 % either shortly before lunch-break or in the afternoon. Skiing injuries account for a significant proportion of all school sport-related injuries in Tyrol. Lower extremity injuries account for the vast majority of all injuries. Overestimation and overtiredness may be responsible for skiing sport injuries. Preventive measures such as a fitness training (e. g., skiing exercises) prior to skiing courses, appropriate breaks and proper protective gear (i. e., helmet and spine protector) may reduce the injury rate in skiing school sport. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

[The life as a caregiver of a person affected by Chorea Huntington: multiple case study].

Science.gov (United States)

Winkler, Evi; Ausserhofer, Dietmar; Mantovan, Franco

2012-10-01

Chorea Huntington is an autosomal dominantly inherited, neurodegenerative brain disorder that leads to involuntary hyperkinesia, psychotic symptoms and dementia. The illness not only changes the life of the person itself but also the world of the caregivers. The challenges in the care of a person which is affected by Chorea Huntington have an effect on the daily living as an assemblage of natural and social conditions. a multiple case study was conducted. It included semi-structured interviews with three caregivers of people with Chorea Huntington in South Tyrol. The qualitative data was analyzed using the qualitative structured analysis of Mayring (2007). The objective of this study was to describe the phenomenon of change of life from family members that care people affected by Chorea Huntington in a specific cultural setting (South Tyrol, Italy). The caregivers reported that the diagnosis of Chorea Huntington leads to negative changes in "relationship and family". Particularly, frustration, aggression, impatience and apathy were perceived as stressful. At the same time they highlight the positive changes through home care. They report that the relationship became more intimate and integral and it was characterized by more cohesion. Family caregivers get valuable support from the home care service, however, they complain that there is no facility in South Tyrol, which is specialized to care people with Chorea Huntington. Therefore, the caregivers have to "give up a lot" and don't have any personal desires, dreams and expectations for the future. The caregivers have learned independently to deal with their changed life step by step, and to see also the positive effects of the caring role. The life of family caregivers of a person which is affected by Chorea Huntington is characterized by abandonment. A continuous and professional care would be important for the affected and his caregiver. A continuous and professional care is important for both, addressing the

REINTRODUCTION OF ASTACUS ASTACUS L. IN EAST TYROL, AUSTRIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

SINT D.

2004-01-01

Full Text Available In Tyrolean like in other European freshwaters, crayfish populations decreased in numbers and qualities. They are today regarded as endangered animals. The Astacus astacus (Linnaeus, 1758 population of historical evidence in Tristacher See and its out flowing stream Tristacher Seebach (mentioned already by Emperor Maximilian I in 1504 became extinct in the late 1990s. After the restoration of the stream we started a species conservation programme with various specific protection measures, including breeding and restocking of young-of-the-year and adult A. astacus. Females, after having released their young in the hatchery, were stocked together with males in a 200-m-section of Tristacher Seebach, previously populated by A. astacus. In October, the young-of-theyear crayfish were released in another area of the same stream. To show the importance of habitat diversity and shelter, four sites for introduction were selected describing a gradient of habitat diversity. We monitored general characteristics of the population (sex, size, densities and compared them to habitat conditions. Individual crayfish were tagged with gloss-paint pens to allow an observation of their movements between the different sections over the summer months. We found significant results when migration behaviour, population assemblage and habitat conditions were compared. Males frequently moved longer distances than females. Migration length corresponded to the gradient of available structures and shelter. Heterogeneous riprap was somewhat preferred to artificial shelter like bricks or plastic tubes. Sections without additional shelter showed almost no presence of crayfish. Sex and size distribution within assemblages appeared also to be affected by habitat conditions. Our results indicate the importance of monitoring in species reintroduction projects, as this research demonstrated the immediate effect and importance of habitat structure and affirmed the success of the protection measures. This may in fact help to avoid future failure.

Morphological evolution of the Haflinger horse

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Pasquini

2011-03-01

Full Text Available The Haflinger horse has certainly a lot of success, considering its popularity not only in its native region, South Tyrol, but also worldwide. Therefore, for its preservation and mainly for a larger diffusion of these horses, Haflinger horse’ breeders thought it could be useful to change, with an appropriated selection, the functional type, originally a pack-horse and a horse for agricultural work, into a saddle horse for riding purpose (Pagnacco, 1994...

Morphological evolution of the Haflinger horse

OpenAIRE

M. Pasquini; S. Rizzi; A. Falaschini

2011-01-01

The Haflinger horse has certainly a lot of success, considering its popularity not only in its native region, South Tyrol, but also worldwide. Therefore, for its preservation and mainly for a larger diffusion of these horses, Haflinger horse’ breeders thought it could be useful to change, with an appropriated selection, the functional type, originally a pack-horse and a horse for agricultural work, into a saddle horse for riding purpose (Pagnacco, 1994)...

Replacement of the power plant Bruckhaeusl; Neubau des Kraftwerkes Bruckhaeusl

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Egger, Andreas [TIWAG-Tiroler Wasserkraft AG, Innsbruck (Austria)

2011-07-01

The power plant Bruckhaeusl replaces the approx. 100 year-old power stations Einoeden and Soell/Leukental at the entrance to the Brixental in Tyrol. The design flow was raised to 12 from 5 m{sup 3}/s. Through the 2.2 km long penstock the water reaches to the Kaplan-S-turbine and is returned via a generously dimensioned underwater reservoir to the river. The residual water is delivered by a speed-regulated turbine at the weir. (orig.)

Communities matter: Institutional preconditions for community renewable energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wirth, Steffen

2014-01-01

Energy transitions are high on political agendas. From a practical viewpoint, community approaches are deemed essential in order to transition from a predominantly centralized energy supply to a decentralized one, and to exploit the potential of renewable energies. In this paper, I discuss how the emergence of community-based energy projects can be analyzed from an institutional perspective. In this context, a ‘community’ is treated as an individual institutional order that shapes decisions. I examine how community structures the implementation of biogas cooperatives in the Autonomous Province of South Tyrol in Northern Italy. My findings suggest that ‘community spirit’, a cooperative tradition, and the norms of locality and responsibility are central drivers behind the emergence and constitution of biogas cooperatives. Not only do these institutional features of community influence the decision concerning which farmers are in or out but also plant location and scale. I argue that ‘community’ is a necessary analytical category for understanding community energy. - Highlights: • I analyze the emergence and constitution of biogas cooperatives in South Tyrol. • Emerging processes and the principal constitutions are similar. • Institutional forces influenced the biogas cooperatives' emergence and constitution. • Biogas cooperatives are decisively shaped by community spirit and local tradition. • The concept of community is used as an explanatory category for community energy

Representations of eyeglasses on Gothic winged altars in Austria.

Science.gov (United States)

Daxecker, F

1997-01-01

The oldest representation of eyeglasses in the German-speaking area is found on the altar of Tyrol Castle in the Museum Ferdinandeum in Innsbruck, Tyrol, on an altarpiece depicting the death of the Virgin Mary (1370-1372). Other representations of eyeglasses are found in Klosterneuburg, Lower Austria, Albrechtsaltar, collegiate collection, death of the Virgin (1439); St. Lorenzen ob Murau, daughter church St. Lorenzen, Styria, Katharinenaltar, Disputation (1455-1460); Pettau (Ptuj), Pokrajinjski Muzej, Slovenia (then belonging to the archbishopric of Salzburg), Conrad Laib, St. Bernardine of Siena with a spectacle case (1460-1465); on two altars by Michael Pacher: Pharisee, Gries near Bolzano (1471-1475), apostle mourning over the death of the Virgin Mary, and St. Luke, St. Wolfgang in Salzkammergut (1481); St. Florian, Upper Austria, collegiate collection, altar of the provost Leonhard Riesenschmid of St. Florian, death of the Virgin (1487); museum of Wilten monastery, Innsbruck, Ludwig Konraiter, St. Ottilie with reading stones and death of the Virgin Mary with reading apostle (1485-1490); Austrian Gallery Belvedere, Vienna, Master of Grossgmain, St. Augustine (1498); Austrian Gallery Belvedere, Vienna, Master of Mondsee, St. Augustine (1490-1500); Diocesan museum Graz, Styria, altar of Hirschegg, death of the Virgin (1503); Krenstetten, Lower Austria, Stefan-Altar, Disputation (1500-1520); Museum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck, Matheis Stöberl, Jesus and the scribes with a spectacle case (early 16th century).

Medizinisch-Biologische Fachbibliothek Innsbruck – die bibliothekarische Situation in Innsbruck / Medical-Biological Library Innsbruck – the library situation in Innsbruck

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Breitschopf, Marion

2009-09-01

Full Text Available After the devision oft the two universities, the University and Regional Library of Tyrol is responsible for the Leopold-Franzens-University and the Medical University Innsbruck. In the main library medical books and medical textbooks are available. Founded in 1979, the Medical-Biological Library offers periodicals and a growing collection of textbooks in medicine. In both libraries there are places for learning and PC-workstations. The supply of electronic journals, electronic books and databases for the two universities is coordinated by the university library.

Genetic structure in contemporary south Tyrolean isolated populations revealed by analysis of Y-chromosome, mtDNA, and Alu polymorphisms.

Science.gov (United States)

Pichler, Irene; Mueller, Jakob C; Stefanov, Stefan A; De Grandi, Alessandro; Volpato, Claudia Beu; Pinggera, Gerd K; Mayr, Agnes; Ogriseg, Martin; Ploner, Franz; Meitinger, Thomas; Pramstaller, Peter P

2006-08-01

Most of the inhabitants of South Tyrol in the eastern Italian Alps can be considered isolated populations because of their physical separation by mountain barriers and their sociocultural heritage. We analyzed the genetic structure of South Tyrolean populations using three types of genetic markers: Y-chromosome, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), and autosomal Alu markers. Using random samples taken from the populations of Val Venosta, Val Pusteria, Val Isarco, Val Badia, and Val Gardena, we calculated genetic diversity within and among the populations. Microsatellite diversity and unique event polymorphism diversity (on the Y chromosome) were substantially lower in the Ladin-speaking population of Val Badia compared to the neighboring German-speaking populations. In contrast, the genetic diversity of mtDNA haplotypes was lowest for the upper Val Venosta and Val Pusteria. These data suggest a low effective population size, or little admixture, for the gene pool of the Ladin-speaking population from Val Badia. Interestingly, this is more pronounced for Ladin males than for Ladin females. For the pattern of genetic Alu variation, both Ladin samples (Val Gardena and Val Badia) are among the samples with the lowest diversity. An admixture analysis of one German-speaking valley (Val Venosta) indicates a relatively high genetic contribution of Ladin origin. The reduced genetic diversity and a high genetic differentiation in the Rhaetoroman- and German-speaking South Tyrolean populations may constitute an important basis for future medical genetic research and gene mapping studies in South Tyrol.

Exposure to unusually high indoor radon levels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rasheed, F.N.

1993-01-01

Unusually high indoor radon concentrations were reported in a small village in western Tyrol, Austria. The authors have measured the seasonal course of indoor radon concentrations in 390 houses of this village. 71% of houses in winter and 33% in summer, showed radon values on the ground floor above the Austrian action level of 400 Bq/cm 3 . This proportion results in an unusually high indoor radon exposure of the population. The radon source was an 8,700-year-old rock slide of granite gneiss, the largest of the alpine crystalline rocks. It has a strong emanating power because its rocks are heavily fractured and show a slightly increased uranium content. Previous reports show increased lung cancer mortality, myeloid leukemia, kidney cancer, melanoma, and prostate cancer resulting from indoor radon exposure. However, many studies fail to provide accurate information on indoor radon concentrations, classifying them merely as low, intermediate, and high, or they record only minor increases in indoor radon concentrations. Mortality data for 1970-91 were used to calculate age and sex standardized mortality rates (SMR) for 51 sites of carcinoma. The total population of Tyrol were controls. A significantly higher risk was recorded for lung cancer. The high SMR for lung cancer in female subjects is especially striking. Because the numbers were low for the other cancer sites, these were combined in one group to calculate the SMR. No significant increase in SMR was found for this group

Electronic properties of fullerenes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kuzmany, H [ed.; Vienna Univ. (Austria). Inst. fuer Festkoerperphysik; Fink, J [ed.; Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH (Germany). Inst. fuer Nukleare Festkoerperphysik; Mehring, M [ed.; Stuttgart Univ. (Germany). Physikalisches Teilinstitut 2; Roth, S [ed.; Max-Planck-Institut fuer Festkoerperforschung, Stuttgart (Germany)

1993-01-01

Since 1991, research in the field of organic carbon materials has developed at a rapid pace due to the advent of the fullerenes and related materials. These forms of carbon are considered as a missing link between the previously discussed electroactive polymers and the oxidic superconductors. It was therefore challenging to select this topic for an international winter school in Kirchberg. Although still in its infancy, research on the physics and chemistry of fullerenes and related compounds has already led to a wealth of results, which was reflected in the wide range of topics covered and the numerous discussions which emerged at the meeting. For C[sub 60] itself, preparation methods and crystal growth techniques continue to evolve, while the understanding of the electronic and structural properties of its solid state continues to pose challenges to experimental and theoretical physicists. The ever-expanding range of higher fullerens and related materials, such as nanotubes and onions, poses a daunting but exciting task for researchers. For synthetic chemists, fullerenes represent the basis of a whole new range of synthetic compounds. The prospect of a periodic table of endohedral fullerene complexes has been discussed, and exohedrally complexed metal-fullerenes have already attracted the attention of physicists. The first endohedral materials are now available. (orig.)

Electronic properties of fullerenes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuzmany, H.

1993-01-01

Since 1991, research in the field of organic carbon materials has developed at a rapid pace due to the advent of the fullerenes and related materials. These forms of carbon are considered as a missing link between the previously discussed electroactive polymers and the oxidic superconductors. It was therefore challenging to select this topic for an international winter school in Kirchberg. Although still in its infancy, research on the physics and chemistry of fullerenes and related compounds has already led to a wealth of results, which was reflected in the wide range of topics covered and the numerous discussions which emerged at the meeting. For C 60 itself, preparation methods and crystal growth techniques continue to evolve, while the understanding of the electronic and structural properties of its solid state continues to pose challenges to experimental and theoretical physicists. The ever-expanding range of higher fullerens and related materials, such as nanotubes and onions, poses a daunting but exciting task for researchers. For synthetic chemists, fullerenes represent the basis of a whole new range of synthetic compounds. The prospect of a periodic table of endohedral fullerene complexes has been discussed, and exohedrally complexed metal-fullerenes have already attracted the attention of physicists. The first endohedral materials are now available. (orig.)

Wine and culinary tourism: Preferences of experiential consumers

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Schamel Guenter H.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available We explore the key components of consumer demand for the development of a successful wine and culinary tourism segment. In particular, we investigate the demand preferences that are important to consumers interested in a wine and culinary related hotel stay in South Tyrol. Conceptually, we utilize the 4E-Model of experiential consumption by Pine & Gilmore [1, 2] and propose that the four realms of an experience (i.e., entertainment, education, escapist, and aesthetic relate to the principal components of consumer preferences. We survey potential tourists to gain a better understanding of their demand preferences for culinary and wine related hotel stays. Using an exploratory factor analysis, we identify the principal components of consumer demand preferences. The most preferred demand feature of a culinary wine experience relates to informative entertainment. The second feature relates to social-cultural activities that are educating. The third are escapist wine and food-specific activities and the forth relates to the aesthetics of accommodation traits and style in the culinary and wine domain. Moreover, we study the current supply attributes of wine and culinary related hotel offer in South Tyrol and their pricing using a hedonic model. Attributes that provide an entertainment experience form the basis of any offer in the wine and culinary domain. Attributes that provide an educational experience are highly relevant and add will a significant price premium. Matching demand preferences and supply conditions is crucial in developing a successful culinary and wine related tourism segment.

TIWAG-Tiroler Wasserkraft AG reconstruction and new construction projects for the energy turnaround; Um- und Neubauprojekte der Tiroler Wasserkraft AG fuer die Energiewende

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stroppa, Wolfgang [TIWAG-Tiroler Wasserkraft AG, Innsbruck (Austria)

2016-07-01

The whole of Europe is facing the challenge of transforming its energy management system into a more sustainable, more economical and decentralised system with a lower CO{sub 2} footprint. The Province of the Tyrol must contribute to the energy turnaround at a regional level. Hydropower's energy efficiency ratio is more than 90 % so it is the most important renewable energy in terms of volume and cost efficiency. It is for this reason that the use and expansion of hydropower facilities are key components of a sustainable energy and climate policy in the Alpine region.

Otzi, the iceman and his leather clothes.

Science.gov (United States)

Püntener, Alois G; Moss, Serge

2010-01-01

Over 5000 years ago, a man climbed up to the icy heights of the glacier in South Tyrol, Italy and died. He was found by accident in 1991, with his clothes and equipment, mummified and frozen: an archaeological sensation and a unique snapshot of a Copper Age man. For several years highly specialised research teams have examined the mummy and all accompanying items. This paper describes how fur and leather clothes of the iceman could have been tanned. Details of the analytical tests undertaken on the 5000 year old leather samples and what they revealed are presented.

No molecular or serological evidence of Zikavirus infection among healthy blood donors living in or travelling to regions where Aedes albopictus circulates.

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Wegene Borena

Full Text Available Previous studies have shown that Zika virus can infect and be transmitted by A. albopictus. The World Health organization (WHO has raised concerns of autochthonous transmission of the virus in regions where the vector is endemic. The aim of this pilot study was to assess the occurrence of Zika virus (ZIKV in western Austria (Tyrol especially after a history of travel to A. albopictus endemic regions.The study participants were healthy blood donors at randomly selected donation sites in the west Austrian region Tyrol. Rest blood (plasma samples were tested for the presence of ZIKV nucleic acid and antibodies against the virus.Mean age of the study participants was 44.6 (SD = 12.9 and 58.8% were men. Eighty percent reported to have received vaccine against TBEV, whereas only 4.9 and 0.9% had received YFV and JEV vaccines. Three out of 1001 (0.03% participants tested positive solely for ZIKV IgM antibody but not for other flaviviruses. Only one individual had ZIKV IgG antibody. All four donors were negative in the neutralization (confirmation assay. No viral RNA was detected in any of the samples.The null finding of our study refutes WHO's initial fear of global expansion of ZIKV infection including its occurrence in Europe. There appears to be no urgent need to introduce universal screening of donated blood for ZIKV in central Europe at least until the next warm season. Further, Euroimmun anti-Zika ELISA proved to be a highly suitable and reliable test system in populations with high prevalence of TBEV infection and/or immunization.

Semiochemical Strategies for Tortricid Moth Control in Apple Orchards and Vineyards in Italy.

Science.gov (United States)

Ioriatti, Claudio; Lucchi, Andrea

2016-07-01

- This review summarizes work done in Italy in taking semiochemical-based management of orchard and vineyard pests from the research and development stage to successful commercial deployment. Mating disruption (MD) of codling moth Cydia pomonella (CM) was originally introduced into the Trentino-South Tyrol areas to address the development of CM resistance to insecticides, particularly insect growth regulators (IGRs), and to mitigate the conflict at the rural/urban interface related to the extensive use of insecticides. Although the mountainous terrain of the area was not optimal for the efficacy of MD, commitment and determination led to the rapid adoption of MD technology throughout the region. Grower cooperatives and their field consultants were strongly influential in convincing growers to accept MD technology. Public research institutions conducted extensive research and education, and provided credible assessments of various MD technologies. By 2016, the deployment of MD in effective area-wide strategies in apple (22,100 ha) and grapes (10,450 ha), has resulted in better control of tortricid moth pests and a substantial decrease in insecticide use. Collaboration between the research community and the pheromone industry has resulted in the development of increasingly effective single-species dispensers, as well as multi-species dispensers for the control of both target and secondary pests. Over the last 20 years, hand-applied reservoir dispensers have shown excellent efficacy in both apple and grapes. Recently, aerosol dispensing systems have been shown to be effective in apple orchards. Further research is needed on the efficacy of aerosols in vineyards before the technology can be widely adopted. The successful implementation of MD in apple and grape production in Trentino-South Tyrol is expediting adoption of the technology in other Italian fruit production regions.

Morphological and molecular identification of nasopharyngeal bot fly larvae infesting red deer (Cervus elaphus) in Austria.

Science.gov (United States)

Leitner, Natascha; Schwarzmann, Laurin; Zittra, Carina; Palmieri, Nicola; Eigner, Barbara; Otranto, Domenico; Glawischnig, Walter; Fuehrer, Hans-Peter

2016-11-01

Nasopharyngeal myiases are caused by larvae of bot flies (Diptera: Oestridae), which have evolved a high specificity for their hosts. Bot flies (n = 916) were collected from 137 (57.6 %) out of 238 red deer (Cervus elaphus) hunted in Vorarlberg and Tyrol (Western Austria). After being stored in 75 % ethanol, larvae were identified to species level and developmental stage using morphological and morphometric keys. Larvae were also molecularly characterized by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and partial sequencing of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene. Morphological and molecular analysis allowed identification of larvae as Cephenemyia auribarbis and Pharyngomyia picta. Genetic variations were also examined within the specimens collected in both geographical locations.

The astronomer Christoph Grienberger and the Galilei trial. (German Title: Der Astronom Christoph Grienberger und der Galilei-Prozess)

Science.gov (United States)

Daxecker, Franz

Christopher Grienberger was born on July 2, 1561 in Hall in Tyrol, Austria. In 1580 he joined the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). Grienberger studied in Prague and Vienna and succeeded his tutor, Christopher Clavius, as a professor of mathematics at the Roman College. Grienberger gave lectures in astronomy in order to prepare fellow Jesuits for their missionary work in China and constructed the equatorial set-up of the telescope. Among his works is a list of fixed stars, and he even worked in the science of optics. Grienberger sympathized with Galileo's theory of motion but was told to defend the Aristotelian view by the Father General of the Jesuits, Claudio Aquaviva. Grienberger died on March 11, 1636, and is buried in Rome.

Charcoal from a prehistoric copper mine in the Austrian Alps: dendrochronological and dendrological data, demand for wood and forest utilisation.

Science.gov (United States)

Pichler, Thomas; Nicolussi, Kurt; Goldenberg, Gert; Hanke, Klaus; Kovács, Kristóf; Thurner, Andrea

2013-02-01

During prehistory fire-setting was the most appropriate technique for exploiting ore deposits. Charcoal fragments found in the course of archaeological excavations in a small mine called Mauk E in the area of Schwaz/Brixlegg (Tyrol, Austria) are argued to be evidence for the use of this technology. Dendrochronological analyses of the charcoal samples yielded calendar dates for the mining activities showing that the exploitation of the Mauk E mine lasted approximately one decade in the late 8th century BC. Dendrological studies show that the miners utilised stem wood of spruce and fir from forests with high stand density for fire-setting and that the exploitation of the Mauk E mine had only a limited impact on the local forests.

Long-Term Sustainable Development of Tourism in South Tyrol: An Analysis of Tourists’ Perception

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Katia Laura Sidali

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Although sustainable tourism concepts are gaining in importance everywhere, related research is quite fragmented with many studies concentrating on environmental sustainability. Seeking to contribute to the general discussion, we first examine the perceptions of sustainability among tourists using a best–worst scaling method applied to important aspects of sustainable tourism. Our results show that experiencing nature in an intense and profound way is considered the most important aspect of sustainable tourism whereas grappling with the culture of the host region is perceived as the least important aspect of sustainable tourism in our sample. Second, we analyze if socio-demographic and/or other factors have significant implications for the propensity to increase expenditures for sustainable holiday offers. Applying a simple regression model, we can show that age has a significant and positive impact on the propensity to spend more on a sustainable holiday offer such as overnight stays in an accommodation that is carbon-neutral. Other socio-demographic variables such as gender, education, and income are not significant. Moreover, hotel stars and average expenditures per person per night are significant and have a positive effect on the propensity to spend more on carbon-neutral housing. Two simple policy implications can be drawn: (1 sustainable tourism experiences should prioritize landscape and natural beauty; and (2 sustainable tourism offers are best suited for higher-priced and/or higher starred hotels.

The Relation between Multilingualism and Basic Human Values among Primary School Children in South Tyrol

Science.gov (United States)

Gross, Barbara; Dewaele, Jean-Marc

2018-01-01

Cook argued that the learning of a new language leads to a state of multi-competence, with the learner's mind changing in ways that go beyond the linguistic realm. The present study follows Dewaele's suggestion that multilingualism is linked to both cognitive and psychological changes. It explores one particular under-researched relationship,…

Microbial ecology of extreme environments: Antarctic dry valley yeasts and growth in substrate-limited habitats

Science.gov (United States)

Vishniac, H. S.

1982-01-01

The success of the Antarctic Dry Valley yeasts presumeably results from adaptations to multiple stresses, to low temperatures and substrate-limitation as well as prolonged resting periods enforced by low water availability. Previous investigations have suggested that the crucial stress is substrate limitation. Specific adaptations may be pinpointed by comparing the physiology of the Cryptococcus vishniacii complex, the yeasts of the Tyrol Valley, with their congeners from other habitats. Progress was made in methods of isolation and definition of ecological niches, in the design of experiments in competition for limited substrate, and in establishing the relationships of the Cryptococcus vishniacii complex with other yeasts. In the course of investigating relationships, a new method for 25SrRNA homology was developed. For the first time it appears that 25SrRNA homology may reflect parallel or convergent evolution.

Rigorous noise test and calibration check of strong-motion instrumentation at the Conrad Observatory in Austria.

Science.gov (United States)

Steiner, R.; Costa, G.; Lenhardt, W.; Horn, N.; Suhadolc, P.

2012-04-01

In the framework of the European InterregIV Italy/Austria project: "HAREIA - Historical and Recent Earthquakes in Italy and Austria" the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) and Mathematic and Geosciences Department of University of Trieste (DMG) are upgrading the transfrontier seismic network of South-Eastern Alps with new 12 accelerometric stations to enhance the strong motion instrument density near the Austria/Italy border. Various public institutions of the provinces Alto Adige (Bolzano Province), Veneto (ARPAV) and Friuli Venezia Giulia (Regional Civil Defense) in Italy and in the Austrian province of Tyrol are involved in the project. The site selection was carried out to improve the present local network geometry thus meeting the needs of public Institutions in the involved regions. In Tyrol and Alto Adige some strategic buildings (hospitals and public buildings) have been selected, whereas in Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia the sites are in the free field, mainly located near villages. The instruments will be installed in an innovative box, designed by ZAMG, that provides electric and water isolation. The common choice regarding the instrument selection has been the new Kinemetrics Basalt ® accelerograph to guarantee homogeneity with the already installed instrumentation and compatibility with the software already in use at the different seismic institutions in the area. Prior to deployment the equipment was tested at the Conrad Observatory and a common set-up has been devised. The Conrad Observatory, seismically particularly quiet, permits to analyze both the sensor and the acquisition system noise. The instruments were connected to the network and the data sent in real-time to the ZAMG data center in Vienna and the DMG data center in Trieste. The data have been collected in the database and analyzed using signal processing modules PQLX and Matlab. The data analysis of the recordings at the ultra-quiet Conrad Observatory pointed out

Development of the Damage Potential resulting from Avalanche Risks, Case Study Galtür (Tyrol, Austria)

Science.gov (United States)

Keiler, M.

2003-04-01

Reports on catastrophes with high damage caused by natural hazards seem to have increased in number recently. A new trend in dealing with these natural processes leads to the integration of risk into natural hazards evaluations and approaches of integral risk management. The risk resulting from natural hazards can be derived from the combination of parameters of physical processes (intensity and recurrence probability) and damage potential (probability of presence and expected damage value). Natural hazard research focuses mainly on the examination, modelling and estimation of individual geomorphological processes as well as on future developments caused by climate change. Even though damage potential has been taken into account more frequently, quantifying statements are still missing. Due to the changes of the socio-economic structures in mountain regions (urban sprawl, population growth, increased mobility and tourism) these studies are mandatory. This study presents a conceptual method that records the damage potential (probability of physical presence, evaluation of buildings) and shows the development of the damage potential resulting from avalanches since 1950. The study area is the community of Galtür, Austria. 36 percent of the existing buildings are found in officially declared avalanche hazard zones. The majority of these buildings are either agricultural or accommodation facilities. Additionally, the effects of physical planning and/or technical measures on the spatial development of the potential damage are illustrated. The results serve to improve risk determination and point out an unnoticed increase of damage potential and risk in apparently safe settlement areas.

Which Language R You Speaking? /r/ as a Language Marker in Tyrolean and Italian Bilinguals.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaland, Constantijn; Galatà, Vincenzo; Spreafico, Lorenzo; Vietti, Alessandro

2017-12-01

Across languages of the world the /r/ sound is known for its variability. This variability has been investigated using articulatory models as well as in sociolinguistic studies. The current study investigates to what extent /r/ is a marker of a bilingual's dominant language. To this end, a reading task was carried out by bilingual speakers from South Tyrol, who produce /r/ differently according to whether they dominantly speak Tyrolean or Italian. The recorded reading data were subsequently used in a perception experiment to investigate whether South Tyrolean bilingual listeners are able to identify the dominant language of the speaker. Results indicate that listeners use /r/ as a cue to determine the dominant language of the speaker whilst relying on articulatory distinctions between the variants. It is furthermore shown that /r/ correlates with three interdependent variables: the sociolinguistic background of the speakers, their speech production, and how their speech is perceived.

Readmission of Preterm Infants Less Than 32 Weeks Gestation Into Early Childhood

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Ralser Elisabeth MD

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The aim of the study was to investigate the frequency of and the predictors for rehospitalization in preterm infants into early childhood, focusing on gender differences. All preterm infants born at <32 weeks of gestation in North Tyrol between January 2003 and December 2005 were enrolled in this survey. About one fifth of all children were readmitted, showing an inverse downward trend with increasing age. The most common reason for readmission in the third (36.5% and fourth (42.9% years of life was respiratory infection, but changed to miscellaneous surgeries in the fifth (52.1%. Male sex showed significantly higher readmission rates and more miscellaneous surgeries. Additionally, male sex and chronic lung disease were risk conditions for rehospitalization in the multivariate analysis. Readmission rates and respiratory infections in preterm-born children showed an inverse downward trend with increasing age. In early childhood, gender difference still plays a role with regard to rehospitalization.

Die Inszenierung der Toten. Italienische Kriegsgräberstätten im Alpenraum als Mittel faschistischer Propaganda

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Tragbar, Klaus

2017-07-01

Full Text Available For the self-perception of the Kingdom of Italy, founded as late as 1861, the soldiers killed in action during WW I played a particular role. The war memorials built for them along the front between the Stelvio Pass and the Isonzo River, the frontier to the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, are a case in point. After their seizure of power in 1922, the Italian fascists radically converted the memorial culture from the mourning of the dead to their celebration as fascist martyrs. New war memorials were built, now rather driven by the ideas of heroism and sacrifice for the nation – and for future wars. These new war memorials were also erected in regions where no fighting had taken place during WW I, as in South Tyrol, at the Brenner or the Reschen Pass. This was a clear indication of their function as an instrument for political propaganda.

Meteorological interpretation of clouds or cloud systems appearing on pictures of the Alpine region received from the Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS-1)

Science.gov (United States)

Piaget, A.

1973-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. Three examples of cloud-interpretation from ERTS-1 pictures are presented. When the wind speed is large enough, the cumuli are found arranged in lines that are in average two kilometers apart from each other. These lines are grouped in lines made of small cumuli and in lines made up of well developed ones. These last lines are fused on the APT picture and appear as single lines. Fog-mapping for a given region is possible if the topography of the region is known. The stratified clouds lying over mountains or in valleys begin to dissolve above the middle of the valleys and not against the slopes. As water shows a weak albedo in the near infrared, wet surfaces will appear darker than their neighborhoods. This feature seems to be confirmed by the dark spot in the north of Bozen (Southern Tyrol) that can be seen on the ERTS-1 picture taken on 31 August 1972.

[Abortion using a bicycle pump on the mistress and unusual suicide of a blind man].

Science.gov (United States)

Holzer, F J

1973-01-01

In Tyrol a case of fatal air embolism after an abortion attempt with a bicycle pump, performed by a blind man who later committed suicide, is described. The bicycle tube was inserted into the vagina and air and a soapy solution were pumped in. Autopsies revealed internal bleeding, gas embolisms in the veins of the ovaries and heart, a bloody foamy liquid in the lungs, and an intact 14 cm male fetus. 3 similar cases of fatal air embolisms after abortion attempts with bicycle pumps are described. In 1 case a soapy solution had been injected. Abortion attempts with a pipe and a rubber catheter, reported here, also resulted in rapidly fatal air embolisms. In 1 case death occurred a few seconds after a partner blew air with his mouth into his pregnant mistress' vagina. It is concluded that under some conditions filling the vagina with air (tightly) can cause fatal air embolisms.

Transnational entanglements in the history of psychiatry. South Tyrolian patients in German asylums, c. 1940-1945

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Thomas Müller

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Object of this article is the destiny of psychiatric inmates in Wuerttemberg asylums, 1940-1945. These patients from Italian regions of Vicenza, Udine, Trento, Alto Adige and various locations more were delegated and, to a substantial number, illegally deported to the German asylums Zwiefalten, Schussenried and Weissenau, all in South Wuerttemberg, in 1940 and 1943. Attention is focused on the pioneering state pre-negotiations, and the so-called option treaties between the German Reich and Fascist Italy as part of the general aspect of National Socialist bio-Politics. The treatment of these South Tyrol patients in the asylums themselves, as well as their fate will be put into the context of the resettlement actions at the margins of the Third Reich, which started in 1939 and widely affected the European continent. It is referred to other sub-groups of migrating population from Italy to the German Reich as well, as a contrasting aspect of this contribution

Atmospheric deposition of heavy metals due to dry, wet and occult deposition at the altitude profile Achenkirch

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stopper, S.

2001-12-01

The goal of this work was to determine the height dependence of the three types of deposition throughout a one year time period to be able to get information about their elevational and seasonal behavior. In the time period from October 1998 to November 1999 measurements of Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, V and Zn in aerosol, rain and cloud water were conducted in the Achenkirch-Valley in Tyrol, Austria. Afterwards the dry and occult deposition were modeled. The estimated annual inputs of metals at the two measurement sites Christlumkopf (1758 m a.s.l.) Mueeggerkoel (940 m a.s.l.) and the limits of the national law for protection of forest are shown. The measured depositions at both sites were far below the legal regulations. Due to the much higher occult deposition ratio at the top of the mountain the total annual input at the Christlumkopf was higher than at the Mueeggerkoel. This indicates the potential importance of occult deposition. (author)

Lesions caused by animals in the Autonomous Province of South Tyrol in 2010: Fact-finding for prevention

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Giulia Morosetti

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Lesions caused by animals, in particular by dogs, are a health issue to which public opinion often reacts sensitively. To effectively manage and prevent these events, it is therefore essential to evaluate the public health impact of this phenomenon and to identify the main connected risk factors. The aim of the present survey in the Autonomous Province of Bolzano was to collect various epidemiological variables helpful in understanding the problem at local level. The incidence and impact on Health Services of human lesions by several animal species for the year 2010 is presented, as well as a more detailed analysis of dog bites, giving a profile of the victims and of the animals involved. Different factors (geographical, contextual, seasonal and relational are illustrated that can be associated with episodes where dogs react aggressively to humans. On the basis of the collected data, recommendations are given to prevent risk situations.

[Frequency, nature and distribution of school sport injuries at different types of schools].

Science.gov (United States)

Greier, K; Riechelmann, H

2012-12-01

A high percentage of all sports injuries occur during school sports. It was analysed whether there are differences in frequency, nature and distribution of school sport injuries at two different types of schools. School sport injuries of all secondary modern schools (n = 106) and in lower classes of grammar Schools (n = 17) in the federal state of Tyrol, Austria, from the ten school years 2001/02 to 2010/11 were analysed. All physical injuries occurring during school sports and resulting in the consultation of a medical doctor and therefore being reported to the general accident department (Allgemeine Unfallversicherungsanstalt [AUVA]) were assessed. During the evaluation period an average number of 32,935 (±1584) school children attended the two types of schools in Tyrol per year. The average incidence of school sports injuries in this ten-year period in both types of schools was 36.4/1,000 (mean) with a standard deviation of 4.4/1,000 per school child per year. The incidence increased from 30.3 in the school year 2001/02 to 40.4 in the school year 2010/11 (r = 0.91; b = 1.34; p school sport injuries at secondary modern schools (37.4 ± 4.9 per 1,000 school children per year) was higher than at the lower classes of grammar schools (32.9 ± 4.0 per 1,000 school children per year; relative risk 1.138; 95% CI = 1.09-1.19; p = 1.8 × 10-8). In addition, the sports injuries of the school year 2010/11 were analysed in detail and a comparison was made between the two types of schools. The distribution pattern of school sports injuries did not show any significant differences between both school types. At the secondary modern schools, as well as in the lower classes of grammar schools, injuries to the upper extremities prevailed (>50%). Ball sports were responsible for every second injury. Secondary modern school pupils had a significantly higher risk of suffering a school sports injury than pupils in the lower classes of grammar schools. The injury pattern did not show

Relationship between landslide processes and land use-land cover changes in mountain regions: footprint identification approach.

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Petitta, Marcello; Pregnolato, Marco; Pedoth, Lydia; Schneiderbauer, Stefan

2015-04-01

The present investigation aims to better understand the relationship between landslide events and land use-land cover (LULC) changes. Starting from the approach presented last year at national level ("In search of a footprint: an investigation about the potentiality of large datasets and territorial analysis in disaster and resilience research", Geophysical Research Abstracts Vol. 16, EGU2014-11253, 2014) we focused our study at regional scale considering South Tyrol, a mountain region in Italy near the Austrian border. Based on the concept exploited in the previous work, in which a disaster footprint was shown using land features and changes maps, in this study we start from the hypothesis that LULC can have a role in activation of landslides events. In this study, we used LULC data from CORINE and from a regional map called REAKART and we used the Italian national database IFFI (Inventario Fenomeni Franosi in Italia, Italian inventory of landslides) from which it is possible to select the landslides present in the national inventory together with other vector layers (the urban areas - Corine Land Cover 2000, the roads and railways, the administrative boundaries, the drainage system) and raster layers (the digital terrain model, digital orthophoto TerraItaly it2000, Landsat satellite images and IGM topographic map). Moreover it's possible to obtain information on the most important parameters of landslides, view documents, photos and videos. For South Tyrol, the IFFI database is updated in real time. In our investigation we analyzed: 1) LULC from CORINE and from REAKART, 2) landslides occurred nearby a border of two different LULC classes, 3) landslides occurred in a location in which a change in LULC classification in observed in time, 4) landslides occurred nearby road and railroad. Using classification methods and statistical approaches we investigated relationship between the LULC and the landslides events. The results confirm that specific LULC classes are

Relating rock avalanche morphology to emplacement processes

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Dufresne, Anja; Prager, Christoph; Bösmeier, Annette

2015-04-01

The morphology, structure and sedimentological characteristics of rock avalanche deposits reflect both internal emplacement processes and external influences, such as runout path characteristics. The latter is mainly predisposed by topography, substrate types, and hydrogeological conditions. Additionally, the geological setting at the source slope controls, e.g. the spatial distribution of accumulated lithologies and hence material property-related changes in morphology, or the maximum clast size and amount of fines of different lithological units. The Holocene Tschirgant rock avalanche (Tyrol, Austria) resulted from failure of an intensely deformed carbonate rock mass on the southeast face of a 2,370-m-high mountain ridge. The initially sliding rock mass rapidly fragmented as it moved towards the floor of the Inn River valley. Part of the 200-250 x 106 m3 (Patzelt 2012) rock avalanche debris collided with and moved around an opposing bedrock ridge and flowed into the Ötz valley, reaching up to 6.3 km from source. Where the Tschirgant rock avalanche spread freely it formed longitudinal ridges aligned along motion direction as well as smaller hummocks. Encountering high topography, it left runup ridges, fallback patterns (i.e. secondary collapse), and compressional morphology (successively elevated, transverse ridges). Further evidence for the mechanical landslide behaviour is given by large volumes of mobilized valley-fill sediments (polymict gravels and sands). These sediments indicate both shearing and compressional faulting within the rock avalanche mass (forming their own morphological units through, e.g. in situ bulldozing or as distinctly different hummocky terrain), but also indicate extension of the spreading landslide mass (i.e. intercalated/injected gravels encountered mainly in morphological depressions between hummocks). Further influences on its morphology are given by the different lithological units. E.g. the transition from massive dolomite

Lower Cretaceous Puez key-section in the Dolomites - towards the mid-Cretaceous super-greenhouse

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Lukeneder, A.; Halásová, E.; Rehákova, D.; Józsa, Š.; Soták, J.; Kroh, A.; Jovane, L.; Florindo, F.; Sprovieri, M.; Giorgioni, M.; Lukeneder, S.

2012-04-01

Investigations on different fossil groups in addition to isotopic, paleomagnetic and geochemical analysis are combined to extract the Early Cretaceous history of environmental changes, as displayed by the sea level and climate changes. Results on biostratigraphy are integrated with other dating methods as magnetostraigraphy, correlation and cyclostratigraphy. The main investigation topics of the submitted project within the above-described framework are the biostratigraphic (Lukeneder and Aspmair, 2006, 2012), palaeoecological (Lukeneder, 2008, 2012), palaeobiogeographic, lithostratigraphic (Lukeneder, 2010, 2011), cyclostratigraphic and magnetostratigraphic development of the Early Cretaceous in the Puez area. The main sections occur in expanded outcrops located on the southern margin of the Puez Plateau, within the area of the Puez-Geisler Natural Park, in the northern part of the Dolomites (South Tyrol, North Italy). The cephalopod, microfossil and nannofossil faunas and floras from the marly limestones to marls here indicates Hauterivian to Albian/Cenomanian age. Oxygen isotope values from the Lower Cretaceous Puez Formation show a decreasing trend throughout the log, from -1.5‰ in the Hauterivian to -4.5‰ in the Albian/Cenomanian. The decreasing values mirror an increasing trend in palaeotemperatures from ~ 15-18°C in the Hauterivian up to ~25-30 °C in the Albian/Cenomanian. The trend probably indicates the positive shift in temperature induced by the well known Mid Cretaceous Ocean warming (e.g., Super-Greenhouse). The cooperative project (FWF project P20018-N10; 22 international scientists): An integrative high resolution project. Macro- and microfossils, isotopes, litho-, cyclo-, magneto-and biostratigraphy as tools for investigating the Lower Cretaceous within the Dolomites (Southern Alps, Northern Italy) -The Puez area as a new key region of the Tethyan Realm), is on the way since 2008 by the Natural History Museum in Vienna and the 'Naturmuseum S�

A identidade territorial enogastronômica como elemento de sustentação turística regional : a experiência do Tirol e Südtirol = Territorial enogastronony identity as a point of regional touristic development : Tyrol and Soul Tyrol experience

OpenAIRE

do Nascimento e Silva, Roberto

2016-01-01

No que diz respeito ao turismo, percebe-se que, espaços antes isolados, ou então com relações restritas em escala regional, tornam-se partes de um sistema de abrangência global que acaba por sofrer influências da padronização de produtos e da redefinição de territórios. Todavia a enogastronomia busca oportunizar a reação regional através do oferecimento de produtos particulares, impregnados de cultura, em que sociedades reconhecem suas identidades e atraem visitantes para a localidade, fazend...

Ungueal Morphology and Pathology of the human mummy found in the Val Senales (Eastern Alps, Tyrol, Bronze Age.

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Luigi Capasso

1994-01-01

Full Text Available El autor describe una lámina de uña perteneciente a un dedo de la, actualmente bien conocida, momia de Val Senales. La uña había quedado separada del resto en tiempos antiguos y fue recuperada en el curso de la excavación arqueológica llevada a cabo en el área en agosto de 1992. Esta lámina de uña (hallazgo nº 168/92, es de un enorme interés desde el punto de vista paleopatológico. Varias lesiones destructivas concentradas sobre parte de la región distal de la superficie dorsal de la uña parecen ser atribuibles, tanto por su tipología (onicorrexis y microsurcos como por su topografía, a   microtraumas que tuvieron lugar en el transcurso de la vida del sujeto, como resultado de la utilización de la uña como instrumento. Además, la presencia de tres grupos de líneas de Beau-Reil nos ha   permitido determinar la gravedad, tiempo de ataques o arremetidas y duración de tres periodos de intensa tensión que el sujeto experimentó durante los últimos meses de su vida. El sujeto sufrió tres de dichos episodios, que tuvieron lugar cuatro, tres y dos meses antes de su muerte. El último episodio fue el más serio, y el trastorno sistemático que produjo duró al menos dos semanas.

[Teachers and attention deficit and/or hyperactivity disorder: a pilot study on the situation of teachers in Tyrol].

Science.gov (United States)

Plattner, Barbara; Aglan, Anna Zeinab; Juen, Barbara; Conca, Andreas

2013-01-01

Given the high prevalence of approximately 5% of Attention Deficit and/or Hyperactivity Disorder in children the level of knowledge of Tyrolean educators at selected educational institutions was examined. As part of the thesis of A. Aglan 170 questionnaires were distributed at selected Tyrolean schools from May to October 2010. The questionnaires were completed voluntarily and anonymously by educators working there and then turned in. The questionnaire consisted of 43 items and was evaluated by means of conventional statistical methods. 98 (58%) of the questionnaires sent out were returned. 93 questionnaires (55%) were evaluated using standard statistical methods. Teachers were well informed about generic aspects of Attention Deficit and/or Hyperactivity Disorder. Knowledge gaps could be identified regarding the underlying causes of the disorder and available treatment options. Teachers demonstrated great willingness to actively cooperate and to learn more about Attention Deficit and/or Hyperactivity Disorder through further education in order to improve the situation of all parties involved. Lack of knowledge was found regarding the subtopics "causes of Attention Deficit and/or Hyperactivity Disorder" and "Treatment Options". The majority of the teachers would appreciate specialized training and is willing to adapt their lessons to the requirements of children, pupils and students affected by Attention Deficit and/or Hyperactivity Disorder.

Effects of environmental conditions on onset of xylem growth in Pinus sylvestris under drought.

Science.gov (United States)

Swidrak, Irene; Gruber, Andreas; Kofler, Werner; Oberhuber, Walter

2011-05-01

We determined the influence of environmental factors (air and soil temperature, precipitation, photoperiod) on onset of xylem growth in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) within a dry inner Alpine valley (750 m a.s.l., Tyrol, Austria) by repeatedly sampling micro-cores throughout 2007-10 at two sites (xeric and dry-mesic) at the start of the growing season. Temperature sums were calculated in degree-days (DD) ≥5 °C from 1 January and 20 March, i.e., spring equinox, to account for photoperiodic control of release from winter dormancy. Threshold temperatures at which xylogenesis had a 0.5 probability of being active were calculated by logistic regression. Onset of xylem growth, which was not significantly different between the xeric and dry-mesic sites, ranged from mid-April in 2007 to early May in 2008. Among most study years, statistically significant differences (Pdrought stress forces P. sylvestris to draw upon water reserves in the stem for enlargement of first tracheids after cambial resumption in spring. © The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

Sources of mycosporine-like amino acids in planktonic Chlorella-bearing ciliates (Ciliophora)

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SONNTAG, BETTINA; SUMMERER, MONIKA; SOMMARUGA, RUBEN

2007-01-01

Mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) are a family of secondary metabolites known to protect organisms exposed to solar UV radiation. We tested their distribution among several planktonic ciliates bearing Chlorella isolated from an oligo-mesotrophic lake in Tyrol, Austria. In order to test the origin of these compounds, the MAAs were assessed by high performance liquid chromatography in both the ciliates and their symbiotic algae. Considering all Chlorella-bearing ciliates, we found: (i) seven different MAAs (mycosporine-glycine, palythine, asterina-330, shinorine, porphyra-334, usujirene, palythene); (ii) one to several MAAs per species and (iii) qualitative and quantitative seasonal changes in the MAAs (e.g. in Pelagodileptus trachelioides). In all species tested, concentrations of MAAs were always <1% of ciliate dry weight. Several MAAs were also identified in the Chlorella isolated from the ciliates, thus providing initial evidence for their symbiotic origin. In Uroleptus sp., however, we found evidence for a dietary source of MAAs. Our results suggest that accumulation of MAAs in Chlorella-bearing ciliates represents an additional benefit of this symbiosis and an adaptation for survival in sunlit, UV-exposed waters.

Obolodiplosis robiniae (Haldeman (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae: A new invasive insect pest on black locust in Serbia

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Mihajlović Ljubodrag

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Locust gall midge Obolodiplosis robiniae (Haldeman originates from Pennsylvania, USA. It was introduced to Europe in 2003, to Italy, Veneto. Its spreading was very fast and in the following year it was identified from the Check Republic and Slovenia. In 2005, it was recorded from South Tyrol and in 2006 from Hungary, south Slovakia, Germany, Croatia, Ukraine and Serbia. During 2007 it was identified from Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, France, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Russia and UK. The expansion of locust gall midge was also recorded in Japan, South Korea, where it was identified for the first time in 2002, and in 2005 it was identified from China. The first finding from Serbia was recorded in the autumn 2006 in the surroundings of Šabac. During 2007, it was identified from Belgrade, and in the same year and the following year (2008 it was found at numerous sites in Serbia, the Republic of Srpska and Montenegro. This study presents O. robiniae biology, method of distribution, natural enemies and the ecological significance.

Convinced, ambivalent or annoyed: Tyrolean ski tourism stakeholders and their perceptions of climate change☆

Science.gov (United States)

Trawöger, Lisa

2014-01-01

Its focus on snow-dependent activities makes Alpine winter tourism especially sensitive to climate change. Stakeholder risk perceptions are a key factor in adaptation to climate change because they fundamentally drive or constrain stakeholder action. This paper examines climate change perceptions of winter tourism stakeholders in Tyrol (Austria). Using a qualitative approach, expert interviews were conducted. Four opinion categories reflecting different attitudes toward climate change issues were identified: convinced planners, annoyed deniers, ambivalent optimists, convinced wait-and-seers. Although the findings generally indicate a growing awareness of climate change, this awareness is mainly limited to perceiving the issue as a global phenomenon. Awareness of regional and branch-specific consequences of climate change that lead to a demand for action could not be identified. Current technical strategies, like snowmaking, are not primarily climate-induced. At present, coping with climate change is not a priority for risk management. The findings point out the importance of gaining and transferring knowledge of regional and branch-specific consequences of climate change in order to induce action at the destination level. PMID:27064520

Convinced, ambivalent or annoyed: Tyrolean ski tourism stakeholders and their perceptions of climate change.

Science.gov (United States)

Trawöger, Lisa

2014-02-01

Its focus on snow-dependent activities makes Alpine winter tourism especially sensitive to climate change. Stakeholder risk perceptions are a key factor in adaptation to climate change because they fundamentally drive or constrain stakeholder action. This paper examines climate change perceptions of winter tourism stakeholders in Tyrol (Austria). Using a qualitative approach, expert interviews were conducted. Four opinion categories reflecting different attitudes toward climate change issues were identified: convinced planners , annoyed deniers , ambivalent optimists , convinced wait-and-seers . Although the findings generally indicate a growing awareness of climate change, this awareness is mainly limited to perceiving the issue as a global phenomenon. Awareness of regional and branch-specific consequences of climate change that lead to a demand for action could not be identified. Current technical strategies, like snowmaking, are not primarily climate-induced. At present, coping with climate change is not a priority for risk management. The findings point out the importance of gaining and transferring knowledge of regional and branch-specific consequences of climate change in order to induce action at the destination level.

Succession of States in the EU

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Mario Martini

2014-09-01

Full Text Available A specter is haunting Europe – the specter of separatism. Scotland, Catalonia, Flanders, South Tyrol – all these regions have separatist movements pursuing independence from their current National State. The breakup of an EU Member State no longer seems impossible. To date, it is unclear what impact this would have on the EU membership of the new entities (with consequences for the character of citizenship, voting rights in the council, number of MEPs etc. that emerge from the old States. The common rules of Public International Law governing the succession of States are insufficient in the case of a succession of States in the EU. Although the Treaties do not provide for such a situation and the past 60 years of European history offer only a few and not really persuasive precedents, the nature of the EU as a joint association of sovereign States (“Staatenverbund” demands a special approach: A separated State will neither be automatically excluded from the EU nor will it automatically become a new Member State.

Can We Model the Scenic Beauty of an Alpine Landscape?

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Erich Tasser

2013-03-01

Full Text Available During the last decade, agriculture has lost its importance in many European mountain regions and tourism, which benefits from attractive landscapes, has become a major source of income. Changes in landscape patterns and elements might affect scenic beauty and therefore the socio-economic welfare of a region. Our study aimed at modeling scenic beauty by quantifying the influence of landscape elements and patterns in relationship to distance. Focusing on Alpine landscapes in South and North Tyrol, we used a photographic questionnaire showing different landscape compositions. As mountain landscapes offer long vistas, we related scenic beauty to different distance zones. Our results indicate that the near zone contributes by 64% to the valuation of scenic beauty, the middle zone by 22%, and the far zone by 14%. In contrast to artificial elements, naturalness and diversity increased scenic beauty. Significant differences between different social groups (origin, age, gender, cultural background occurred only between the local population and tourists regarding great landscape changes. Changes towards more homogenous landscapes were perceived negatively, thus political decision makers should support the conservation of the cultural landscape.

Proceedings of the Tenth International Winterschool on New Developments in Solid State Physics "New Frontiers in Low-Dimensional Physics," Held in Mauterndorf, Austria, on 23-27 February 1998

Science.gov (United States)

1998-02-01

Fermi sea at v = ½, led Halperin, Lee and Read properties are more readily comprehensible from one [8] to postulating an analogy between CF gap ener...simple estimate yields that fields as high as Fig. 2. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra for the quantum well sam- Ecrit B Eb/(ea•) iO0 V/cm will ionize...Above, we gave a .• 1160 simple estimate for Ecrit ý 10’ V/cm, the critical field 1120 necessary for a spatial separation of the electrons and -𔃻 holes

Molybdenum mineralization at Alpeiner Scharte, Tyrol (Austria): results of in-situ U-Pb zircon and Re-Os molybdenite dating

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Langthaler, K.J.; Raith, J.G.; Cornell, D.H.; Stein, H.J.; Melcher, F.

2004-01-01

Vein-type Mo mineralization at Alpeiner Scharte occurs in the Penninic units of the western Tauern Window in the Eastern Alps. Three types of previously undated metagranitoids (central gneisses) are distinguished and preserve intrusive contacts with pre-Alpine metamorphosed supracrustal rocks. The granitic protoliths represent fractionated late to post-orogenic, calc-alkaline, I-type magmas with minor S-type components. The Mo veins are restricted to a biotite and alkali feldspar-rich gneiss variety and occur in E-W trending normally sub-vertical quartz veins with adjacent thin discontinuous garnet- and biotite-rich zones; the latter are interpreted as metamorphosed vein selvages. Prior to this work the age of the intrusive host rocks as well as the age of Mo mineralization were unknown. The pre-Alpine Mo deposit and its host rocks were affected by four Alpine deformation events (D 1 -D 4 ) and Young-Alpine regional metamorphism. The P-T conditions of this metamorphic event were ∼ 550 o C and ∼ 8 kbar and are in agreement with results of previous regional studies. Zircon grains from two orthogneiss samples were dated with the U-Pb method using ion probe techniques. Zircons from the metagranitic host rock of the Mo-veins yielded an emplacement age of 306.8 ± 3.8 Ma (2σ). A second sample from a more leucocratic gneiss lacking Mo-veins gave 305.0 ± 6.6 Ma (2 σ). Re-Os dating of molybdenite from the veins yielded an age of 306.8 ± 3.1 Ma in good agreement with the U-Pb zircon ages. This study confirms one of two alternative hypotheses discussed in the literature. lt supports the idea that vein-type Mo-mineralization in the western Tauern Window is genetically related to Late Carboniferous (Westphalian) granitoids that were emplaced during the late to post-orogenic stage of the Variscan orogeny. They do not constitute an Alpine metamorphic-hydrothermal deposit. This study further confirms the strength of the Re-Os molybdenite chronometer, in that it was unaffected by subsequent Alpine medium grade regional metamorphism. (author)

Work in the coordinated programme on neutron activation analysis of pollutants in human hair, using research reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lanzel, E.

1978-11-01

Scalp hair samples from the population of four different regions in Austria (Vienna, Burgenland, East Tyrol and Vorarlberg) were analyzed by instrumental neutron activation analysis for As, Sb, Cd, Hg, Br and Zn. For each representative group, the range of concentrations, the geometric mean with the antilog of the logarithmic standard deviation and the median were determined. The distribution histogrammes were also given for the frequency as a function of the concentration. The means of concentrations were in the normal range. Thus, no contamination for the population in total could be suspected. A different picture was observed for the Burgenland group. There was a tail of high concentrations of As and Sb superposed upon the usual log-normal distribution. This tail was due to contamination from mines for a part of the Burgenland group. Increased levels of Cd and Zn were also found for this subgroup. This study demonstrated the validity of analysis of scalp hair for the primary monitoring of trace element contamination of man. For this purpose hair has definite advantages over other human specimen available in vivo such as blood or urine

GENETIC DIVERSITY IN CZECH HAFLINGER HORSES

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Luboš Vostrý

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The Haflinger as a small moutain horse breed originated from the South Tyrol district as a cross of Alpen Mountain breeds with Araber. This breed was expanding to Czech Republic during the last 25 years. The aim of this study was to analyse genetic diversity within the population using microsatellite markers. A total of 95 alleles have been detected. The highest frequency 88.18% showed allele 101 (HTG 6. The heterosigosity varied from 0.25 (HTG 6 to 0.84 (VHL 20, genetic diversity reached 0.6–0.8. The heterozygosity of the whole population studied is FIS= -0.013. The average effective number of allele per locus was 2.93 with standard deviation 1.54, with minimal and maximal level 1.30 and 7.83, respectively. Average polymorphism information content per locus was 0.608 with standard derivation 0.146, with minimal and maximal level 0.208 and 0.824, respectively. The results showed that breeding program of Czech Haflinger is optimal, including optimized mating strategies. The diversity of the population Czech Haflinger, based on a small number of microsatellites, seems to be sufficient.

Health region development from the perspective of system theory - an empirical cross-regional case study.

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Volgger, Michael; Mainil, Tomas; Pechlaner, Harald; Mitas, Ondrej

2015-01-01

Governments are increasingly establishing health regions to deal with current challenges of public health service. These regions are seen as instruments to balance public and private stakeholders, and offer health care to regional citizens as well as to medical/health tourists. However, it is still unclear how the development of such health regions as well as their governance may be conceptualized. We apply Luhmann's system theory approach in the context of a cross-regional case study that compares health region developments in the Autonomous Province of Bolzano-South Tyrol (Italy) with particular regard to the Eastern Dolomites and in the province of Zeeland (the Netherlands). We suggest that Luhmann's system theory provides a useful set of criteria to evaluate and judge health region development. Fully developed health regions can be understood as auto-poietic systems. By emphasizing programs, personnel, and communication channels, these case studies illustrate the suitability of the system theory toolset to analyze the governance and spatial embeddedness of health regions. Additionally, the study contributes to literature by indicating that health regions are closely related to identity issues and to decision making in regions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Altitudinal and thermal gradients of hepatic Cyp1A gene expression in natural populations of Salmo trutta from high mountain lakes and their correlation with organohalogen loads

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Jarque, Sergio; Gallego, Eva [Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC), Jordi Girona 18, 08034-Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain); Bartrons, Mireia; Catalan, Jordi [Center for Advanced Studies of Blanes (CEAB-CSIC), Acces Cala St. Francesc 14, 17300-Blanes, Catalonia (Spain); Grimalt, Joan O. [Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC), Jordi Girona 18, 08034-Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain); Pina, Benjamin, E-mail: bpcbmc@cid.csic.e [Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC), Jordi Girona 18, 08034-Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain)

2010-05-15

The biomarker of xenobiotic exposure cytochrome p450A1 (Cyp1A) was used to analyze the biological response to chemical pollution in Salmo trutta (brown trout) from nine high mountain European lakes in Norway, Tatras, Tyrol, and central Pyrenees. Hepatic Cyp1A mRNA levels correlated both with the reciprocal of absolute annual average air temperatures of the sampled lakes and with muscle concentrations of several hydrophobic organohalogen compounds (OC), including chlorinated polychlorobiphenyls (PCB), DDE, and DDT. The correlation between Cyp1A expression and OC content was observed across the whole temperature range (between -0.7 deg. C and +6.2 deg. C), but also in the absence of any thermal gradient. We concluded that airborne pollutants accumulate in high mountain lake fish at concentrations high enough to increase Cyp1A expression, among other possible effects. As geographical distribution of semi-volatile OC is strongly influenced by air temperatures, future climate modifications will potentially enhance their physiological effects in lake ecosystems. - Altitudinal gradients of hepatic Cyp1A gene expression in mountain trout correlate with geographic and individual organohalogen distribution.

Implementation of a mechanical CPR device in a physician staffed HEMS - a prospective observational study.

Science.gov (United States)

Rauch, Simon; Strapazzon, Giacomo; Brodmann, Monika; Fop, Ernst; Masoner, Christian; Rauch, Lydia; Forti, Alessandro; Pietsch, Urs; Mair, Peter; Brugger, Hermann

2018-04-28

In this prospective, observational study we describe the incidence and characteristics of out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) cases who received mechanical CPR, after the implementation of a mechanical CPR device (LUCAS 2; Physio Control, Redmond, WA, USA) in a physician staffed helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) in South Tyrol, Italy. During the study period (06/2013-04/2016), 525 OHCA cases were registered by the dispatch centre, 271 (51.6%) were assisted by HEMS. LUCAS 2 was applied in 18 (6.6%) of all HEMS-assisted OHCA patients; ten were treated with LUCAS 2 at the scene only, and eight were transported to hospital with ongoing CPR. Two (11.1%) of the 18 patients survived long term with full neurologic recovery. In seven of eight patients transferred to hospital with ongoing CPR, CPR was ceased in the emergency room without further intervention. Retrospectively, all HEMS-assisted OHCA cases were screened for proposed indication criteria for prolonged CPR. Thirteen patients fulfilled these criteria, but only two of them were transported to hospital. Based on these results, we propose a standard operating procedure for HEMS-assisted patients with refractory OHCA in a region without hospitals with ECLS capacity.

The Central and Eastern European Earthquake Research Network - CE3RN

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Bragato, Pier Luigi; Costa, Giovanni; Gallo, Antonella; Gosar, Andrej; Horn, Nikolaus; Lenhardt, Wolfgang; Mucciarelli, Marco; Pesaresi, Damiano; Steiner, Rudolf; Suhadolc, Peter; Tiberi, Lara; Živčić, Mladen; Zoppé, Giuliana

2014-05-01

The region of the Central and Eastern Europe is an area characterised by a relatively high seismicity. The active seismogenic structures and the related potentially destructive events are located in the proximity of the political boundaries between several countries existing in the area. An example is the seismic region between the NE Italy (FVG, Trentino-Alto Adige and Veneto), Austria (Tyrol, Carinthia) and Slovenia. So when a destructive earthquake occurs in the area, all the three countries are involved. In the year 2001 the Agencija Republike Slovenije za Okolje (ARSO) in Slovenia, the Department of Mathematics and Geoscience of the University of Trieste (DMG), the OGS (Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale) in Italy and the Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik (ZAMG) in Austria signed an agreement for the real-time seismological data exchange in the Southeastern Alps region. Soon after the Interreg IIIa Italia-Austria projects "Trans-National Seismological Networks in the South-Eastern Alps" and "FASTLINK" started. The main goal of these projects was the creation of a transfrontier network for the common seismic monitoring of the region for scientific and civil defense purposes. During these years the high quality data recorded by the transfrontier network has been used, by the involved institutions, for their scientific research, for institutional activities and for the civil defense services. Several common international projects have been realized with success. The instrumentation has been continuously upgraded, the installations quality improved as well as the data transmission efficiency. In the 2013 ARSO, DMG, OGS and ZAMG decided to name the cooperative network "Central and Eastern European Earthquake Research Network - CE3RN". The national/regional seismic networks actually involved in the CE3RN network are: • Austrian national BB network (ZAMG - OE) • Friuli Veneto SP network (OGS - FV) • Friuli VG

SWOT-AHP as an inclusive analytical tool of the forest-wood-energy chain: the case study of the Sarntal (South Tyrol

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Nikodinoska N

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In the last years, the use of forest biomass for energy purpose is steadily increasing to tackle energy security issues and to mitigate climate change by stabilizing greenhouse gases (GHG concentrations in the atmosphere. In Italy, the new National Energy Strategy established that the renewable energy must cover 20% of gross energy demand by 2020. In order to achieve this objective the forest biomass could be of fundamental importance. In this context of increasing extraction of wood residues from forests, it is relevant to analyse two key aspects: (1 the involvement of stakeholders in the strategy for the valorization of forest-wood-energy chain at local level; and (2 the potential impacts of increased forest biomass extraction on environment. This paper analyses these two aspects through the stakeholders’ opinions in a case study in the Alto Adige (Sarentino valley. Stakeholders’ opinions concerning the analysis of SWOT categories (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats of the bioenergy supply chain were investigated using the SWOT-AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process approach. The results show that the local stakeholders emphasize some strengths (e.g., additional income over time for private forest owners and opportunities (e.g., development of shared forest management strategies among small forest owners of forest-wood-energy chain, and consider less relevant the weaknesses and threats. The results concerning one of most important potential threats - impacts on environment - show that all groups of stakeholders (public administrations, associations and NGO, research bodies and universities, and actors of rural sector consider positive the impacts of increased forest biomass extraction on recreational activities and negative on other three ecosystem services (carbon sequestration, hydrogeological protection, and biodiversity.

Assessing the physical vulnerability of check dams through an empirical damage index

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Andrea Dell'Agnese

2013-06-01

Full Text Available A comprehensive analysis of flood risk in mountain streams has to include an assessment of the vulnerability of the protection systems, in addition to an assessment of the vulnerability of the constructed environment on alluvial fans and floodplains. Structures forming the protection systems are of a dual nature, i.e. they are designed to mitigate natural process-related hazards and, on the other hand, are prone to be damaged during their lifecycle by the same processes they should mitigate. Therefore, their effectiveness declines over time. Hence, the knowledge of how effectively control structures perform is essential for risk management. A procedure was developed to assess the physical vulnerability of check dams based on empirical evidence collected in South Tyrol, Northern Italy. A damage index defined on pre- and postevent comparisons of check dam conditions was evaluated for 362 structures in 18 mountain streams along with the relevant processes and the structural characteristics affecting it. Although the available dataset did not allow conclusive functional relationships between damage index and impact variables to be established, it was possible to assess the average expected residual functionality of check dams according to structure characteristics, and event type and intensity. These results may help plan appropriate check dam maintenance.

Positive and negative emotions underlie motivation for L2 learning

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Peter D. MacIntyre

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The role of basic emotions in SLA has been underestimated in both research and pedagogy. The present article examines 10 positive emotions (joy, gratitude, serenity, interest, hope, pride, amusement, inspiration, awe, and love and 9 negative emotions (anger, contempt, disgust, embarrassment, guilt, hate, sadness, feeling scared, and being stressed. The emotions are correlated with core variables chosen from three well-known models of L2 motivation: Gardner’s integrative motive, Clément’s social-contextual model, and Dörnyei’s L2 self system. Respondents came from Italian secondary schools, and most participants were from monolingual Italian speaking homes. They described their motivation and emotion with respect to learning German in a region of Italy (South Tyrol that features high levels of contact between Italians and Germans. Results show that positive emotions are consistently and strongly correlated with motivation-related variables. Correlations involving negative emotions are weaker and less consistently implicated in motivation. The positivity ratio, that is, the relative prevalence of positive over negative emotion, showed strong correlations with all of the motivation constructs. Regression analysis supports the conclusion that a variety of emotions, not just one or two key ones, are implicated in L2 motivation processes in this high-contact context.

Analyzing the Coopetition between Tourism and Leisure Suppliers—A Case Study of the Leisure Card Tirol

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Martin Schnitzer

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Even though coopetition in the context of tourism is not new, research lacks concrete examples within the leisure business and about its effects on local communities. Hence, this study investigates a super-regional alliance of tourism and leisure suppliers as well as its effects on the community in the region of Tyrol, Austria. In the framework of 60 guided interviews, all organizations engaged in the Leisure Card Tirol (LCT were contacted and questioned. The analysis of the qualitative data shows the motives for joining the alliance are either economic or non-economic in nature, and thus the alliance is evaluated differently by the various suppliers. Several corporations including swimming pools, ice skating rinks, museums, a football stadium (limited access, and mountain railway companies attract more locals to consume leisure (a partly merit good due to their membership in the LCT alliance. However, the suppliers’ heterogeneity in respect of their management (governmental, private, and mixed forms is suggested to be the reason behind the LCT’s financial survival. In summary, intentional coopetition in the context of a super-regional year-around pass may be a sustainable model of increasing a local community’s welfare by providing affordable leisure activities, although some minor and major issues on the part of the suppliers might occur.

Poor postdischarge head growth is related to a 10% lower intelligence quotient in very preterm infants at the chronological age of five years.

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Neubauer, Vera; Fuchs, Teresa; Griesmaier, Elke; Kager, Katrin; Pupp-Peglow, Ulrike; Kiechl-Kohlendorfer, Ursula

2016-05-01

This study examined the relationship between head growth and cognitive outcome at the age of five years in preterm infants born at less than 32 weeks of gestation from 2003 to 2009, as previous research has mostly focused on outcomes in toddlers. The head circumference of 273 very preterm infants born in Tyrol, Austria, was measured at birth, discharge, the corrected ages of three, 12 and 24 months and the chronological age of five years. Suboptimal head size was defined as a head circumference of more than one standard deviation below the mean. Full-scale intelligence quotient (IQ) at five years was determined using Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence, third edition. Infants with a suboptimal head size at the age of three months had a significantly lower median IQ than those with a normal head size (90 [20-122] versus 98 [20-138], p = 0.001) and from three months onwards they were more likely to exhibit cognitive delay. A suboptimal head size from the age of three months was consistently related to a 10% lower IQ, and this study adds further evidence that head growth failure, especially during the early postdischarge period, is related to impaired cognitive abilities. ©2016 Foundation Acta Paediatrica. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The Importance of Damage Potential for Avalanche Risk Assessments

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Keiler, M.; Fuchs, S.

2003-04-01

Risk is normally expressed as a function of recurrence probability of a process and its related damage potential. Various physical and empirical models describing the process aspect of the risk formula exist in the field of avalanche risk management while studies on damage potential are rare. Due to the changes of the socio-economic structures in mountain regions (urban sprawl, population growth, increased mobility and tourism) these studies are mandatory. This study focuses on different possibilities to obtain obligatory input parameters for multitemporal studies in settlement areas. A conceptual method that records the damage potential (probability of presence, evaluation of buildings) was developed and applied in Tyrol, Austria. A second approach, working with real-time insurance values for buildings and population growth, was tested in Grison, Switzerland. The different developments of the damage potential in the two alpine study areas are highlighted; their influences on the risk formula are discussed. The results of both studies show the advantages and disadvantages of each method, such as precision, amount of time needed and possibilities of implementing in a GIS. The results serve to improve risk determination and point out an unnoticed increase of damage potential and risk in apparently safe settlement areas.

Late Burdigalian sea retreat from the North Alpine Foreland Basin: new magnetostratigraphic age constraints

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Sant, K.; Kirscher, U.; Reichenbacher, B.; Pippèrr, M.; Jung, D.; Doppler, G.; Krijgsman, W.

2017-05-01

Accurate reconstruction of the final sea retreat from the North Alpine Foreland Basin (NAFB) during the Burdigalian (Early Miocene) is hampered by a lack of reliable age constraints. In this high resolution magnetostratigraphic study we try to solve a significant age bias for the onset of the Upper Freshwater Molasse (OSM) deposition in the neighboring S-German and Swiss Molasse Basins. We measured > 550 samples from eleven drill cores covering the transition from marine to brackish to freshwater environments in the S-German Molasse Basin. Based on combined bio-, litho- and magnetostratigraphic constraints, the composite magnetostratigraphic pattern of these cores provides two reasonable age correlation options (model 1 and 2). In model 1, the base of the brackish succession lies within Chron C5Cr ( 16.7-17.2 Ma), and the onset of OSM deposition has an age of 16.5 Ma. Correlation model 2 suggests the transition to brackish conditions to be within C5Dr.1r ( 17.7-17.5 Ma), and yields an age around 16.7 Ma for the shift to the OSM. Most importantly, both models confirm a much younger age for the OSM base in the study area than previously suggested. Our results demonstrate a possible coincidence of the last transgressive phase (Kirchberg Fm) with the Miocene Climatic Optimum (model 1), or with the onset of this global warming event (model 2). In contrast, the final retreat of the sea from the study area is apparently not controlled by climate change. Supplementary material B. Profiles of the eleven studied drill cores including lithologies, all magnetostratigraphic data (inclinations), interpreted polarity pattern (this study and Reichenbacher et al., 2013) and magnetic susceptibility (this study). Legend for graphs on page 1. Samples without a stable direction above 200 °C or 20 mT are depicted as +-signs and plotted at 0° inclination. The interpreted normal (black), reversed (white) and uncertain (grey) polarity zones in the polarity columns are based on at least

Tracer and hydrometric techniques to determine the contribution of glacier melt to a proglacial stream in the Ötztal Alps (Tyrol, Austria)

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Schmieder, Jan; Marke, Thomas; Strasser, Ulrich

2016-04-01

Glaciers are important seasonal water contributors in many mountainous landscapes. For water resources management it is important to know about the timing and amount of released glacier melt water, especially in downstream regions where the water is needed (hydropower, drinking water) or where it represents a potential risk (drought, flood). Seasonal availability of melt water is strongly dependent on boundary layer atmospheric processes and becomes even more relevant in a changing climate. Environmental tracers are a useful tool in the assessment of snow and ice water resources, because they provide information about the sources, flow paths and traveling times of water contributing to streamflow at the catchment scale. Previously, high-elevation tracer studies throughout the Alps have been scarce as they require intense field work in remote areas. However, hydrometric and meteorological measurements combined with tracer analyses help to unravel streamflow composition and improve the understanding of hydroclimatological processes. On top of that, empirical studies are necessary to parameterize and validate hydrological models in more process-oriented ways, rather than comparing total measured and simulated runoff only. In the present study three approaches are applied to derive glacier melt contributions to a proglacial stream at the seasonal scale and to identify their individual advances and limitations. Tracers used for each approach are (1) electrical conductivity, (2) stable isotopes of water and (3) heavy metals. The field work was conducted during the summer of 2015 in the glaciated (35%) high-elevation catchment of the Hochjochbach, a small sub-basin (17 km²) of the Ötztaler Ache river in the Austrian Alps, ranging from 2400 to 3500 m.a.s.l. in elevation. Hydroclimatological data was provided by an automatic weather station and a gauging station equipped with a pressure transducer. Water samples from shallow groundwater, streamflow, glacier and snow melt, as well as rain were collected throughout the ablation season and analysed for electrical conductivity, stable isotopes and heavy metals. Hydrograph separation is applied with tracer signatures of potential end-members identified by principal component analysis. The proposed contribution describes the experimental setup and discusses preliminary results of the three approaches of hydrograph separation.

Environmental effects on stem water deficit in co-occurring conifers exposed to soil dryness

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Oberhuber, Walter; Kofler, Werner; Schuster, Roman; Wieser, Gerhard

2015-04-01

We monitored dynamics of stem water deficit (Δ W) and needle water potential ( Ψ) during two consecutive growing seasons (2011 and 2012) in a dry inner Alpine environment (750 m above sea level, Tyrol, Austria), where Pinus sylvestris, Picea abies and Larix decidua form mixed stands. Δ W was extracted from stem circumference variations, which were continuously recorded by electronic band dendrometers (six trees per species) and correlations with environmental variables were performed. Results revealed that (i) Δ W reached highest and lowest values in P. abies and L. decidua, respectively, while mean minimum water potential ( Ψ ea) amounted to -3.0 MPa in L. decidua and -1.8 MPa in P. abies and P. sylvestris. (ii) Δ W and Ψ ea were significantly correlated in P. abies ( r = 0.630; P = 0.038) and L. decidua ( r = 0.646; P = 0.032). (iii) In all species, Δ W reached highest values in late summer and was most closely related to temperature ( P drought-sensitive L. decidua and drought-tolerant P. sylvestris indicate that various water storage locations are depleted in species showing different strategies of water status regulation, i.e. anisohydric vs. isohydric behavior, respectively, and/or water uptake efficiency differs among these species. Close coupling of Δ W to temperature suggests that climate warming affects plant water status through its effect on atmospheric demand for moisture.

Modeling alpine grasslands with two integrated hydrologic models: a comparison of the different process representation in CATHY and GEOtop

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Camporese, M.; Bertoldi, G.; Bortoli, E.; Wohlfahrt, G.

2017-12-01

Integrated hydrologic surface-subsurface models (IHSSMs) are increasingly used as prediction tools to solve simultaneously states and fluxes in and between multiple terrestrial compartments (e.g., snow cover, surface water, groundwater), in an attempt to tackle environmental problems in a holistic approach. Two such models, CATHY and GEOtop, are used in this study to investigate their capabilities to reproduce hydrological processes in alpine grasslands. The two models differ significantly in the complexity of the representation of the surface energy balance and the solution of Richards equation for water flow in the variably saturated subsurface. The main goal of this research is to show how these differences in process representation can lead to different predictions of hydrologic states and fluxes, in the simulation of an experimental site located in the Venosta Valley (South Tyrol, Italy). Here, a large set of relevant hydrological data (e.g., evapotranspiration, soil moisture) has been collected, with ground and remote sensing observations. The area of interest is part of a Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site, a mountain steep, heterogeneous slope, where the predominant land use types are meadow, pasture, and forest. The comparison between data and model predictions, as well as between simulations with the two IHSSMs, contributes to advance our understanding of the tradeoffs between different complexities in modeĺs process representation, model accuracy, and the ability to explain observed hydrological dynamics in alpine environments.

Prevalence of obesity and motor performance capabilities in Tyrolean preschool children.

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Greier, Klaus; Riechelmann, Herbert; Burtscher, Martin

2014-07-01

The childrens' world of movement has changed dramatically during the last decades. As a consequence motor performance decreases particularly in children affected by overweight and obesity. This study analyses the influence of the body mass index (BMI) on motor performance of pre-school children. In a cross-sectional study including 41 kindergartens in Tyrol (Austria), 4- to 5-year-old children (n = 1,063) were recruited. Four BMI groups were used according to a German BMI reference system: Group I (anorexic/underweight), group II (normal weight), group III (overweight) and group IV (obese). Motor performance was assessed by the use of the Karlsruhe Motorik-Screening (KMS 3-6). Out of the 1,063 preschool children (550 ♂, 513 ♀) 7.6 % (n = 81) were overweight and 5.5 % (n = 58) were obese. The results demonstrate that motor performance of under- and overweight preschool-children is not different from children with normal BMI, but obese children had significantly lower motor performance (p obese Tyrolean preschool children is similar to those of non-mountainous areas of Austria and Germany. The fact that motor performance is reduced only in obese children suggests that targeted promotion of physical activity is urgently needed for preschool children particularly considering children with a risk to develop obesity. Besides the efforts of parents, nursery schools are the ideal setting for intervention measures.

Pedigree analysis in the Austrian Noriker draught horse: genetic diversity and the impact of breeding for coat colour on population structure.

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Druml, T; Baumung, R; Sölkner, J

2009-10-01

The pedigree of the current Austrian Noriker draught horse population comprising 2808 horses was traced back to the animals considered as founders of this breed. In total, the number of founders was 1991, the maximum pedigree length was 31 generations, with an average of 12.3 complete generations. Population structure in this autochthonous Austrian draught horse breed is defined by seven breeding regions (Carinthia, Lower Austria, Salzburg, Styria, Tyrol, Upper Austria and Vorarlberg) or through six coat colour groups (Bay, Black, Chestnut, Roan, Leopard, Tobiano). Average inbreeding coefficients within the breeding regions ranged from 4.5% to 5.5%; for the colour groups, the coefficients varied from 3.5% to 5.9%. Other measures of genetic variability like the effective number of founders, ancestors and founder genomes revealed a slightly different genetic background of the subpopulations. Average co-ancestries between and within breeding areas showed that the Salzburg population may be considered as the nucleus or original stock whereas all other subpopulations showed high relationship to horses from Salzburg. The target of draught horse breeding in the 21st century does not meet the breeding concept of maximizing genetic gains any more. Stabilizing selection takes place. In this study, we show that demographic factors as well as structure given by different coat colours helped to maintain genetic diversity in this endangered horse breed.

Genetic diversity of pestivirus isolates in cattle from Western Austria.

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Hornberg, Andrea; Fernández, Sandra Revilla; Vogl, Claus; Vilcek, Stefan; Matt, Monika; Fink, Maria; Köfer, Josef; Schöpf, Karl

2009-03-30

The genetic diversity of bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) isolates in infected cattle from Tyrol and Vorarlberg (Austria) was investigated. Blood samples were collected within the compulsory Austrian BVDV control programme during 2005 and 2006. The 5'-untranslated region (5'-UTR) and partially the N-terminal autoprotease (N(pro)) were amplified by one-step reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and the PCR products were subsequently sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis based on 5'-UTR and N(pro) sequences demonstrated that almost all isolates (307/310) were of the BVDV-1 genotype. They were clustered into eight different subtypes, here listed by their frequency of occurrence: BVDV-1h (143), BVDV-1f (79), BVDV-1b (41), BVDV-1d (28), BVDV-1e (6), BVDV-1a (4), BVDV-1g (3) and BVDV1-k (3). Two pestivirus isolates were typed as BVDV-2 and one isolate as BDV closely related to Gifhorn strain (BDV-3). Correlation among isolates could only be observed at the farm level, i.e., within a herd. However, no correlation between the genetic and geographical distances could be observed above the farm level. Because of the wide distribution of certain BVDV-1 subtypes and the low prevalence of herd-specific strains, a determination of tracing routes of infection was not possible. Furthermore, recombination events were not detected.

Really old-palaeoimmunology: immunohistochemical analysis of extracellular matrix proteins in historic and pre-historic material.

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Wick, G; Kalischnig, G; Maurer, H; Mayerl, C; Müller, P U

2001-09-01

In this review, we summarize data concerning the respective preservation and deterioration of antigenic determinants of various collagenous and non-collagenous extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins in palaeontologic material of different ages. ECM proteins are the major quantitative constituents of mammalian organisms and were, therefore, selected as important representative proteins for these analyses. The specimens, studied by immunofluorescence and immunohistochemical techniques, included the skin of 500-1500 year-old human mummies from Peru, skin and striated muscle from the 5300-year-old glacier mummy ("Iceman") from Tyrol, Austria, and a 50-million-year-old bat with preserved soft body parts from the fossil excavation site of Messel, Germany. In frozen sections of the former two sources, epitopes recognized by specific antibodies for triple-helical antigenic determinants of different types of collagen resistant against conventional proteases were preserved, while non-helical domains, as well as the non-collagenous ECM proteins, could no longer be demonstrated. The fossil bat, although showing evidence of fibrous, collagen-like structures in conventional histology, revealed no collagenous or non-collagenous ECM proteins by any technique. It later turned out that this was due to the replacement of the original soft parts in these fossils by lawns of bacteria. These studies introduced immunological techniques into palaeontology and opened new approaches for studying physiologically- and pathologically-altered structures in tissues of animals and humans of considerable historical age.

Landslides and rock fall processes in the proglacial area of the Gepatsch glacier, Tyrol, Austria - Quantitative assessment of controlling factors and process rates

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Vehling, Lucas; Rohn, Joachim; Moser, Michael

2013-04-01

Due to the rapid deglaciation since 1850, lithological structures and topoclimatic factors, mass movements like rock fall, landslides and complex processes are important contributing factors to sediment transport and modification of the earth's surface in the steep, high mountain catchment of the Gepatsch reservoir. Contemporary geotechnical processes, mass movement deposits, their source areas, and controlling factors like material properties and relief parameters are mapped in the field, on Orthofotos and on digital elevation models. The results are presented in an Arc-Gis based geotechnical map. All mapped mass movements are stored in an Arc-Gis geodatabase and can be queried regarding properties, volume and controlling factors, so that statistical analyses can be conducted. The assessment of rock wall retreat rates is carried out by three different methods in multiple locations, which differ in altitude, exposition, lithology and deglaciation time: Firstly, rock fall processes and rates are investigated in detail on five rock fall collector nets with an overall size of 750 m2. Rock fall particles are gathered, weighed and grain size distribution is detected by sieving and measuring the diameter of the particles to distinct between rock fall processes and magnitudes. Rock wall erosion processes like joint formation and expansions are measured with high temporal resolution by electrical crack meters, together with rock- and air temperature. Secondly, in cooperation with the other working groups in the PROSA project, rock fall volumes are determined with multitemporal terrestrial laserscanning from several locations. Lately, already triggered rock falls are accounted by mapping the volume of the deposit and calculating of the bedrock source area. The deposition time span is fixed by consideration of the late Holocene lateral moraines and analysing historical aerial photographs, so that longer term rock wall retreat rates can be calculated. In order to limit homogenous bedrock sections for calculating specific rock wall retreat rates and to extrapolate the local determinated rock wall retreat rates to larger scale, bedrock areas will be divided into units of similar morphodynamic intensities which will be therefore classified by a rock mass strength (RMS) system. The RMS-System contains lithological and topoclimatic factors but also takes the measured rock wall retreat rates into account.

Soil-biological, soil-chemical and soil-physical parameters along a pollutant gradient on grassland sites in the vicinity o Brixlegg (Tyrol) - a pilot project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pohla, H.; Palzenberger, M.; Krassnigg, F.; Kandeler, E.; Schwarz, S.; Kasperowski, E.

1992-01-01

It was the main aim of this pilot project to check the indicator value of soil organisms by means of distinct pollutant gradients - heavy metals, organic compounds (PCB, dioxins) -. On the basis of available results (1/2/3/), 4 grassland sites at increasing distances from a local emission source (copper production from scrap metal) were selected. Physical and chemical analyses as well as the quantification of habitat structures were used for the characterization of the sites. The following analyses were carried out accompanyingly: The performances of soil microorganisms under pollutant load, the accumulation of pollutants, and the structures of plants and animal communities (macro, meso and microfauna). The investigation area and the examined parameters are introduced, as well as first result on soil chemistry and enzymatics as well as for the accumulation of heavy metals in an earthworm species are introduced. (orig.) [de

No evidence for depletion of carbohydrate pools in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) under drought stress.

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Gruber, A; Pirkebner, D; Florian, C; Oberhuber, W

2012-01-01

The physiological mechanisms leading to Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) decline in the dry inner alpine valleys are still unknown. Testing the carbon starvation hypothesis, we analysed the seasonal course of mobile carbohydrate pools (NSC) of Scots pine growing at a xeric and a dry-mesic site within an inner alpine dry valley (750 m a.s.l., Tyrol, Austria) during 2009, which was characterised by exceptional soil dryness. Although, soil moisture content dropped to ca. 10% at both sites during the growing season, NSC concentrations rose in all tissues (branch, stem, root) until the end of July, except in needles, where maxima were reached around bud break. NSC concentrations were not significantly different in the analysed tissues at the xeric and the dry-mesic site. At the dry-mesic site, NSC concentrations in the aboveground tree biomass were significantly higher during the period of radial growth. An accumulation of NSC in roots at the end of July indicates a change in carbon allocation after an early cessation in aboveground growth, possibly due to elevated belowground carbon demand. In conclusion, our results revealed that extensive soil dryness during the growing season did not lead to carbon depletion. However, even though carbon reserves were not exhausted, sequestration of carbohydrate pools during drought periods might lead to deficits in carbon supply that weaken tree vigour and drive tree mortality. © 2011 German Botanical Society and The Royal Botanical Society of the Netherlands.

Digital Workflows for a 3d Semantic Representation of AN Ancient Mining Landscape

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Hiebel, G.; Hanke, K.

2017-08-01

The ancient mining landscape of Schwaz/Brixlegg in the Tyrol, Austria witnessed mining from prehistoric times to modern times creating a first order cultural landscape when it comes to one of the most important inventions in human history: the production of metal. In 1991 a part of this landscape was lost due to an enormous landslide that reshaped part of the mountain. With our work we want to propose a digital workflow to create a 3D semantic representation of this ancient mining landscape with its mining structures to preserve it for posterity. First, we define a conceptual model to integrate the data. It is based on the CIDOC CRM ontology and CRMgeo for geometric data. To transform our information sources to a formal representation of the classes and properties of the ontology we applied semantic web technologies and created a knowledge graph in RDF (Resource Description Framework). Through the CRMgeo extension coordinate information of mining features can be integrated into the RDF graph and thus related to the detailed digital elevation model that may be visualized together with the mining structures using Geoinformation systems or 3D visualization tools. The RDF network of the triple store can be queried using the SPARQL query language. We created a snapshot of mining, settlement and burial sites in the Bronze Age. The results of the query were loaded into a Geoinformation system and a visualization of known bronze age sites related to mining, settlement and burial activities was created.

Between Andes and Amazon: the genetic profile of the Arawak-speaking Yanesha.

Science.gov (United States)

Barbieri, Chiara; Heggarty, Paul; Yang Yao, Daniele; Ferri, Gianmarco; De Fanti, Sara; Sarno, Stefania; Ciani, Graziella; Boattini, Alessio; Luiselli, Donata; Pettener, Davide

2014-12-01

The Yanesha are a Peruvian population who inhabit an environment transitional between the Andes and Amazonia. They present cultural traits characteristic of both regions, including in the language they speak: Yanesha belongs to the Arawak language family (which very likely originated in the Amazon/Orinoco lowlands), but has been strongly influenced by Quechua, the most widespread language family of the Andes. Given their location and cultural make-up, the Yanesha make for an ideal case study for investigating language and population dynamics across the Andes-Amazonia divide. In this study, we analyze data from high and mid-altitude Yanesha villages, both Y chromosome (17 STRs and 16 SNPs diagnostic for assigning haplogroups) and mtDNA data (control region sequences and 3 SNPs and one INDEL diagnostic for assigning haplogroups). We uncover sex-biased genetic trends that probably arose in different stages: first, a male-biased gene flow from Andean regions, genetically consistent with highland Quechua-speakers and probably dating back to Inca expansion; and second, traces of European contact consistent with Y chromosome lineages from Italy and Tyrol, in line with historically documented migrations. Most research in the history, archaeology and linguistics of South America has long been characterized by perceptions of a sharp divide between the Andes and Amazonia; our results serve as a clear case-study confirming demographic flows across that 'divide'. © 2014 The Authors. American journal of physical Anthropology published by Wiley Periodocals, Inc.

UAV-based Natural Hazard Management in High-Alpine Terrain - Case Studies from Austria

Science.gov (United States)

Sotier, Bernadette; Adams, Marc; Lechner, Veronika

2015-04-01

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) have become a standard tool for geodata collection, as they allow conducting on-demand mapping missions in a flexible, cost-effective manner at an unprecedented level of detail. Easy-to-use, high-performance image matching software make it possible to process the collected aerial images to orthophotos and 3D-terrain models. Such up-to-date geodata have proven to be an important asset in natural hazard management: Processes like debris flows, avalanches, landslides, fluvial erosion and rock-fall can be detected and quantified; damages can be documented and evaluated. In the Alps, these processes mostly originate in remote areas, which are difficult and hazardous to access, thus presenting a challenging task for RPAS data collection. In particular, the problems include finding suitable landing and piloting-places, dealing with bad or no GPS-signals and the installation of ground control points (GCP) for georeferencing. At the BFW, RPAS have been used since 2012 to aid natural hazard management of various processes, of which three case studies are presented below. The first case study deals with the results from an attempt to employ UAV-based multi-spectral remote sensing to monitor the state of natural hazard protection forests. Images in the visible and near-infrared (NIR) band were collected using modified low-cost cameras, combined with different optical filters. Several UAV-flights were performed in the 72 ha large study site in 2014, which lies in the Wattental, Tyrol (Austria) between 1700 and 2050 m a.s.l., where the main tree species are stone pine and mountain pine. The matched aerial images were analysed using different UAV-specific vitality indices, evaluating both single- and dual-camera UAV-missions. To calculate the mass balance of a debris flow in the Tyrolean Halltal (Austria), an RPAS flight was conducted in autumn 2012. The extreme alpine environment was challenging for both the mission and the evaluation of the aerial

DIGITAL WORKFLOWS FOR A 3D SEMANTIC REPRESENTATION OF AN ANCIENT MINING LANDSCAPE

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G. Hiebel

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The ancient mining landscape of Schwaz/Brixlegg in the Tyrol, Austria witnessed mining from prehistoric times to modern times creating a first order cultural landscape when it comes to one of the most important inventions in human history: the production of metal. In 1991 a part of this landscape was lost due to an enormous landslide that reshaped part of the mountain. With our work we want to propose a digital workflow to create a 3D semantic representation of this ancient mining landscape with its mining structures to preserve it for posterity. First, we define a conceptual model to integrate the data. It is based on the CIDOC CRM ontology and CRMgeo for geometric data. To transform our information sources to a formal representation of the classes and properties of the ontology we applied semantic web technologies and created a knowledge graph in RDF (Resource Description Framework. Through the CRMgeo extension coordinate information of mining features can be integrated into the RDF graph and thus related to the detailed digital elevation model that may be visualized together with the mining structures using Geoinformation systems or 3D visualization tools. The RDF network of the triple store can be queried using the SPARQL query language. We created a snapshot of mining, settlement and burial sites in the Bronze Age. The results of the query were loaded into a Geoinformation system and a visualization of known bronze age sites related to mining, settlement and burial activities was created.

Application of a sensory-instrumental tool to study apple texture characteristics shaped by altitude and time of harvest.

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Charles, Mathilde; Corollaro, Maria Laura; Manfrini, Luigi; Endrizzi, Isabella; Aprea, Eugenio; Zanella, Angelo; Corelli Grappadelli, Luca; Gasperi, Flavia

2018-02-01

Texture is important in the preferences of apple consumers. Of the pre-harvest factors affecting fruit quality and especially texture, altitude and subsequent climatic conditions are crucial, determining differences in the physiological mechanisms of fruit growth, ripening stage and chemical composition, as demonstrated by several studies. This work applies a detailed sensory-instrumental protocol developed in a previous paper to investigate the impact of altitude, time of harvest and their cross-effect on sensory characteristics of apple, with a focus on texture. Sensory differences were found in relation to altitude, although the profile results were mainly affected by the time of harvest. Fruit from lower altitude was described as juicier, crunchier and sweeter than samples from higher altitude, which were floury, sourer and more astringent. Texture performance, soluble solids content and titratable acidity corroborated this sensory description. Moreover, anatomical data showed that fruit from lower altitude had a larger volume, a higher number of cells and a higher percentage of intercellular spaces. We demonstrated that differences between fruit from various altitudes can be perceived through human senses, and that the proposed sensory-instrumental tool can be used to describe such differences. This study brings more understanding about the impact of altitude and time of harvest on apple sensory properties. This work could support apple producers, from semi-mountainous regions (Alps, Tyrol, etc.), in advertising and valorising their products with their specific characteristics in a more efficient manner. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Flash floods in small Alpine catchments in a changing climate

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Breinl, Korbinian; Di Baldassarre, Giuliano

2017-04-01

Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of hazardous meteorological and hydrological events in numerous mountainous areas. The mountain environment is becoming more and more important for urbanization and the tourism-based economy. Here we show new and innovative methodologies for assessing intensity and frequency of flash floods in small Alpine catchments, in South Tyrol (Italy), under climate change. This research is done within the STEEP STREAMS project, whereby we work closely with decision makers in Italian authorities, and the final goal is to provide them with clear guidelines on how to adapt current structural solutions for mitigating hazardous events under future climate conditions. To this end, we develop a coupled framework of weather generation (i.e. extrapolation of observations and trained with climate projections), time series disaggregation and hydrological modelling using the conceptual HBV model. One of the key challenges is the transfer of comparatively coarse RCM projections to small catchments, whose sizes range from only about 10km2 to 100km2. We examine different strategies to downscale the RCM data from e.g. the EURO-CORDEX dataset using our weather generator. The selected projections represent combinations of warmer, milder, drier and wetter conditions. In general, our main focus is to develop an improved understanding of the impact of the multiple sources of uncertainty in this modelling framework, and make these uncertainties tangible. The output of this study (i.e. discharge with a return period and associated uncertainty) will allow hydraulic and sediment transport modelling of flash floods and debris flows.

Forest Delineation Based on Airborne LIDAR Data

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Norbert Pfeifer

2012-03-01

Full Text Available The delineation of forested areas is a critical task, because the resulting maps are a fundamental input for a broad field of applications and users. Different national and international forest definitions are available for manual or automatic delineation, but unfortunately most definitions lack precise geometrical descriptions for the different criteria. A mandatory criterion in forest definitions is the criterion of crown coverage (CC, which defines the proportion of the forest floor covered by the vertical projection of the tree crowns. For loosely stocked areas, this criterion is especially critical, because the size and shape of the reference area for calculating CC is not clearly defined in most definitions. Thus current forest delineations differ and tend to be non-comparable because of different settings for checking the criterion of CC in the delineation process. This paper evaluates a new approach for the automatic delineation of forested areas, based on airborne laser scanning (ALS data with a clearly defined method for calculating CC. The new approach, the ‘tree triples’ method, is based on defining CC as a relation between the sum of the crown areas of three neighboring trees and the area of their convex hull. The approach is applied and analyzed for two study areas in Tyrol, Austria. The selected areas show a loosely stocked forest at the upper timberline and a fragmented forest on the hillside. The fully automatic method presented for delineating forested areas from ALS data shows promising results with an overall accuracy of 96%, and provides a beneficial tool for operational applications.

Participative Spatial Scenario Analysis for Alpine Ecosystems

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Kohler, Marina; Stotten, Rike; Steinbacher, Melanie; Leitinger, Georg; Tasser, Erich; Schirpke, Uta; Tappeiner, Ulrike; Schermer, Markus

2017-10-01

Land use and land cover patterns are shaped by the interplay of human and ecological processes. Thus, heterogeneous cultural landscapes have developed, delivering multiple ecosystem services. To guarantee human well-being, the development of land use types has to be evaluated. Scenario development and land use and land cover change models are well-known tools for assessing future landscape changes. However, as social and ecological systems are inextricably linked, land use-related management decisions are difficult to identify. The concept of social-ecological resilience can thereby provide a framework for understanding complex interlinkages on multiple scales and from different disciplines. In our study site (Stubai Valley, Tyrol/Austria), we applied a sequence of steps including the characterization of the social-ecological system and identification of key drivers that influence farmers' management decisions. We then developed three scenarios, i.e., "trend", "positive" and "negative" future development of farming conditions and assessed respective future land use changes. Results indicate that within the "trend" and "positive" scenarios pluri-activity (various sources of income) prevents considerable changes in land use and land cover and promotes the resilience of farming systems. Contrarily, reductions in subsidies and changes in consumer behavior are the most important key drivers in the negative scenario and lead to distinct abandonment of grassland, predominantly in the sub-alpine zone of our study site. Our conceptual approach, i.e., the combination of social and ecological methods and the integration of local stakeholders' knowledge into spatial scenario analysis, resulted in highly detailed and spatially explicit results that can provide a basis for further community development recommendations.

Patterns of ice nuclei from natural water sources in the mountains of Tirol, Austria

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Baloh, Philipp; Hanlon, Regina; Pietsch, Renee; Anderson, Christopher; Schmale, David G., III; Grothe, Hinrich

2017-04-01

Heterogeneous ice nucleation—the process by which particles can nucleate ice between 0 and -35°C—is important for generating artificial snow. Though abiotic and biotic ice nuclei are present in many different natural and managed ecosystems, little is known about their nature, sources, and ecological roles. We collected samples of water and snow from the mountains of Tyrol, Austria in June, July, and November, 2016. The collected water was mostly from sources with minimal anthropogenic pollution, since most of the water from the sampled streams came from glacial melt. The samples were filtered through a 0.22μm filter, and microorganisms were cultured on different types of media. Resulting colonies were tested for their ice nucleation ability using a droplet freezing assay and identified to the level of the species. The unfiltered water and the filtered water will be subjected to additional assays using cryo microscopy and vibrational microscopy (IR and Raman- spectroscopy). Preliminary analyses suggested that the percentage of ice-nucleating microbes varied with season; greater percentages of ice nucleating microbes were present during colder months. The glacial melt also varies strongly over the year with the fraction of mineral dust suspended in it which serves as an inorganic ice nucleation agent. Further investigation of these samples may help to show the combined ice nuleation abilities of biological and non biological particles present in the mountains of Tirol, Austria. Future work may shed light on how the nucleation properties of the natural water changes with the time of the year and what may be responsible for these changes.

A multimethodological approach to study the spatial distribution of air pollution in an Alpine valley during wintertime

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R. Schnitzhofer

2009-05-01

Full Text Available In order to investigate the spatial distribution of air pollutants in the Inn valley (Tyrol, Austria during wintertime, a joint field campaign of the three research projects ALPNAP (Monitoring and Minimisation of Traffic-Induced Noise and Air Pollution Along Major Alpine Transport Routes, INNAP (Boundary Layer Structure in the Inn Valley during high Air Pollution and INNOX (NO_x-structure in the Inn Valley during High Air Pollution was carried out in January/February 2006. In addition to continuous ground based measurements, vertical profiles of various air pollutants and meteorological parameters were obtained on six selected days. For in-situ investigations, a tethered balloon was used to analyse the lowest atmospheric layers, 0–500 m above the valley bottom (a.v.b., and a research aircraft sampled at 150–2200 m a.v.b. An aircraft equipped with an aerosol backscatter lidar performed nadir measurements at 3000 m a.v.b. Combined results from a typical day show a strongly polluted layer up to about 125 m a.v.b. in the morning. Around midday concentrations on the valley floor decrease indicating some vertical air exchange despite thermally stable conditions. Strong vertical and horizontal gradients with enhanced pollution levels along the sunny side of the valley up to 1300 m a.v.b. were observed in the afternoon. This vertical mixing due to thermally or dynamically driven slope winds reduces the concentration of air pollutants at the bottom of the valley and causes the formation of elevated pollution layers.

Storylines of combined land use and climatic drivers and their hydrological impacts in an alpine catchment (Brixental/Austria)

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Strasser, Ulrich; Förster, Kristian; Meissl, Gertraud; Marke, Thomas; Schermer, Markus; Stotten, Rike; Formayer, Herbert; Themessl, Matthias

2017-04-01

We present a numerical modelling experiment with storylines of coupled land use and climate evolution as input in the physically-based, distributed water balance model WaSiM. The aim is to quantify the effects of these two framing components on the future water cycle. The test site for the simulations is the catchment of the Brixentaler Ache in Tyrol/Austria (47.5°N, 322 km2). The climatic background is defined by simulations for the A1B and RCP 8.5 emission scenarios until 2050. These two climate projections were combined with three future land use developments for forest management, developed in an inter- and transdisciplinary assessment with local actors using plausible and consisent projections for forest management, policy, social cooperation, tourism and economy: (i) Ecological adaptation: The forest management consequently applies the political guidelines, and the forest cover is dominated by an ecological, place-adapted mixed cultivation with a harmonious age structure. (ii) Economical overexploitation and wildness: The increase in efficiency, cost reduction and short term results are in focus of the forest management. (iii) Withdrawal and wildness: Cultivation in general is decreasing, and the forest becomes vulnerable against natural hazards. A new module for snow-canopy interaction simulation, providing explicit rates of intercepted and sublimated snow from the trees and stems of the different forest stands, has been implemented in WaSiM. The new version of the model is used to model the coupled future climate/land use storylines for the Brixental. Results show the effects of climate change and land use on the water balance and streamflow in the catchment.

Effects of a one-week vacation with various activity programs on cardiovascular parameters.

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Neumayr, Günther; Lechleitner, Peter

2018-03-01

A vacation is considered essential to achieve recovery from the stress of work. Knowledge about the potential health effects of holidays is scarce. The East Tyrolean Health Tourism Study is an open comparative study to investigate the cardiovascular effects of a one- week vacation with different activities on healthy vacationers. Fifty-two healthy vacationers spending one week in East Tyrol participated in two types of vacation activities (golf vs. Nordic walking or e-biking [nw&eb]). In the former group 30 subjects played golf for 33.5 hours per week, and in the nw&eb group 22 engaged in Nordic walking or e-biking for 14.2 hours per week. Cardiovascular parameters such as performance capacity, blood pressure, heart rate profiles and cardiac diastolic function were measured by a cardiopulmonary exercise test, holter ECG and echocardiography performed one day before and after the stay. There was a significant decrease in body weight of 1.0 kg in the nw&eb-group but not in the golf group. In both groups we noted a reduction of blood pressure and heart rate, which was marked and significant only in the golf group. We observed no significant changes in performance capacity, but did note an improvement of cardiac diastolic function in both groups; the improvement was more pronounced in the nw&eb group. A one-week vacation with an activity program for several hours per week is well tolerated by healthy vacationers and improves cardiovascular parameters. The cardiovascular benefits were homogeneous but differed in their magnitude, depending on the activity group. The benefits were probably due to the enhanced physical activity rather than purely a holiday effect.

Sequential recruitment of study participants may inflate genetic heritability estimates.

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Noce, Damia; Gögele, Martin; Schwienbacher, Christine; Caprioli, Giulia; De Grandi, Alessandro; Foco, Luisa; Platzgummer, Stefan; Pramstaller, Peter P; Pattaro, Cristian

2017-06-01

After the success of genome-wide association studies to uncover complex trait loci, attempts to explain the remaining genetic heritability (h 2 ) are mainly focused on unraveling rare variant associations and gene-gene or gene-environment interactions. Little attention is paid to the possibility that h 2 estimates are inflated as a consequence of the epidemiological study design. We studied the time series of 54 biochemical traits in 4373 individuals from the Cooperative Health Research In South Tyrol (CHRIS) study, a pedigree-based study enrolling ten participants/day over several years, with close relatives preferentially invited within the same day. We observed distributional changes of measured traits over time. We hypothesized that the combination of such changes with the pedigree structure might generate a shared-environment component with consequent h 2 inflation. We performed variance components (VC) h 2 estimation for all traits after accounting for the enrollment period in a linear mixed model (two-stage approach). Accounting for the enrollment period caused a median h 2 reduction of 4%. For 9 traits, the reduction was of >20%. Results were confirmed by a Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo analysis with all VCs included at the same time (one-stage approach). The electrolytes were the traits most affected by the enrollment period. The h 2 inflation was independent of the h 2 magnitude, laboratory protocol changes, and length of the enrollment period. The enrollment process may induce shared-environment effects even under very stringent and standardized operating procedures, causing h 2 inflation. Including the day of participation as a random effect is a sensitive way to avoid overestimation.

Prevalence of gastrointestinal helminth infections in free-range laying hens under mountain farming production conditions.

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Wuthijaree, K; Lambertz, C; Gauly, M

2017-12-01

1. A cross-sectional study was conducted from September 2015 to July 2016 in South Tyrol, Northern Italy to examine the prevalence of gastrointestinal helminths in free-range laying hens under mountain farming production conditions. 2. A total of 280 laying hens from 14 free-range mountain farms (4 organic, 10 conventional) were randomly collected at the end of the laying period. Faecal samples were taken to analyse faecal egg counts (FEC) and faecal oocyst counts (FOC). The gastrointestinal tracts were removed post mortem and examined for the presence of helminths. 3. In faeces, FEC values averaged 258 eggs per g of faeces, which were dominated by Ascaridia galli and Heterakis gallinarum. Mean FOC was 80 oocysts/g. In the gastrointestinal tract, at least one nematode species was found in 99.3% of the examined hens. H. gallinarum was the most prevalent nematode (95.7%), followed by Capillaria spp. (66.8%) and A. galli (63.6%). Thirty per cent of the chickens were infected with cestodes (tapeworms). Correlation coefficients between worm counts of H. gallinarum, Capillaria spp. and A. galli ranged from 0.41 to 0.51. 5. The helminth prevalence did not differ between conventional and organic farms, whereas total worm burden was higher in organic compared with conventional farms (318.9 vs. 112.0). Prevalence and infection intensity did not differ between farms that used anthelmintic treatments and those that did not. 6. In conclusion, free-range laying hens under the studied mountain farming conditions are at high risk of nematode infection, especially in organic systems. The vast majority of hens are subclinical infected with at least one helminth species.

Multi-hazard risk analysis for management strategies

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Kappes, M.; Keiler, M.; Bell, R.; Glade, T.

2009-04-01

Risk management is very often operating in a reactive way, responding to an event, instead of proactive starting with risk analysis and building up the whole process of risk evaluation, prevention, event management and regeneration. Since damage and losses from natural hazards raise continuously more and more studies, concepts (e.g. Switzerland or South Tyrol-Bolozano) and software packages (e.g. ARMAGEDOM, HAZUS or RiskScape) are developed to guide, standardize and facilitate the risk analysis. But these approaches focus on different aspects and are mostly closely adapted to the situation (legislation, organization of the administration, specific processes etc.) of the specific country or region. We propose in this study the development of a flexible methodology for multi-hazard risk analysis, identifying the stakeholders and their needs, processes and their characteristics, modeling approaches as well as incoherencies occurring by combining all these different aspects. Based on this concept a flexible software package will be established consisting of ArcGIS as central base and being complemented by various modules for hazard modeling, vulnerability assessment and risk calculation. Not all modules will be developed newly but taken from the current state-of-the-art and connected or integrated into ArcGIS. For this purpose two study sites, Valtellina in Italy and Bacelonnette in France, were chosen and the hazards types debris flows, rockfalls, landslides, avalanches and floods are planned to be included in the tool for a regional multi-hazard risk analysis. Since the central idea of this tool is its flexibility this will only be a first step, in the future further processes and scales can be included and the instrument thus adapted to any study site.

Calibration of HEC-Ras hydrodynamic model using gauged discharge data and flood inundation maps

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Tong, Rui; Komma, Jürgen

2017-04-01

The estimation of flood is essential for disaster alleviation. Hydrodynamic models are implemented to predict the occurrence and variance of flood in different scales. In practice, the calibration of hydrodynamic models aims to search the best possible parameters for the representation the natural flow resistance. Recent years have seen the calibration of hydrodynamic models being more actual and faster following the advance of earth observation products and computer based optimization techniques. In this study, the Hydrologic Engineering River Analysis System (HEC-Ras) model was set up with high-resolution digital elevation model from Laser scanner for the river Inn in Tyrol, Austria. 10 largest flood events from 19 hourly discharge gauges and flood inundation maps were selected to calibrate the HEC-Ras model. Manning roughness values and lateral inflow factors as parameters were automatically optimized with the Shuffled complex with Principal component analysis (SP-UCI) algorithm developed from the Shuffled Complex Evolution (SCE-UA). Different objective functions (Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient, the timing of peak, peak value and Root-mean-square deviation) were used in single or multiple way. It was found that the lateral inflow factor was the most sensitive parameter. SP-UCI algorithm could avoid the local optimal and achieve efficient and effective parameters in the calibration of HEC-Ras model using flood extension images. As results showed, calibration by means of gauged discharge data and flood inundation maps, together with objective function of Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient, was very robust to obtain more reliable flood simulation, and also to catch up with the peak value and the timing of peak.

Cardiovascular effects of environmental noise: Research in Austria

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Peter Lercher

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Cardiovascular effects of noise rank second in terms of disability-adjusted life year (DALYs after annoyance. Although research during the past decade has consolidated the available data base, the most recent meta-analysis still shows wide confidence intervals - indicating imprecise information for public health risk assessment. The alpine area of Tyrol in the Austrian part of the Alps has experienced a massive increase in car and heavy goods traffic (road and rail during the last 35 years. Over the past 25 years small-, middle-, and large-sized epidemiological health surveys have been conducted - mostly within the framework of environmental health impact assessments. By design, these studies have emphasized a contextually driven environmental stress perspective, where the adverse health effects on account of noise are studied in a broader framework of environmental health, susceptibility, and coping. Furthermore, innovative exposure assessment strategies have been implemented. This article reviews the existing knowledge from these studies over time, and presents the exposure-response curves, with and without interaction assessment, based on standardized re-analyses and discusses it in the light of past and current cardiovascular noise effects research. The findings support relevant moderation by age, gender, and family history in nearly all studies and suggest a strong need for consideration of non-linearity in the exposure-response analyses. On the other hand, air pollution has not played a relevant role as a moderator in the noise-hypertension or the noise-angina pectoris relationship. Finally, different noise modeling procedures can introduce variations in the exposure response curves, with substantive consequences for public health risk assessment of noise exposure.

L’idée nationale en montagne et dans l’alpinisme : le cas du club alpin austro-allemand (DÖAV

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Michel Mestre

2002-06-01

Full Text Available L’institutionnalisation de la pratique de l’alpinisme sous la forme de clubs est un processus à part entière de l’histoire culturelle des pays. Elle s’est faite dans le cadre de conflits idéologiques, notamment le nationalisme, ce que le club alpin austro-allemand illustre parfaitement. En effet lors de sa création, le club alpin est de fait placé dans un contexte de choix entre une organisation de type « petite Allemagne » ou « grande Allemagne », et le choix effectué, à savoir un club alpin austro-allemand, donc représentatif d’une pensée grande Allemagne, est revendiqué par les fondateurs comme un acte fondamental non politique mais représentatif d’une spécificité culturelle. Après la Première Guerre mondiale le club s’engage pour l’abrogation du traité de Versailles, prône la revanche et le retour des territoires du Tyrol du sud au sein d’une communauté germanophone et laisse les éléments les plus extrêmes (völkisch pratiquer l’aryanisation du club. Enfin le club a largement cautionné une politique colonialiste qui transformait les alpinistes en explorateurs privilégiés de terres nouvelles et en porte-drapeaux de la germanité.The institutionalization of mountaineering clubs belongs to each nation’s cultural history. These processes were carried out throughout ideological conflicts such as nationalisms. The Austrian-German Club being one of the most prominent examples. Right at the beginning, the club’s original members had to choose between two different types of structure, embodying either an idea of « Little Germany » or of « Large Germany ». The type of club eventually chosen, i.e. an Austrian-German Club, (in other words « Large Germany », was not asserted by its founders as a political keystone, but much more as a fundamental act symbolizing a cultural specificity. After the first world war, the club stood for the abrogation of the Treaty of Versailles, advocating the

Glaciers in South Tyrol 1850 - 2006: application of Airborne Laser Scanner data, orthophotos and historical maps for the acquisition of recent and the reconstruction of past glacier extents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knoll, C. C.

2009-01-01

In the densely populated high mountain areas of the Alps, glaciers are an important part of the cultural and natural landscape. During the warm summer months they are among the most important freshwater resources for economy sectors such as agriculture or industry, an important component for the tourism industry and of great significance for the production of energy from hydropower. However, they also constitute a potential cause of natural hazards. Due to their direct linkage to temperature and precipitation, glaciers are characterized as one of the best natural climate indicators. For that reason, mountain glaciers have become a key symbol for the ongoing discussion about climate, climate changes and the resulting consequences because their reactions can easily be observed and visualized. The main objective of this doctoral thesis is to contribute to a better understanding of the regional South Tyrolean glacier development through a reconstruction and analysis of the glacier changes that have occurred since the climax of the Little Ice Age at around 1850. Glacier inventories, fieldwork and GIS-assisted reconstructions of historical and calculation of recent glacier topographies are used to depict, analyze and visualize the changes of the South Tyrolean glaciers between the maximum extent of approximately 1850 and the inventories of 1997 and 2006. In a comparison of recent, highly accurate glacier topographies mapped with ALS-methods (Airborne Laser Scanner) with a reconstruction of the Little Ice Age maximum South Tyrolean glaciers were detected to have lost 183.2 km 2 or 66% of their glacier cover in approximately the last 150 years. This comparison also showed a loss in glacier volume of 9 km 3 between 1850 and 2006, which corresponds to a mean ice thickness change of -49 m. These drastic losses in the glacier covered area and volume, which are mainly visible on the glacier tongues of large valley glaciers like Langtauferer- and Suldenferner, clearly show changes in the climatic conditions in the Alps over the last 150 years and the acceleration after the last advances in the 1980s. The present doctoral thesis demonstrates that modern monitoring strategies as well as reconstruction and calculation techniques based on ALS data and digital orthophotos are excellent tools for the enhanced investigation of glaciers in a whole mountain range. (author) [de

Important geosites and parks in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Dolomites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nossing, L.; Forti, S.

2016-01-01

In the geological complexity of the south Tyrol, the Dolomites play a fundamental role, as they are now included in the UNESCO World Heritage (2009) because of their exceptional beauty and unique landscape, together with numerous scientific discoveries. The name of Dolomite comes from the famous mineral dolomite (double calcium magnesium carbonate) discovered by Déodat De Dolomieu in 1789. The dolomitic rocks constitute a large area of the Triassic mountains and many studies have contributed to the discovery of the fundamental stratotypes for the signature of the Permian/Triassic boundary. The steep walls of the Permian volcanic formations and the Sciliar Mountain have always been a great attraction for scientists from all over the world to study the open book of nature in the Dolomites. We will illustrate three sites: 1. The Bula Geotrail. A geological trail through one of the best-preserved sedimentary series in which we can observe one of the most important stratotypes to touch the Permian/Triassic boundary. 2. The Siusi-Alpe di Siusi Geological Trail. This trail starts just above the Permian/Triassic boundary and is characterized by some unique basaltic columnar formations and other significant outcrops of Lower and Medium Triassic. 3. The Bletterbach Geopark. In this sequence the stratotype, which represents the boundary, is a dark coloured continuous layer (organic matter) 5cm thick, and contains some paleobotanical evidence which is unique in the world. The preservation and added value of the natural and geological patrimony of a region through guided and documented trails are at the origin of a new kind of tourism: geotourism. The modern tourist is more and more interested and stimulated by getting to knowing nature in depth. The trails are the best instruments for scientific divulgation and education, allowing a better understanding of the landscape and stimulating new discoveries. (Author)

Xylem and phloem phenology in co-occurring conifers exposed to drought.

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Swidrak, Irene; Gruber, Andreas; Oberhuber, Walter

2014-01-01

Variability in xylem and phloem phenology among years and species is caused by contrasting temperatures prevailing at the start of the growing season and species-specific sensitivity to drought. The focus of this study was to determine temporal dynamics of xylem and phloem formation in co-occurring deciduous and evergreen coniferous species in a dry inner Alpine environment (750 m a.s.l., Tyrol, Austria). By repeated micro-sampling of the stem, timing of key phenological dates of xylem and phloem formation was compared among mature Pinus sylvestris , Larix decidua and Picea abies during two consecutive years. Xylem formation in P. sylvestris started in mid and late April 2011 and 2012, respectively, and in both years about 2 week later in P. abies and L. decidua . Phloem formation preceded xylem formation on average by 3 week in P. sylvestris , and c . 5 week in P. abies and L. decidua . Based on modeled cell number increase, tracheid production peaked between early through late May 2011 and late May through mid-June 2012. Phloem formation culminated between late April and mid-May in 2011 and in late May 2012. Production of xylem and phloem cells continued for about 4 and 5-6 months, respectively. High variability in xylem increment among years and species is related to exogenous control by climatic factors and species-specific sensitivity to drought, respectively. On the other hand, production of phloem cells was quite homogenous and showed asymptotic decrease with respect to xylem cells indicating endogenous control. Results indicate that onset and culmination of xylem and phloem formation are controlled by early spring temperature, whereby strikingly advanced production of phloem compared to xylem cells suggests lower temperature requirement for initiation of the former.

The Felbertauern landslide of 2013: Traffic disruption, regional economic consequences and policy decisions

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Pfurtscheller, Clemens; Genovese, Elisabetta

2016-04-01

The Felbertauern landslide of May 2013 caused the total destruction of approximately 100 meters of road including an avalanche gallery, generating several direct and indirect impacts on the regional-economy. The Felbertauern road, an important traffic arteria for the whole NUTS-3 region East-Tyrol (Austria), was totally blocked for several weeks. Short after the event, regional decision makers were hardly in need for an estimation of the regional-economic impacts of the road blockage to opt for alternatives to reopen the road. So, two weeks after the event, an analysis of the possible effects was carried out using only scattered information and statistical data. The analysis is based on a three-month interruption scenario. Retrospectively the road blockage was only two months. Due to the fact that short after the event no up-to-date data on regional-economics at necessary scales was available, impacts on tourism by analysing overnight stays, additional transportation costs and time losses for the local companies were calculated. Using these numbers, a cost-benefit-analysis was carried out for a projected bypass, a mid-term 1.5 kilometer long route as an alternative to the destroyed road. Finally, the impacts on the local companies were severe, due to additional transportation costs of approx. Euro 1.4 million and Euro 76 000 additional time costs using an alternative approach. The impacts on regional tourism were calculated with Euro 7.7 to 10.7 million - that means 0.6 to 0.8% of the total economic output of the region. The study shows the strong impact of indirect and business interruption costs on regional economies and describes the major problems faced during the study - in particular the low availability of input data. The results of consistent cost assessment are critical for decision makers who are responsible for the development of policies to prevent the impacts on societies.

Annual report on the ambient air quality measurement in Austria 2004

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Spangl, W.; Nagl, C.; Schneider, J.

2006-01-01

A summary of the ambient air quality situation (measurements) conducted according to the Air Quality Act and the Ozone Act in Austria during 2004 is presented. The situation was assessed mainly in relation to Austrian limit and target values of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter (this is measured using two different indicators: total suspended particulates (TSP) and PM10), carbon monoxide, benzene and lead. The PM10 limit value - 35 days with average concentrations above 50 μg/m 3 - was exceeded at 27 sites. The highest exceedances were measured at traffic related sites in large cities, in particular the city of Graz, in Vienna, at industrial sites (e.g. Linz). Main sources for primary particulate matter are road traffic, domestic heating (in particular wood burning), industrial emissions, construction activities and off-road sources. For nitrogen dioxide, the short term limit value was exceeded at few traffic related sites, mainly - but not only - in larger towns. The limit value for the protection of vegetation of 30 μg/m 3 NO x was exceeded at one site in Tyrol (Kramsach). Limit values for sulfur dioxide were exceeded at three sites. Neither the limit values for carbon monoxide, lead and benzene nor the alert thresholds for nitrogen dioxide or sulfur dioxide were exceeded in this year. Deposition of total particulates limit value was exceeded at a few sites, lead and cadmium in two industrial sites. Low ozone levels were measured at most monitoring sites, the information threshold of 180 μg/m 3 ozone as one hour mean was exceeded at 21 sites on all together 9 days and the alert threshold of 240 μg/m 3 as one hour mean was not exceeded. 45 figs., 57 tabs. (nevyjel)

Important geosites and parks in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Dolomites

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nossing, L.; Forti, S.

2016-10-01

In the geological complexity of the south Tyrol, the Dolomites play a fundamental role, as they are now included in the UNESCO World Heritage (2009) because of their exceptional beauty and unique landscape, together with numerous scientific discoveries. The name of Dolomite comes from the famous mineral dolomite (double calcium magnesium carbonate) discovered by Déodat De Dolomieu in 1789. The dolomitic rocks constitute a large area of the Triassic mountains and many studies have contributed to the discovery of the fundamental stratotypes for the signature of the Permian/Triassic boundary. The steep walls of the Permian volcanic formations and the Sciliar Mountain have always been a great attraction for scientists from all over the world to study the open book of nature in the Dolomites. We will illustrate three sites: 1. The Bula Geotrail. A geological trail through one of the best-preserved sedimentary series in which we can observe one of the most important stratotypes to touch the Permian/Triassic boundary. 2. The Siusi-Alpe di Siusi Geological Trail. This trail starts just above the Permian/Triassic boundary and is characterized by some unique basaltic columnar formations and other significant outcrops of Lower and Medium Triassic. 3. The Bletterbach Geopark. In this sequence the stratotype, which represents the boundary, is a dark coloured continuous layer (organic matter) 5cm thick, and contains some paleobotanical evidence which is unique in the world. The preservation and added value of the natural and geological patrimony of a region through guided and documented trails are at the origin of a new kind of tourism: geotourism. The modern tourist is more and more interested and stimulated by getting to knowing nature in depth. The trails are the best instruments for scientific divulgation and education, allowing a better understanding of the landscape and stimulating new discoveries. (Author)

High-quality endoscope reprocessing decreases endoscope contamination.

Science.gov (United States)

Decristoforo, P; Kaltseis, J; Fritz, A; Edlinger, M; Posch, W; Wilflingseder, D; Lass-Flörl, C; Orth-Höller, D

2018-02-24

Several outbreaks of severe infections due to contamination of gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopes, mainly duodenoscopes, have been described. The rate of microbial endoscope contamination varies dramatically in literature. The aim of this multicentre prospective study was to evaluate the hygiene quality of endoscopes and automated endoscope reprocessors (AERs) in Tyrol/Austria. In 2015 and 2016, a total of 463 GI endoscopes and 105 AERs from 29 endoscopy centres were analysed by a routine (R) and a combined routine and advanced (CRA) sampling procedure and investigated for microbial contamination by culture-based and molecular-based analyses. The contamination rate of GI endoscopes was 1.3%-4.6% according to the national guideline, suggesting that 1.3-4.6 patients out of 100 could have had contacts with hygiene-relevant microorganisms through an endoscopic intervention. Comparison of R and CRA sampling showed 1.8% of R versus 4.6% of CRA failing the acceptance criteria in phase I and 1.3% of R versus 3.0% of CRA samples failing in phase II. The most commonly identified indicator organism was Pseudomonas spp., mainly Pseudomonas oleovorans. None of the tested viruses were detected in 40 samples. While AERs in phase I failed (n = 9, 17.6%) mainly due to technical faults, phase II revealed lapses (n = 6, 11.5%) only on account of microbial contamination of the last rinsing water, mainly with Pseudomonas spp. In the present study the contamination rate of endoscopes was low compared with results from other European countries, possibly due to the high quality of endoscope reprocessing, drying and storage. Copyright © 2018 European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Avalanche related damage potential - changes of persons and mobile values since the mid-twentieth century, case study Galtür

Science.gov (United States)

Keiler, M.; Zischg, A.; Fuchs, S.; Hama, M.; Stötter, J.

2005-01-01

When determining risk related to natural hazard processes, many studies neglect the investigations of the damage potential or are limited to the assessment of immobile values like buildings. However, persons as well as mobile values form an essential part of the damage potential. Knowledge of the maximum number of exposed persons in an endangered area is of great importance for elaborating evacuation plans and immediate measures in case of catastrophes. In addition, motor vehicles can also be highly damaged, as was shown by the analysis of avalanche events. With the removal of mobile values in time as a preventive measure this kind of damage can be minimised. This study presents a method for recording the maximum number of exposed persons and monetarily assessing motor vehicles in the municipality of Galtür (Tyrol, Austria). Moreover, general developments of the damage potential due to significant socio-economic changes since the mid-twentieth century are pointed out in the study area. The present situation of the maximum number of persons and mobile values in the official avalanche hazard zones of the municipality is described in detail. Information on the number of persons is derived of census data, tourism and employment statistics. During the winter months, a significant increase overlaid by strong short-term fluctuation in the number of persons can be noted. These changes result from a higher demand of tourism related manpower as well as from varying occupancy rates. The number of motor vehicles in endangered areas is closely associated to the number of exposed persons. The potential number of motor vehicles is investigated by means of mapping, statistics on the stock of motor vehicles and the density distribution. Diurnal and seasonal fluctuations of the investigated damage potential are pointed out. The recording of the number of persons and mobile values in endangered areas is vital for any disaster management.

Depressive Symptoms and Their Interactions With Emotions and Personality Traits Over Time: Interaction Networks in a Psychiatric Clinic.

Science.gov (United States)

Semino, Laura N; Marksteiner, Josef; Brauchle, Gernot; Danay, Erik

2017-04-13

Associations between depression, personality traits, and emotions are complex and reciprocal. The aim of this study is to explore these interactions in dynamical networks and in a linear way over time depending on the severity of depression. Participants included 110 patients with depressive symptoms (DSM-5 criteria) who were recruited between October 2015 and February 2016 during their inpatient stay in a general psychiatric hospital in Hall in Tyrol, Austria. The patients filled out the Beck Depression Inventory-II, a German emotional competence questionnaire (Emotionale Kompetenz Fragebogen), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and the German versions of the Big Five Inventory-short form and State-Trait-Anxiety-Depression Inventory regarding symptoms, emotions, and personality during their inpatient stay and at a 3-month follow-up by mail. Network and regression analyses were performed to explore interactions both in a linear and a dynamical way at baseline and 3 months later. Regression analyses showed that emotions and personality traits gain importance for the prediction of depressive symptoms with decreasing symptomatology at follow-up (personality: baseline, adjusted R2 = 0.24, P personality traits is significantly denser and more interconnected (network comparison test: P = .03) at follow-up than at baseline, meaning that with decreased symptoms interconnections get stronger. During depression, personality traits and emotions are walled off and not strongly interconnected with depressive symptoms in networks. With decreasing depressive symptomatology, interfusing of these areas begins and interconnections become stronger. This finding has practical implications for interventions in an acute depressive state and with decreased symptoms. The network approach offers a new perspective on interactions and is a way to make the complexity of these interactions more tangible. © Copyright 2017 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.

[Hearing screening at nursery schools: results of an evaluation study].

Science.gov (United States)

Weichbold, Viktor; Rohrer, Monika; Winkler, Cornelia; Welzl-Müller, Kunigunde

2004-07-31

This study aimed to evaluate the hearing screening of pre-school children at nursery schools in Tyrol, Austria. 47 nursery schools with a total of 2199 enrolled children participated in the study. At the screening, the children were presented a series of tones at frequencies 0.5 kHz (25dB), 1 kHz, 2 kHz, 3 kHz, and 4 kHz (20 dB each) from portable audiometers. The tones were presented over headphones for each ear separately and at irregular intervals. Failure to respond to any of the frequencies was considered failure of the screening. Parents were then advised in written form to have the child examined by an ENT-specialist. 1832 individuals were screened (coverage: 83% of nursery school children; corresponding to at least 63% of all Tyrolean children aged 3 to 5 years). Of these, 390 failed the test (referral rate: 21% of all screened). Examination through an ENT-specialist occurred with 217 children, and this confirmed the positive test in 139 children (hit rate: 64%). In most cases, a temporary conductive hearing loss due to external or middle ear problems (glue ear, tube dysfunction, cerumen, otitis media) was diagnosed. A sensorineural hearing loss was found in 4 children (in 3 of them bilateral). The need for therapy was recognized in 81 children (4% of all screened). Pre-school hearing screening identifies children with ear and hearing problems that need therapeutical intervention. Although the hearing problems are mostly of a temporary nature, some may require monitoring over some period. Also some children with permanent sensorineural hearing loss may be detected through this measure. Hearing screening is an efficient means of assessing ear and hearing problems in pre-school children. However, the follow-up rate needs to be improved for optimizing the efficacy.

Vulnerability curves vs. vulnerability indicators: application of an indicator-based methodology for debris-flow hazards

Science.gov (United States)

Papathoma-Köhle, Maria

2016-08-01

The assessment of the physical vulnerability of elements at risk as part of the risk analysis is an essential aspect for the development of strategies and structural measures for risk reduction. Understanding, analysing and, if possible, quantifying physical vulnerability is a prerequisite for designing strategies and adopting tools for its reduction. The most common methods for assessing physical vulnerability are vulnerability matrices, vulnerability curves and vulnerability indicators; however, in most of the cases, these methods are used in a conflicting way rather than in combination. The article focuses on two of these methods: vulnerability curves and vulnerability indicators. Vulnerability curves express physical vulnerability as a function of the intensity of the process and the degree of loss, considering, in individual cases only, some structural characteristics of the affected buildings. However, a considerable amount of studies argue that vulnerability assessment should focus on the identification of these variables that influence the vulnerability of an element at risk (vulnerability indicators). In this study, an indicator-based methodology (IBM) for mountain hazards including debris flow (Kappes et al., 2012) is applied to a case study for debris flows in South Tyrol, where in the past a vulnerability curve has been developed. The relatively "new" indicator-based method is being scrutinised and recommendations for its improvement are outlined. The comparison of the two methodological approaches and their results is challenging since both methodological approaches deal with vulnerability in a different way. However, it is still possible to highlight their weaknesses and strengths, show clearly that both methodologies are necessary for the assessment of physical vulnerability and provide a preliminary "holistic methodological framework" for physical vulnerability assessment showing how the two approaches may be used in combination in the future.

The VOC-Ozone connection: a grassland case study

Science.gov (United States)

Wohlfahrt, G.; Hoertnagl, L.; Bamberger, I.; Schnitzhofer, R.; Dunkel, J.; Hammerle, A.; Graus, M.; Hansel, A.

2009-04-01

Trophospheric ozone (O3) is formed in the presence of sunlight through the interaction of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and NOx (NO, NO2). O3 damages plants in several ways, most importantly by reducing net photosynthesis and growth. The extent of this damage depends on the time-integrated absorbed O3 flux (i.e. the dose), which is a function of leaf stomatal conductance and ambient O3 concentration, and further influenced by plant species specific defence mechanisms. VOCs are produced by plants through a variety of pathways and in response to a large number of different driving forces. A large variety of VOCs are emitted by plants in response to stress conditions, including the foliar uptake of O3. Here we present preliminary data from an ongoing study where concurrent measurements of the fluxes of VOCs and O3 are made above a managed mountain grassland in Tyrol/Austria. Fluxes of several different VOCs and O3 are measured by means of the eddy covariance method and a proton transfer reaction mass spectrometer (PTR-MS) and an ozone analyser, respectively. Our findings show that the Methanol (MeOH) flux is correlated with the daily time-integrated O3 uptake by vegetation (integrated daily from sunrise - a surrogate for the O3 dose absorbed and the oxidative stress experienced by plants) - MeOH deposition and emission prevailing at low and high time-integrated O3 uptake rates, respectively. Fluxes of other VOCs were not related to the time-integrated O3 uptake. Integrated over longer time scales (several weeks) no correlation between the O3 uptake and MeOH emissions were found. Our study thus confirms earlier leaf-level studies, who found that MeOH emission increase with O3 dose, at the ecosystems scale. As the reaction with the hydroxyl radical (OH), which is responsible for the destruction of the greenhouse gas methane (CH4), is the major sink of atmospheric MeOH, this process provides a potentially important indirect radiative forcing.

Impact of drought on the temporal dynamics of wood formation in Pinus sylvestris.

Science.gov (United States)

Gruber, Andreas; Strobl, Stefan; Veit, Barbara; Oberhuber, Walter

2010-04-01

We determined the temporal dynamics of cambial activity and xylem cell differentiation of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) within a dry inner Alpine valley (750 m a.s.l., Tyrol, Austria), where radial growth is strongly limited by drought in spring. Repeated micro-sampling of the developing tree ring of mature trees was carried out during two contrasting years at two study plots that differ in soil water availability (xeric and dry-mesic sites). In 2007, when air temperature at the beginning of the growing season in April exceeded the long-term mean by 6.4 degrees C, cambial cell division started in early April at both study plots. A delayed onset of cambial activity of c. 2 weeks was found in 2008, when average climate conditions prevailed in spring, indicating that resumption of cambial cell division after winter dormancy is temperature controlled. Cambial cell division consistently ended about the end of June/early July in both study years. Radial enlargement of tracheids started almost 3 weeks earlier in 2007 compared with 2008 at both study plots. At the xeric site, the maximum rate of tracheid production in 2007 and 2008 was reached in early and mid-May, respectively, and c. 2 weeks later at the dry-mesic site. Since in both study years more favorable growing conditions (i.e., an increase in soil water content) were recorded during summer, we suggest a strong sink competition for carbohydrates to mycorrhizal root and shoot growth. Wood formation stopped c. 4 weeks earlier at the xeric compared with the dry-mesic site in both years, indicating a strong influence of drought stress on cell differentiation. This is supported by radial widths of earlywood cells, which were found to be significantly narrower at the xeric than at the dry-mesic site (P drought is strongly influenced by water availability, the onset of cambial activity and cell differentiation is controlled by temperature.

Enhancing sediment flux control and natural hazard risk mitigation through a structured conceptual planning approach

Science.gov (United States)

Simoni, S.; Vignoli, G.; Mazzorana, B.

2017-08-01

Sediment fluxes from mountain rivers contribute to shape the geomorphologic features of lowland rivers and to establish the physical basis for an optimal set of ecosystem functions and related services to people. Through significant public funding, the hydro-morphological regimes of mountain rivers in the European Alps have been progressively altered over the last century, with the aim to provide a safe dwelling space, to boost transport, mobility and to support economic growth. We claim that the underlying planning weaknesses contribute to determine these inefficient resource allocations, since flood risk is still high and the ecosystem services are far from being optimal. Hence, with the overall aim to enhance sediment flux control and hazard risk mitigation in such heavily modified alpine streams, we propose a structured design workflow which guides the planner through system analysis and synthesis. As a first step the proposed workflow sets the relevant planning goals and assesses the protection structure functionality. Then a methodology is proposed to achieve the goals. This methodology consists in characterising the hydrologic basin of interest and the sediment availability and determining the sediment connectivity to channels. The focus is set on the detailed analysis of existing river cross sections where the sediment continuity is interrupted (e.g. slit and check dams). By retaining relevant sediment volumes these structures prevent the reactivation of hydro-morphological and associated ecological functionalities. Since their actual performance can be unsatisfying with respect to flood risk mitigation (e.g. mainly old structures), we introduce specific efficiency indicators as a support for the conceptual design stage to quantify effects related to sediment flux control and risk management. The proposed planning approach is then applied to the Gadria system (stream, slit dam, retention basin and culvert), located in South Tyrol, Italy. This case study

Seasonal dynamics of mobile carbohydrates and stem growth in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) exposed to drought

Science.gov (United States)

Oberhuber, Walter; Kofler, Werner; Schuster, Roman; Swidrak, Irene; Gruber, Andreas

2014-05-01

Tree growth requires a continuous supply of carbon as structural material and as a source for metabolic energy. To detect whether intra-annual stem growth is related to changes in carbon allocation, we monitored seasonal dynamics of shoot and radial growth and concentrations of mobile carbohydrates (NSC) in above- and belowground organs of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.). The study area is situated within an inner Alpine dry environment (750 m asl, Tyrol, Austria), which is characterized by recurring drought periods at the start of the growing season in spring and limited water holding capacity of nutrient deficient, shallow stony soils. Shoot elongation was monitored on lateral branches in the canopy and stem radius changes were continuously followed by electronic band dendrometers. Daily radial stem growth and tree water deficit (ΔW) were extracted from dendrometer records. ΔW is regarded a reliable measure of drought stress in trees and develops when transpirational water loss from leaves exceeds water uptake by the root system. Daily radial stem growth and ΔW were related to environmental variables and determination of NSC was performed using specific enzymatic assays. Results revealed quite early culmination of aboveground growth rates in late April (shoot growth) and late May (radial growth), and increasing accumulation of NSC in coarse roots in June. NSC content in roots peaked at the end of July and thereafter decreased again, indicating a shift in carbon allocation after an early cessation of aboveground stem growth. ΔW was found to peak in late summer, when high temperatures prevailed. That maximum growth rates of aboveground organs peaked quite before precipitation increased during summer is related to the finding that ΔW and radial stem growth were more strongly controlled by the atmospheric environment, than by soil water content. We conclude that as a response to the seasonal development of ΔW a shift in carbon allocation from aboveground

Handheld XRF analysis of a 16th century Mexican Feather Headdress

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karydas, A.G; Padilla-Alvarez, R.; Drozdenko, M.; Korn, M.; Moreno Guzmán, M.O.

2014-01-01

The 16th century feather headdress in the Weltmuseum Wien (WMW), an affiliated institution of the Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM) in Vienna, is the most renowned of the few remaining pre-Columbian “Arte Plumaria” artefacts, which were made by feather artisans (Amantecas) using traditional techniques in the territory of present day Mexico. The recorded history of the headdress begins in 1596, when it is first mentioned in the estate inventory of the art collection of Archduke Ferdinand II of Tyrol at Ambras Castle. Due to its age, the variety of materials used, its history and former restoration treatments, the artefact is today one of the most sensitive and demanding care objects of the museum. Despite the object’s long history, very little documentation on past interventions exists. From 2010-2012, a binational research project between Mexico (Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia) and Austria (Weltmuseum Wien) performed a systematic investigation focused on the identification of manufacturing techniques and the various materials, the old restoration measures and its conservation. Handheld x-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometers are extremely useful for the study of art works in museum collections. The possibility of bringing the instrument to inspect the objects on-site facilitates the study of artefacts that cannot be moved either due to their extreme fragility or due to their large size and/or weight. In addition, non-destructive analysis constitutes a preferred alternative to invasive sampling techniques, which are usually not allowed in the study of unique or extremely valuable objects. The aim of the XRF analysis was twofold: to investigate the possible presence of inorganic toxic elements that could be associated to the use of pesticides in past conservation interventions and; to characterize the chemical composition of the authentic gold and the gilded brass ornaments, which were added in the 19th century. The results of the XRF analytical

The status of IT service management in health care - ITIL® in selected European countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoerbst, Alexander; Hackl, Werner O; Blomer, Roland; Ammenwerth, Elske

2011-12-21

Due to the strained financial situation in the healthcare sector, hospitals and other healthcare providers are facing an increasing pressure to improve their efficiency and to reduce costs. These trends challenge health care organizations to introduce innovative information technology (IT) based supportive processes. To guarantee that IT supports the clinical processes perfectly, IT must be managed proactively. However, until now, there is only very few research on IT service management especially on ITIL® implementations in the health care context. The current study aims at exploring knowledge about and acceptance of IT service management (especially ITIL®) in hospitals in Austria and its neighboring regions Bavaria (Germany), Slovakia, South Tyrol (Italy) and Switzerland. Therefore highly standardized interviews with the respective head of information technology (CIO, IT manager) were conducted for selected hospitals from the different regions. In total 75 hospitals were interviewed. Data gathered was analyzed using descriptive statistics and where necessary methods of qualitative content analysis. In most regions, two-thirds or more of the participating IT managers claim to be familiar with the concepts of IT service management and of ITIL®. IT managers expect from ITIL® mostly better IT services, followed by an increased productivity and a reduction of IT cost. But only five hospitals said to have implemented at least parts of ITIL®, and eight hospitals stated to be planning to do this in the next two years. When it comes to ITIL®, Switzerland and Bavaria seem to be ahead of the other countries. There, the highest levels of knowledge, the highest number of implementations or plans of an implementation as well as the highest number of ITIL® certified staff members were observed. The results collected through this study indicate that the idea of IT services and IT service management is still not widely recognized in hospitals in the countries and regions

The Physicist and Astronomer Christoper Scheiner - Biography Letters, Works

Science.gov (United States)

Daxecker, Franz

The Jesuit priest Christopher Scheiner was one of the most influential astronomers of the first half of the 17th century. He was a creative and down-to-earth natural scientist who worked in the fields of astronomy, physics, optics and ophthalmology, while following his vocations as university lecturer, church builder and pastor. In scientific matters he was Galilei's opponent. Their dispute centred on the priority of discovery in regard to the sunspots. Scheiner was not the first to discover the sunspots, but he gave the most detailed account thereofin his main work "Rosa Ursina sive Sol". He was, however, ceaseless in his defense of the geocentric system. In 1891, Anton v.Braunmühl published a biography of Father Scheiner. Ever since then, new documents have come to light, justifying the publication of a new biography. Among the documents now available is Scheiner's hitherto unknown dissertation. Notes taken during his lectures in Ingolstadt provide valuable information on astronomy using the telescope, an invention of his lifetime. His exchange of letters with personalities like Archduke Leopold V of Austria-Tyrol, with scientists like Magini, Galilei, Gassendi, Kepler and confriars Rader, Guldin, Alber, Minutuli, Cysat und Kircher is a source of precious insights. Letters to Scheiner from the Father Generals of his order display evidence of his superiors' zero tolerance for the helincentric system. They also disclose Scheiner's wish to become a missionary in China, the financial difficulties he faced while trying to find a publisher for his "Rosa Ursina sive Sol" and his personal shortcomings. A Scheiner obituary from 1650 was found in Cracow in 2001. It contains information on the troublesome last years of his life and has finally allowed us to determine the year of his birth. Scheiner's personality has been praised as well as criticized by many authors - sometimes depending on their ideological backgrounds. This holds true especially regarding the argument

Eddy covariance carbonyl sulfide flux measurements with a quantum cascade laser absorption spectrometer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Gerdel

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The trace gas carbonyl sulfide (COS has lately received growing interest from the eddy covariance (EC community due to its potential to serve as an independent approach for constraining gross primary production and canopy stomatal conductance. Thanks to recent developments of fast-response high-precision trace gas analysers (e.g. quantum cascade laser absorption spectrometers, QCLAS, a handful of EC COS flux measurements have been published since 2013. To date, however, a thorough methodological characterisation of QCLAS with regard to the requirements of the EC technique and the necessary processing steps has not been conducted. The objective of this study is to present a detailed characterisation of the COS measurement with the Aerodyne QCLAS in the context of the EC technique and to recommend best EC processing practices for those measurements. Data were collected from May to October 2015 at a temperate mountain grassland in Tyrol, Austria. Analysis of the Allan variance of high-frequency concentration measurements revealed the occurrence of sensor drift under field conditions after an averaging time of around 50 s. We thus explored the use of two high-pass filtering approaches (linear detrending and recursive filtering as opposed to block averaging and linear interpolation of regular background measurements for covariance computation. Experimental low-pass filtering correction factors were derived from a detailed cospectral analysis. The CO2 and H2O flux measurements obtained with the QCLAS were compared with those obtained with a closed-path infrared gas analyser. Overall, our results suggest small, but systematic differences between the various high-pass filtering scenarios with regard to the fraction of data retained in the quality control and flux magnitudes. When COS and CO2 fluxes are combined in the ecosystem relative uptake rate, systematic differences between the high-pass filtering scenarios largely cancel out, suggesting that

Avalanche related damage potential - changes of persons and mobile values since the mid-twentieth century, case study Galtür

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Keiler

2005-01-01

Full Text Available When determining risk related to natural hazard processes, many studies neglect the investigations of the damage potential or are limited to the assessment of immobile values like buildings. However, persons as well as mobile values form an essential part of the damage potential. Knowledge of the maximum number of exposed persons in an endangered area is of great importance for elaborating evacuation plans and immediate measures in case of catastrophes. In addition, motor vehicles can also be highly damaged, as was shown by the analysis of avalanche events. With the removal of mobile values in time as a preventive measure this kind of damage can be minimised. This study presents a method for recording the maximum number of exposed persons and monetarily assessing motor vehicles in the municipality of Galtür (Tyrol, Austria. Moreover, general developments of the damage potential due to significant socio-economic changes since the mid-twentieth century are pointed out in the study area. The present situation of the maximum number of persons and mobile values in the official avalanche hazard zones of the municipality is described in detail. Information on the number of persons is derived of census data, tourism and employment statistics. During the winter months, a significant increase overlaid by strong short-term fluctuation in the number of persons can be noted. These changes result from a higher demand of tourism related manpower as well as from varying occupancy rates. The number of motor vehicles in endangered areas is closely associated to the number of exposed persons. The potential number of motor vehicles is investigated by means of mapping, statistics on the stock of motor vehicles and the density distribution. Diurnal and seasonal fluctuations of the investigated damage potential are pointed out. The recording of the number of persons and mobile values in endangered areas is vital for any disaster management.

Storing snow for the next winter: Two case studies on the application of snow farming.

Science.gov (United States)

Grünewald, Thomas; Wolfsperger, Fabian

2016-04-01

Snow farming is the conservation of snow during the warm half-year. This means that large piles of snow are formed in spring in order to be conserved over the summer season. Well-insulating materials such as chipped wood are added as surface cover to reduce melting. The aim of snow farming is to provide a "snow guaranty" for autumn or early winter - this means that a specific amount of snow will definitively be available, independent of the weather conditions. The conserved snow can then be used as basis for the preparation of winter sports grounds such as cross-country tracks or ski runs. This helps in the organization of early winter season sport events such as World Cup races or to provide appropriate training conditions for athletes. We present a study on two snow farming projects, one in Davos (Switzerland) and one in the Martell valley of South Tyrol. At both places snow farming has been used for several years. For the summer season 2015, we monitored both snow piles in order to assess the amount of snow conserved. High resolution terrestrial laser scanning was performed to measure snow volumes of the piles at the beginning and at the end of the summer period. Results showed that only 20% to 30 % of the snow mass was lost due to ablation. This mass loss was surprisingly low considering the extremely warm and dry summer. In order to identify the most relevant drivers of snow melt we also present simulations with the sophisticated snow cover models SNOWPACK and Alpine3D. The simulations are driven by meteorological input data recorded in the vicinity of the piles and enable a detailed analysis of the relevant processes controlling the energy balance. The models can be applied to optimize settings for snow farming and to examine the suitability of new locations, configurations or cover material for future snow farming projects.

Storylines of socio-economic and climatic drivers for land use and their hydrological impacts in alpine catchments - the STELLA project example

Science.gov (United States)

Strasser, Ulrich; Formayer, Herbert; Förster, Kristian; Marke, Thomas; Meißl, Gertraud; Schermer, Markus; Stotten, Friederike; Themessl, Matthias

2016-04-01

Future land use in Alpine catchments is controlled by the evolution of socio-economy and climate. Estimates of their coupled development should hence fulfill the principles of plausibility (be convincing) and consistency (be unambiguous). In the project STELLA, coupled future climate and land use scenarios are used as input in a hydrological modelling exercise with the physically-based, distributed water balance model WaSiM. The aim of the project is to quantify the effects of these two framing components on the future water cycle. The test site for the simulations is the catchment of the Brixentaler Ache in Tyrol/Austria (47.5°N, 322 km2). The so-called „storylines" of future coupled climate and forest/land use management, policy, social cooperation, tourism and economy have jointly been developed in an inter- and transdisciplinary assessment with local actors. The climate background is given by simulations for the A1B (temperature conditions like today in Merano/Italy, 46.7°N) and RCP 8.5 (temperature conditions like today in Bologna/Italy, 44.5°N) emission scenarios. These two climate scenarios were combined with three potential socio-economic developments („local"/„glocal"/ „superglobal"), each in a positive and in a negative specification. From these twelve storylines of coupled climate/land use future, a set of four storylines was selected to be used in transient hydrological modelling experiments. Historical simulations of the water balance for the test site reveal the pattern of land use being the most prominent factor for the spatial distribution of its components. A new prototype for a snow-canopy interaction simulation module provides explicit rates of intercepted and sublimated snow from the trees and stems of the different forest stands in the catchment. This new canopy module will be used to model the coupled climate/land use future storylines for the Brixental. The aim is to quantify the effects of climate change and land use on the water

Development of physical fitness in Austrian primary school children : A longitudinal study among overweight and non-overweight children over 2.5 years.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruedl, Gerhard; Franz, Dominik; Frühauf, Anika; Kopp, Martin; Niedermeier, Martin; Drenowatz, Clemens; Greier, Klaus

2018-04-17

Physical activity and physical fitness play an important role in the prevention of overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence and reduce the risk of becoming overweight or obese in adulthood. To evaluate the development of physical fitness in overweight and non-overweight primary school children from the first to third grades. Using a longitudinal study design, body height and weight as well as physical fitness of primary school children from Tyrol, Austria were measured five times during a period of 2.5 years using the German motor performance test (DMT 6-18). In total, 266 children (55% boys) with a mean age of 6.4 ± 0.5 years at baseline participated. The proportion of overweight children was 11% at baseline and 22% at the fifth time point. Overweight children showed a significantly lower physical fitness level (mean total z‑score of DMT6-18) at all 5 time points (Hedges g: 0.64-1.09). Repeated measurement analyses of variances showed a significant increase of physical fitness over time among overweight (partial η 2 : 0.12) and non-overweight (partial η 2 : 0.29) children. With respect to gender, physical fitness significantly increased over time among overweight (partial η 2 : 0.20) and non-overweight (partial η 2 : 0.28) girls, as well as among non-overweight boys (partial η 2 : 0.31) but not among overweight boys (partial η 2 : 0.07). Overweight and non-overweight primary school children significantly increased their physical fitness over the study period; however, overweight children showed a significantly lower physical fitness level at all test time points and did not even achieve the mean baseline fitness level of non-overweight children. With respect to the increasing percentage of overweight children over the study period, evidence-based preventive measures to reduce overweight and increase physical fitness should be implemented at the earliest in primary schools with a special focus on overweight boys.

Monitoring of the energy performance of a district heating CHP plant based on biomass boiler and ORC generator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prando, Dario; Renzi, Massimiliano; Gasparella, Andrea; Baratieri, Marco

2015-01-01

More than seventy district heating (DH) plants based on biomass are operating in South Tyrol (Italy) and most of them supply heat to residential districts. Almost 20% of them are cogenerative systems, thus enabling primary energy savings with respect to the separate production of heat and power. However, the actual performance of these systems in real operation can considerably differ from the nominal one. The main objectives of this work are the assessment of the energy performance of a biomass boiler coupled with an Organic Rankine Cycle (i.e. ORC) generator under real operating conditions and the identification of its potential improvements. The fluxes of energy and mass of the plant have been measured onsite. This experimental evaluation has been supplemented with a thermodynamic model of the ORC generator, calibrated with the experimental data, which is capable to predict the system performance under different management strategies of the system. The results have highlighted that a decrease of the DH network temperature of 10 °C can improve the electric efficiency of the ORC generator of one percentage point. Moreover, a DH temperature reduction could decrease the main losses of the boiler, namely the exhaust latent thermal loss and the exhaust sensible thermal loss, which account for 9% and 16% of the boiler input power, respectively. The analysis of the plant has pointed out that the ORC pump, the flue gases extractor, the thermal oil pump and the condensation section fan are the main responsible of the electric self-consumption. Finally, the negative effect of the subsidisation on the performance of the plant has been discussed. - Highlights: • Energy performance of a biomass boiler coupled to an ORC turbine in real operation. • Potential improvements of a CHP plant connected to a DH network. • Performance prediction by means of a calibrated ORC thermodynamic model. • Influence of the DH temperature on the electric efficiency. • Impact of the

Eddy covariance carbonyl sulphide flux measurements with a quantum cascade laser absorption spectrometer.

Science.gov (United States)

Gerdel, Katharina; Spielmann, Felix Maximilian; Hammerle, Albin; Wohlfahrt, Georg

2017-09-26

The trace gas carbonyl sulphide (COS) has lately received growing interest in the eddy covariance (EC) community due to its potential to serve as an independent approach for constraining gross primary production and canopy stomatal conductance. Thanks to recent developments of fast-response high-precision trace gas analysers (e.g. quantum cascade laser absorption spectrometers (QCLAS)), a handful of EC COS flux measurements have been published since 2013. To date, however, a thorough methodological characterisation of QCLAS with regard to the requirements of the EC technique and the necessary processing steps has not been conducted. The objective of this study is to present a detailed characterization of the COS measurement with the Aerodyne QCLAS in the context of the EC technique, and to recommend best EC processing practices for those measurements. Data were collected from May to October 2015 at a temperate mountain grassland in Tyrol, Austria. Analysis of the Allan variance of high-frequency concentration measurements revealed sensor drift to occur under field conditions after an averaging time of around 50 s. We thus explored the use of two high-pass filtering approaches (linear detrending and recursive filtering) as opposed to block averaging and linear interpolation of regular background measurements for covariance computation. Experimental low-pass filtering correction factors were derived from a detailed cospectral analysis. The CO 2 and H 2 O flux measurements obtained with the QCLAS were compared against those obtained with a closed-path infrared gas analyser. Overall, our results suggest small, but systematic differences between the various high-pass filtering scenarios with regard to the fraction of data retained in the quality control and flux magnitudes. When COS and CO 2 fluxes are combined in the so-called ecosystem relative uptake rate, systematic differences between the high-pass filtering scenarios largely cancel out, suggesting that this

Assessing the indirect effects due to natural hazards on a mesoscale

Science.gov (United States)

Pfurtscheller, C.; Schwarze, R.

2009-04-01

Measuring indirect economic costs and other effects from natural hazards, especially floods in alpine and other mountainous regions, are a necessary part of a comprehensive economic assessment. Their omission seriously affects the relative economic benefits of structural or non structural measures of flood defence. Surpassing controversial, IO-model-based economic estimates, analysing indirect economic effects lead to the key question of identifying and evaluating the drivers of indirect economic effects and resilience to system effects in the regional economy, i.e. at the meso-level. This investigation takes place for the catastrophic floods in summer 2005 in the provinces of Tyrol and Vorarlberg, Austria, which caused an estimated € 670 Mio direct loss on private and public assets and severe interruptions in lifeline services. The paper starts out with differentiating the concept of indirect economic costs from direct costs, examing different temporal (short vs. long-term) and spatial (macro-, meso- vs. microeconomic) system boundaries. It surveys common theories of economic resilience and vulnerability at the regional economy level. Indirect effects at the regional economy level can be defined as interferences of the economic exchange of goods and services triggered by breakdowns of transport lines and critical production inputs. The extent and persistence of indirect effects of natural hazards is not only by parameters of the extreme event, such as duration and amplitude of the flood, but much more by resilience parameters of the regional economy such as size of enterprises, the network structure (linkages) of the regional economy, availability of insurance and relief funds, and the stock of inventory. These effects can only be dissected by means of expert judgement and event studies. This paper presents the results of a survey conducted among business practioneers, members of chamber of commerce, civil protection agencies to identify and scale the drivers of

Assessment of indirect losses and costs of emergency for project planning of alpine hazard mitigation

Science.gov (United States)

Amenda, Lisa; Pfurtscheller, Clemens

2013-04-01

By virtue of augmented settling in hazardous areas and increased asset values, natural disasters such as floods, landslides and rockfalls cause high economic losses in Alpine lateral valleys. Especially in small municipalities, indirect losses, mainly stemming from a breakdown of transport networks, and costs of emergency can reach critical levels. A quantification of these losses is necessary to estimate the worthiness of mitigation measures, to determine the appropriate level of disaster assistance and to improve risk management strategies. There are comprehensive approaches available for assessing direct losses. However, indirect losses and costs of emergency are widely not assessed and the empirical basis for estimating these costs is weak. To address the resulting uncertainties of project appraisals, a standardized methodology has been developed dealing with issues of local economic effects and emergency efforts needed. In our approach, the cost-benefit-analysis for technical mitigation of the Austrian Torrent and Avalanche Control (TAC) will be optimized and extended using the 2005-debris flow as a design event, which struggled a small town in the upper Inn valley in southwest Tyrol (Austria). Thereby, 84 buildings were affected, 430 people were evacuated and due to this, the TAC implemented protection measures for 3.75 million Euros. Upgrading the method of the TAC and analyzing to what extent the cost-benefit-ratio is about to change, is one of the main objectives of this study. For estimating short-run indirect effects and costs of emergency on the local level, data was collected via questionnaires, field mapping, guided interviews, as well as intense literature research. According to this, up-to-date calculation methods were evolved and the cost-benefit-analysis of TAC was recalculated with these new-implemented results. The cost-benefit-ratio will be more precise and specific and hence, the decision, which mitigation alternative will be carried out

Tracer-based identification of rock glacier thawing in a glacierized Alpine catchment

Science.gov (United States)

Engel, Michael; Penna, Daniele; Tirler, Werner; Comiti, Francesco

2017-04-01

Current warming in high mountains leads to increased melting of snow, glacier ice and permafrost. In particular rock glaciers, as a creeping form of mountain permafrost, may release contaminants such as heavy metals into the stream during intense melting periods in summer. This may have strong impacts on both water quantity and quality of fresh water resources but might also harm the aquatic fauna in mountain regions. In this context, the present study used stable isotopes of water and electrical conductivity (EC) combined with trace, major and minor elements to identify the influence of permafrost thawing on the water quality in the glacierized Solda catchment (130 km2) in South Tyrol (Italy). We carried out a monthly sampling of two springs fed by an active rock glacier at about 2600 m a.s.l. from July to October 2015. Furthermore, we took monthly water samples from different stream sections of the Solda River (1110 to m a.s.l.) from March to November 2015. Meteorological data were measured by an Automatic Weather Station at 2825 m a.s.l. of the Hydrographic Office (Autonomous Province of Bozen-Bolzano). First results show that water from the rock glacier springs and stream water fell along the global meteoric water line. Spring water was slightly more variable in isotopic ratio (δ2H: -91 to - 105 ) and less variable in dissolved solutes (EC: 380 to 611 μS/cm) than stream water (δ2H: -96 to - 107 ‰ and EC: 212 to 927 μS/cm). Both spring water and stream water showed a pronounced drop in EC during July and August, very likely induced by increased melt water dilution. In both water types, element concentrations of Ca and Mg were highest (up to 160 and 20 mg/l, respectively). In September, spring water showed higher concentrations in Cu, As, and Pb than stream water, indicating that these elements partly exceeded the concentration limit for drinking water. These observations highlight the important control, which rock glacier thawing may have on water quality

Improvement of a free software tool for the assessment of sediment connectivity

Science.gov (United States)

Crema, Stefano; Lanni, Cristiano; Goldin, Beatrice; Marchi, Lorenzo; Cavalli, Marco

2015-04-01

Sediment connectivity expresses the degree of linkage that controls sediment fluxes throughout landscape, in particular between sediment sources and downstream areas. The assessment of sediment connectivity becomes a key issue when dealing with risk mitigation and priorities of intervention in the territory. In this work, the authors report the improvements made to an open source and stand-alone application (SedInConnect, http://www.sedalp.eu/download/tools.shtml), along with extensive applications to alpine catchments. SedInConnect calculates a sediment connectivity index as expressed in Cavalli et al. (2013); the software improvements consisted primarily in the introduction of the sink feature, i.e. areas that act as traps for sediment produced upstream (e.g., lakes, sediment traps). Based on user-defined sinks, the software decouples those parts of the catchment that do not deliver sediment to a selected target of interest (e.g., fan apex, main drainage network). In this way the assessment of sediment connectivity is achieved by taking in consideration effective sediment contributing areas. Sediment connectivity analysis has been carried out on several catchments in the South Tyrol alpine area (Northern Italy) with the goal of achieving a fast and objective characterization of the topographic control on sediment transfer. In addition to depicting the variability of sediment connectivity inside each basin, the index of connectivity has proved to be a valuable indicator of the dominant process characterizing the basin sediment dynamics (debris flow, bedload, mixed behavior). The characterization of the dominant process is of great importance for the hazard and risk assessment in mountain areas, and for choice and design of structural and non-structural intervention measures. The recognition of the dominant sediment transport process by the index of connectivity is in agreement with evidences arising from post-event field surveys and with the application of

Introduction to thematic collection "Historical and geological studies of earthquakes"

Science.gov (United States)

Satake, Kenji; Wang, Jian; Hammerl, Christa; Malik, Javed N.

2017-12-01

This thematic collection contains eight papers mostly presented at the 2016 AOGS meeting in Beijing. Four papers describe historical earthquake studies in Europe, Japan, and China; one paper uses modern instrumental data to examine the effect of giant earthquakes on the seismicity rate; and three papers describe paleoseismological studies using tsunami deposit in Japan, marine terraces in Philippines, and active faults in Himalayas. Hammerl (Geosci Lett 4:7, 2017) introduced historical seismological studies in Austria, starting from methodology which is state of the art in most European countries, followed by a case study for an earthquake of July 17, 1670 in Tyrol. Albini and Rovida (Geosci Lett 3:30, 2016) examined 114 historical records for the earthquake on April 6, 1667 on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea, compiled 37 Macroseismic Data Points, and estimated the epicenter and the size of the earthquake. Matsu'ura (Geosci Lett 4:3, 2017) summarized historical earthquake studies in Japan which resulted in about 8700 Intensity Data Points, assigned epicenters for 214 earthquakes between AD 599 and 1872, and estimated focal depth and magnitudes for 134 events. Wang et al. (Geosci Lett 4:4, 2017) introduced historical seismology in China, where historical earthquake archives include about 15,000 sources, and parametric catalogs include about 1000 historical earthquakes between 2300 BC and AD 1911. Ishibe et al. (Geosci Lett 4:5, 2017) tested the Coulomb stress triggering hypothesis for three giant (M 9) earthquakes that occurred in recent years, and found that at least the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman and 2011 Tohoku earthquakes caused the seismicity rate change. Ishimura (2017) re-estimated the ages of 11 tsunami deposits in the last 4000 years along the Sanriku coast of northern Japan and found that the average recurrence interval of those tsunamis as 350-390 years. Ramos et al. (2017) studied 1000-year-old marine terraces on the west coast of Luzon Island, Philippines

Large-scale experiments for the vulnerability analysis of buildings impacted and intruded by fluviatile torrential hazard processes

Science.gov (United States)

Sturm, Michael; Gems, Bernhard; Fuchs, Sven; Mazzorana, Bruno; Papathoma-Köhle, Maria; Aufleger, Markus

2016-04-01

torrent in Tyrol (Austria), are analysed in detail. A couple of buildings are entirely reconstructed within the physical scale model at the scale 1:30. They include basement and first floor and thereby all relevant openings on the building envelopes. The results from experimental modelling represent the data basis for further physics-based vulnerability analysis. Hence, the applied vulnerability analysis concept significantly extends the methods presently used in flood risk assessment. The results of the study are of basic importance for practical application, as they provide extensive information to support hazard zone mapping and management, as well as the planning of local technical protection measures.

Geostatistical enhancement of european hydrological predictions

Science.gov (United States)

Pugliese, Alessio; Castellarin, Attilio; Parajka, Juraj; Arheimer, Berit; Bagli, Stefano; Mazzoli, Paolo; Montanari, Alberto; Blöschl, Günter

2016-04-01

Geostatistical Enhancement of European Hydrological Prediction (GEEHP) is a research experiment developed within the EU funded SWITCH-ON project, which proposes to conduct comparative experiments in a virtual laboratory in order to share water-related information and tackle changes in the hydrosphere for operational needs (http://www.water-switch-on.eu). The main objective of GEEHP deals with the prediction of streamflow indices and signatures in ungauged basins at different spatial scales. In particular, among several possible hydrological signatures we focus in our experiment on the prediction of flow-duration curves (FDCs) along the stream-network, which has attracted an increasing scientific attention in the last decades due to the large number of practical and technical applications of the curves (e.g. hydropower potential estimation, riverine habitat suitability and ecological assessments, etc.). We apply a geostatistical procedure based on Top-kriging, which has been recently shown to be particularly reliable and easy-to-use regionalization approach, employing two different type of streamflow data: pan-European E-HYPE simulations (http://hypeweb.smhi.se/europehype) and observed daily streamflow series collected in two pilot study regions, i.e. Tyrol (merging data from Austrian and Italian stream gauging networks) and Sweden. The merger of the two study regions results in a rather large area (~450000 km2) and might be considered as a proxy for a pan-European application of the approach. In a first phase, we implement a bidirectional validation, i.e. E-HYPE catchments are set as training sites to predict FDCs at the same sites where observed data are available, and vice-versa. Such a validation procedure reveals (1) the usability of the proposed approach for predicting the FDCs over the entire river network of interest using alternatively observed data and E-HYPE simulations and (2) the accuracy of E-HYPE-based predictions of FDCs in ungauged sites. In a

Mapping spatial patterns of people's risk perception of landslides

Science.gov (United States)

Kofler, Christian; Pedoth, Lydia; Elzbieta Stawinoga, Agnieszka; Schneiderbauer, Stefan

2016-04-01

The resilience of communities against natural hazards is largely influenced by how the individuals perceive risk. A good understanding of people's risk perception, awareness and hazard knowledge is crucial for developing and improving risk management and communication strategies between authorities and the affected population. A lot of research has been done in investigating the social aspects of risks to natural hazards by means of interviews or questionnaires. However, there is still a lack of research in the investigation of the influence of the spatial distance to a hazard event on peoples risk perception. While the spatial dimension of a natural hazard event is always assessed in works with a natural science approach, it is often neglected in works on social aspects of natural hazards. In the present study, we aimed to overcome these gaps by combining methods from different disciplines and assessing and mapping the spatial pattern of risk perception through multivariate statistical approaches based on empirical data from questionnaires. We will present results from a case study carried out in Badia, located in the Province of South Tyrol- Italy, where in December 2012 a landslide destroyed four residential buildings and led to the evacuation of 36 people. By means of questionnaires distributed to all adults living in the case study area we assessed people's risk perception and asked respondents to allocate their place of residence on a map of the case study area subdivided in 7 zones. Based on the data of the questionnaire results we developed a risk perception factor in order to express various assessed aspects linked to risk perception with one metric. We analyzed and mapped this factor according to the different zones reflecting the spatial distance to the event. Furthermore, a cluster analysis identified various risk behavior profiles within the population. We also investigated the spatial patterns of these risk profiles. We revealed that the residential

Continuous monitoring of a mountain snowpack in the Austrian Alps by above-ground neutron sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Schattan, Paul; Baroni, Gabriele; Oswald, Sascha E.; Schöber, Johannes; Fey, Christine; Francke, Till; Huttenlau, Matthias; Achleitner, Stefan

2017-04-01

In alpine catchments the knowledge of the spatially and temporally heterogeneous dynamics of snow accumulation and depletion is crucial for modelling and managing water resources. While snow covered area can be retrieved operationally from remote sensing data, continuous measurements of other snow state variables like snow depth (SD) or snow water equivalent (SWE) remain challenging. Existing methods of retrieving both variables in alpine terrain face severe issues like a lack of spatial representativeness, labour-intensity or discontinuity in time. Recently, promising new measurement techniques combining a larger support with low maintenance cost like above-ground gamma-ray scintillators, GPS interferometric reflectometry or above-ground cosmic-ray neutron sensors (CRNS) have been suggested. While CRNS has proven its potential for monitoring soil moisture in a wide range of environments and applications, the empirical knowledge of using CRNS for snowpack monitoring is still very limited and restricted to shallow snowpacks with rather uniform evolution. The characteristics of an above-ground cosmic-ray neutron sensor (CRNS) were therefore evaluated for monitoring a mountain snowpack in the Austrian Alps (Kaunertal, Tyrol) during three winter seasons. The measurement campaign included a number of measurements during the period from 03/2014 to 06/2016: (i) neutron count measurements by CRNS, (ii) continuous point-scale SD and SWE measurements from an automatic weather station and (iii) 17 Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) with simultaneous SD and SWE surveys. The highest accumulation in terms of SWE was found in 04/2014 with 600 mm. Neutron counts were compared to all available snow data. While previous studies suggested a signal saturation at around 100 mm of SWE, no complete signal saturation was found. A strong non-linear relation was found for both SD and SWE with best fits for spatially distributed TLS based snow data. Initially slightly different shapes were

Continuous recording of seismic signals in Alpine permafrost

Science.gov (United States)

Hausmann, H.; Krainer, K.; Staudinger, M.; Brückl, E.

2009-04-01

three different types of applications. It enabled fast and efficient field work and provided excellent seismic data at two permafrost sites. At Krummgampen Valley (Ötztal Alps, Tyrol) 13 seismic profiles were measured at altitudes ranging from 2400 to 2900 m to assess information on the permafrost occurrences. At the crest of Hoher Sonnblick (3106 m, Hohe Tauern, Salzburg) seismic signals were recorded on 15 borehole geophones deployed in three 20 m deep boreholes for the application of seismic tomography and passive monitoring of rock falls.

Introduction to thematic collection “Historical and geological studies of earthquakes”

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kenji Satake

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract This thematic collection contains eight papers mostly presented at the 2016 AOGS meeting in Beijing. Four papers describe historical earthquake studies in Europe, Japan, and China; one paper uses modern instrumental data to examine the effect of giant earthquakes on the seismicity rate; and three papers describe paleoseismological studies using tsunami deposit in Japan, marine terraces in Philippines, and active faults in Himalayas. Hammerl (Geosci Lett 4:7, 2017 introduced historical seismological studies in Austria, starting from methodology which is state of the art in most European countries, followed by a case study for an earthquake of July 17, 1670 in Tyrol. Albini and Rovida (Geosci Lett 3:30, 2016 examined 114 historical records for the earthquake on April 6, 1667 on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea, compiled 37 Macroseismic Data Points, and estimated the epicenter and the size of the earthquake. Matsu’ura (Geosci Lett 4:3, 2017 summarized historical earthquake studies in Japan which resulted in about 8700 Intensity Data Points, assigned epicenters for 214 earthquakes between AD 599 and 1872, and estimated focal depth and magnitudes for 134 events. Wang et al. (Geosci Lett 4:4, 2017 introduced historical seismology in China, where historical earthquake archives include about 15,000 sources, and parametric catalogs include about 1000 historical earthquakes between 2300 BC and AD 1911. Ishibe et al. (Geosci Lett 4:5, 2017 tested the Coulomb stress triggering hypothesis for three giant (M~9 earthquakes that occurred in recent years, and found that at least the 2004 Sumatra–Andaman and 2011 Tohoku earthquakes caused the seismicity rate change. Ishimura (2017 re-estimated the ages of 11 tsunami deposits in the last 4000 years along the Sanriku coast of northern Japan and found that the average recurrence interval of those tsunamis as 350–390 years. Ramos et al. (2017 studied ~ 1000-year-old marine terraces on the west

Speculations on the spatial setting and temporal evolution of a fjord-style lake

Science.gov (United States)

Sarnthein, M.; Spötl, C.

2012-04-01

The Inn Valley, a classical region of Quaternary research in the Alps, is bordered by terraces that extend over almost 70 km and record an ancient lake with a lake level near 750-830 m above sea level (a.s.l.), about 250-300 m above the modern valley floor. Over large distances, the terrace sediments consist mainly of laminated "Banded Clays", above ~750 m a.s.l. overlain by glaciofluvial gravel and finally, by tills that record the Upper Würmian ice advance of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 2. In the (former) clay pit of Baumkirchen this boundary forms the Alpine type locality for the onset of the Upper Würmian, well supported by 14C-based age control first established by Fliri (1971). On the basis of a recently cored sediment section at Baumkirchen, the >200 m thick "Banded Clays" store a continuous, largely undisturbed, highly resolved, and widely varved climatic archive of MIS 3. Major unknowns concern the location and origin of dams that may have barred the vast and deep Inn Valley lake. We discuss potential linkages to the pattern of moraines and ice advance of MIS 4 glaciers, which was less prominent than during MIS 2, thus leading to a distinct east-west segment¬ation of the run-off systems in Tyrol. East of Imst, for example, the lake was possibly barred by both a rock sill reaching up to 830 m a.s.l. and a lateral moraine deposited by an Ötz Valley glacier. 80 km further east, a lateral moraine of a glacier advancing from the Ziller Valley may have barred the ancient Inn Valley lake to the east. The final rapid coarsening of clastic lake sediments at the end of MIS 3 is widely ascribed to major climatic deter¬ioration. However, the MIS 3-2 boundary was linked to an only modest change of global climates and accordingly, different forcings may be considered. In turn, the rapid coarsening may document a date, when the Central Alpine glaciers had already filled the basin of Imst to the west of the Inn Valley lake. This ice mass may have forced the melt

Structurally controlled 'teleconnection' of large-scale mass wasting (Eastern Alps)

Science.gov (United States)

Ostermann, Marc; Sanders, Diethard

2015-04-01

kilometers - from the Brenner Pass area located along the crestline of the Alps to mount Zugspitze near the northern fringe of the Northern Calcareous Alps. Major fault zones and intercalated rigid blocks thus can 'teleconnect' zones of preferred mass-wasting over large lateral distances in orogens. Reference: Prager, C., Zangerl, C., Patzelt, G., Brandner, R., 2008. Age distribution of fossil landslides in the Tyrol (Austria) and its surrounding areas. Natural Hazards and Earth System Science 8, 377-407.

Remote and terrestrial ground monitoring techniques integration for hazard assessment in mountain areas

Science.gov (United States)

Chinellato, Giulia; Kenner, Robert; Iasio, Christian; Mair, Volkmar; Mosna, David; Mulas, Marco; Phillips, Marcia; Strada, Claudia; Zischg, Andreas

2014-05-01

In high mountain regions the choice of appropriate sites for infrastructure such as roads, railways, cable cars or hydropower dams is often very limited. In parallel, the increasing demand for supply infrastructure in the Alps induces a continuous transformation of the territory. The new role played by the precautionary monitoring in the risk governance becomes fundamental and may overcome the modeling of future events, which represented so far the predominant approach to these sort of issues. Furthermore the consequence of considering methodologies alternative to those more exclusive allow to reduce costs and increasing the frequency of measurements, updating continuously the cognitive framework of existing hazard condition in most susceptible territories. The scale factor of the observed area and the multiple purpose of such regional ordinary surveys make it convenient to adopt Radar Satellite-based systems, but they need to be integrated with terrestrial systems for validation and eventual early warning purposes. Significant progress over the past decade in Remote Sensing (RS), Proximal Sensing and integration-based sensor networks systems now provide technologies, that allow to implement monitoring systems for ordinary surveys of extensive areas or regions, which are affected by active natural processes and slope instability. The Interreg project SloMove aims to provide solutions for such challenges and focuses on using remote sensing monitoring techniques for the monitoring of mass movements in two test sites, in South Tyrol (Italy) and in Grisons Canton (Switzerland). The topics faced in this project concern mass movements and slope deformation monitoring techniques, focusing mainly on the integration of multi-temporal interferometry, new generation of terrestrial technologies for differential digital terrain model elaboration provided by laser scanner (TLS), and GNSS-based topographic surveys, which are used not only for validation purpose, but also for

Highlighting landslides and other geomorphological features using sediment connectivity maps

Science.gov (United States)

Bossi, Giulia; Crema, Stefano; Cavalli, Marco; Marcato, Gianluca; Pasuto, Alessandro

2016-04-01

Landslide identification is usually made through interpreting geomorphological features in the field or with remote sensing imagery. In recent years, airborne laser scanning (LiDAR) has enhanced the potentiality of geomorphological investigations by providing a detailed and diffuse representation of the land surface. The development of algorithms for geomorphological analysis based on LiDAR derived high-resolution Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) is increasing. Among them, the sediment connectivity index (IC) has been used to quantify sediment dynamics in alpine catchments. In this work, maps of the sediment connectivity index are used for detecting geomorphological features and processes not exclusively related to water-laden processes or debris flows. The test area is located in the upper Passer Valley in South Tyrol (Italy). Here a 4 km2 Deep-seated Gravitational Slope Deformation (DGSD) with several secondary phenomena has been studied for years. The connectivity index was applied to a well-known study area in order to evaluate its effectiveness as an interpretative layer to assist geomorphological analysis. Results were cross checked with evidence previously identified by means of in situ investigations, photointerpretation and monitoring data. IC was applied to a 2.5 m LiDAR derived DTM using two different scenarios in order to test their effectiveness: i) IC derived on the hydrologically correct DTM; ii) IC derived on the original DTM. In the resulting maps a cluster of low-connectivity areas appears as the deformation of the DGSD induce a convexity in the central part of the phenomenon. The double crests, product of the sagging of the landslide, are extremely evident since in those areas the flow directions diverge from the general drainage pattern, which is directed towards the valley river. In the crown area a rock-slab that shows clear evidence of incumbent detachment is clearly highlighted since the maps emphasize the presence of traction trenches and

Wind effect on PV module temperature: Analysis of different techniques for an accurate estimation.

Science.gov (United States)

Schwingshackl, Clemens; Petitta, Marcello; Ernst Wagner, Jochen; Belluardo, Giorgio; Moser, David; Castelli, Mariapina; Zebisch, Marc; Tetzlaff, Anke

2013-04-01

In this abstract a study on the influence of wind to model the PV module temperature is presented. This study is carried out in the framework of the PV-Alps INTERREG project in which the potential of different photovoltaic technologies is analysed for alpine regions. The PV module temperature depends on different parameters, such as ambient temperature, irradiance, wind speed and PV technology [1]. In most models, a very simple approach is used, where the PV module temperature is calculated from NOCT (nominal operating cell temperature), ambient temperature and irradiance alone [2]. In this study the influence of wind speed on the PV module temperature was investigated. First, different approaches suggested by various authors were tested [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]. For our analysis, temperature, irradiance and wind data from a PV test facility at the airport Bolzano (South Tyrol, Italy) from the EURAC Institute of Renewable Energies were used. The PV module temperature was calculated with different models and compared to the measured PV module temperature at the single panels. The best results were achieved with the approach suggested by Skoplaki et al. [1]. Preliminary results indicate that for all PV technologies which were tested (monocrystalline, amorphous, microcrystalline and polycrystalline silicon and cadmium telluride), modelled and measured PV module temperatures show a higher agreement (RMSE about 3-4 K) compared to standard approaches in which wind is not considered. For further investigation the in-situ measured wind velocities were replaced with wind data from numerical weather forecast models (ECMWF, reanalysis fields). Our results show that the PV module temperature calculated with wind data from ECMWF is still in very good agreement with the measured one (R² > 0.9 for all technologies). Compared to the previous analysis, we find comparable mean values and an increasing standard deviation. These results open a promising approach for PV module

Fluvial sediment transport in a glacier-fed high-mountain river (Riffler Bach, Austrian Alps)

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Morche, David; Weber, Martin; Faust, Matthias; Schuchardt, Anne; Baewert, Henning

2017-04-01

High-alpine environments are strongly affected by glacier retreat since the Little Ice Age (LIA). Due to ongoing climate change the hydrology of proglacial rivers is also influenced. It is expected that the growing proportions of snow melt and rainfall events will change runoff characteristics of proglacial rivers. Additionally, the importance of paraglacial sediment sources in recently deglaciating glacier forefields is increasing, while the role of glacial erosion is declining. Thus complex environmental conditions leading to a complex pattern of fluvial sediment transport in partly glaciated catchments of the European Alps. Under the umbrella of the joint PROSA-project the fluvial sediment transport of the river Riffler Bach (Kaunertal, Tyrol, Austria) was studied in 3 consecutive ablation seasons in order to quantify sediment yields. In June 2012 a probe for water level and an automatic water sampler (AWS) were installed at the outlet of the catchment (20km2). In order to calculate annual stage-discharge-relations by the rating-curve approach, discharge (Q) was repeatedly measured with current meters and by salt dilution. Concurrent to the discharge measurements bed load was collected using a portable Helley-Smith sampler. Bed load samples were weighted and sieved in the laboratory to gain annual bed load rating curves and grain size distributions. In total 564 (2012: 154, 2013: 209, 2014: 201) water samples were collected and subsequently filtered to quantify suspended sediment concentrations (SSC). Q-SSC-relations were calculated for single flood events due to the high variability of suspended sediment transport. The results show a high inter- and intra-annual variability of solid fluvial sediment transport, which can be explained by the characteristics of suspended sediment transport. Only 13 of 22 event-based Q-SSC-relations show causal dependency. In 2012, during a period with multiple pluvial-induced peak discharges most sediment was transported. On the

Integration of multi-temporal airborne and terrestrial laser scanning data for the analysis and modelling of proglacial geomorphodynamic processes

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Briese, Christian; Glira, Philipp; Pfeifer, Norbert

2013-04-01

The actual on-going and predicted climate change leads in sensitive areas like in high-mountain proglacial regions to significant geomorphodynamic processes (e.g. landslides). Within a short time period (even less than a year) these processes lead to a substantial change of the landscape. In order to study and analyse the recent changes in a proglacial environment the multi-disciplinary research project PROSA (high-resolution measurements of morphodynamics in rapidly changing PROglacial Systems of the Alps) selected the study area of the Gepatschferner (Tyrol), the second largest glacier in Austria. One of the challenges within the project is the geometric integration (i.e. georeferencing) of multi-temporal topographic data sets in a continuously changing environment. Furthermore, one has to deal with data sets of multiple scales (large area data sets vs. highly detailed local area observations) that are on one hand necessary to cover the complete proglacial area with the whole catchment and on the other hand guaranty a highly dense and accurate sampling of individual areas of interest (e.g. a certain highly affected slope). This contribution suggests a comprehensive method for the georeferencing of multi-temporal airborne and terrestrial laser scanning (ALS resp. TLS). It is studied by application to the data that was acquired within the project PROSA. In a first step a stable coordinate frame that allows the analysis of the changing environment has to be defined. Subsequently procedures for the transformation of the individual ALS and TLS data sets into this coordinate frame were developed. This includes the selection of appropriate reference areas as well as the development of special targets for the local TLS acquisition that can be used for the absolute georeferencing in the common coordinate frame. Due to the fact that different TLS instruments can be used (some larger distance sensors that allow covering larger areas vs. closer operating sensors that allow a

A national strategy for a long-term monitoring of permafrost and periglacial processes and their relationship to natural hazard prevention in Austria

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Kellerer-Pirklbauer, Andreas; Bartsch, Annett; Gitschthaler, Christoph; Reisenhofer, Stefan; Weyss, Gernot; Riedl, Claudia; Avian, Michael

2016-04-01

of permafrost temperatures in western Austria. A central recommendation of the permAT-strategy is to increase the number of monitoring sites based on our analyses of the current situation and exchanges with different stakeholders. This should include temperature measurements in deep and shallow boreholes close to the surface, geophysical surveys and ground movement measurements (rock glaciers, instable rock faces). In addition to the terrestrial measurements a spatially continuous observation of surface movements with remote sensing methods is required. Demand is highest for the entire federal province of Tyrol, the district of Zell am See (province of Salzburg) and the south-eastern part of the province of Vorarlberg. In order to achieve a similar spatial coverage and technical set-up as in Switzerland a minimum investment of 1.5 Mio € is required taking advantages in synergies with e.g. existing automatic weather stations (e.g. from the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics), alpine huts and skiing infrastructure into account. Financial support could - similarly to Switzerland - come from a combination of partners from public institutions, economy and research institutes.

People at risk - nexus critical infrastructure and society

Science.gov (United States)

Heiser, Micha; Thaler, Thomas; Fuchs, Sven

2016-04-01

Strategic infrastructure networks include the highly complex and interconnected systems that are so vital to a city or state that any sudden disruption can result in debilitating impacts on human life, the economy and the society as a whole. Recently, various studies have applied complex network-based models to study the performance and vulnerability of infrastructure systems under various types of attacks and hazards - a major part of them is, particularly after the 9/11 incident, related to terrorism attacks. Here, vulnerability is generally defined as the performance drop of an infrastructure system under a given disruptive event. The performance can be measured by different metrics, which correspond to various levels of resilience. In this paper, we will address vulnerability and exposure of critical infrastructure in the Eastern Alps. The Federal State Tyrol is an international transport route and an essential component of the north-south transport connectivity in Europe. Any interruption of the transport flow leads to incommensurable consequences in terms of indirect losses, since the system does not feature redundant elements at comparable economic efficiency. Natural hazard processes such as floods, debris flows, rock falls and avalanches, endanger this infrastructure line, such as large flood events in 2005 or 2012, rock falls 2014, which had strong impacts to the critical infrastructure, such as disruption of the railway lines (in 2005 and 2012), highways and motorways (in 2014). The aim of this paper is to present how critical infrastructures as well as communities and societies are vulnerable and can be resilient against natural hazard risks and the relative cascading effects to different compartments (industrial, infrastructural, societal, institutional, cultural, etc.), which is the dominant by the type of hazard (avalanches, torrential flooding, debris flow, rock falls). Specific themes will be addressed in various case studies to allow cross

Spatial distribution and temporal development of high-mountain lakes in western Austria

Science.gov (United States)

Merkl, Sarah; Emmer, Adam; Mergili, Martin

2015-04-01

Glacierized high-mountain environments are characterized by active morphodynamics, favouring the rapid appearance and disappearance of lakes. On the one hand, such lakes indicate high-mountain environmental changes such as the retreat of glaciers. On the other hand, they are sometimes susceptible to sudden drainage, leading to glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) putting the downstream population at risk. Whilst high-mountain lakes have been intensively studied in the Himalayas, the Pamir, the Andes or the Western Alps, this is not the case for the Eastern Alps. A particular research gap, which is attacked with the present work, concerns the western part of Austria. We consider a study area of approx. 6,140 km², covering the central Alps over most of the province of Tyrol and part of the province of Salzburg. All lakes ≥250 m² located higher than 2000 m asl are mapped from high-resolution Google Earth imagery and orthophotos. The lakes are organized into seven classes: (i) ice-dammed; near-glacial (ii) moraine-dammed and (iii) bedrock-dammed; (iv) moraine-dammed and (v) bedrock-dammed distant to the recent glaciers; (vi) landslide-dammed; (vii) anthropogenic. The temporal development of selected lakes is investigated in detail, using aerial photographs dating back to the 1950s. 1045 lakes are identified in the study area. Only eight lakes are ice-dammed (i). One third of all lakes is located in the immediate vicinity of recent glacier tongues, half of them impounded by moraine (ii), half of them by bedrock (iii). Two thirds of all lakes are impounded by features (either moraines or bedrock) shaped by LIA or Pleistocenic glaciers at some distance to the present glacier tongues (iv and v). Only one landslide-dammed lake (vi) is identified in the study area, whilst 21 lakes are of anthropogenic origin (vii). 72% of all lakes are found at 2250-2750 m asl whilst less than 2% are found above 3000 m asl. The ratio of rock-dammed lakes increases with increasing

Non-extremophilic 'extremophiles' - Archaeal dominance in the subsurface and their implication for life

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Reitschuler, Christoph; Lins, Philipp; Illmer, Paul

2014-05-01

Archaea - besides bacteria and eukaryota constituting the third big domain of life - were so far regarded as typical inhabitants of extreme environments, as indicated by the name (Archaeon, Greek: 'original', 'primal'). Previous research and cultivation successes were basically carried out in habitats characterized by extreme temperature, pH and salinity regimes. Such extreme conditions, as expected at the beginning of the Earth's evolution, are occasionally also prevalent on extraterrestrial planets and moons and make the Archaeal domain a key group to be studied concerning life's evolution and the most likely pioneer organisms to colonize environments that are regarded as hostile. However, in recent years it became obvious that Archaea, in particular non-extremophilic species, can be found almost ubiquitously in marine, freshwater, terrestrial and also subsurface habitats and occasionally outnumber other microbial domains and hold key positions in globally relevant energy and nutrient cycles. Besides extreme environments - the big question remains how to define a parameter as extreme - subsurface and cave environments present a window to the past, where adaptions to early life's conditions can be studied and how microbiomes may be structured in a habitat that represents a refugium on extraterrestrial celestial bodies, were surface conditions might be at first sight too extreme for life. The lower part of the alpine Hundsalm cave in Tyrol (Austria) offered a unique opportunity to study an almost pristine cave habitat, which is separated from the touristic part of the ice cave. The main focus of our research was laid on the microbial communities that were supposed to be in connection with secondary carbonate precipitations ('moonmilk'). For the ascertainment of these so far poorly evaluated structures a multiple approach assessment was chosen to generate a virtually complete picture of these subsurface microbiomes. Thereby, a combination of different cultivation

The role of national regulations in RPAS-based mapping projects in the monitoring of natural hazards that could involve infrastructures: the example of the Val Venosta Railway (Northern Italy - Bolzano).

Science.gov (United States)

Gandolfo, Luca; Busnardo, Enrico; Castellarin, Nicola; Canella, Claudio; Canella, Federico; Stabile, Marco; Curci, Francesco; Petrillo, Giovanni

2016-04-01

Italy has adopted National Regulations for the use of RPAS in its country's airspace in December 2013, issued by the Italian Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC). Despite the issued regulations, over the past months an increasing number of unauthorized and unsafe operations have been performed and the attention to safety is growing quickly in the public opinion. For this reason "Critical Operations" is permitted only to those RPAS Operators which have received special authorization by ENAC after a very demanding Aeronautical procedure. According to the Regulations, the flight close to-over urban areas, industrial plants, highways and railways, implies that only authorized RPAS Operators may perform such activities. An example of a "Critical" operation were the RPAS flights performed along the Venosta railway line to evaluate the current situation of two areas affected by geological instability and laid the basis for a future high accurate monitoring. The Venosta Valley is located in the western part of South Tyrol (Norhtern Italy). The valley possesses some unique features compared to the entire Alps, the particularly dry climate and the presence of huge alluvional fans, which give rise to different levels of altitude in the valley. From geological point of view, the Venosta Valley is characterized by the presence of the Austroalpine domain. In particular, there are two different geological units in this area: (i) the crystalline schists of the basement, which includes paragneiss, gneiss, granitoid pegmatites, garnet micaschists, quartzites and phyllites. (ii) The Mesozoic coverage divided into various complexes with successions of phyllites, volcanics and magmatiti. The railway line that runs through the Venosta Valley (Merano - Malles) unfolds along a path of 59,8 kilometers and covers an altitude difference of about 700 meters. In particular, three tunnels characterized the first section, including the M. Giuseppe tunnel, which required extensive consolidations both

IASMHYN: A web tool for mapping Soil Water Budget and agro-hydrological assessment trough the integration of monitoring and remote sensing data

Science.gov (United States)

Bagli, Stefano; Pistocchi, Alberto; Mazzoli, Paolo; Borga, Marco; Bertoldi, Giacomo; Brenner, Johannes; Luzzi, Valerio

2016-04-01

streams: - Daily precipitation and its characteristics (rain, snow or hail, rain erosiveness); - Maximum, minimum and average daily temperature; - Soil Water Content (SWC); - Infiltration into the deep layers of the soil and surface runoff; - Potential loss of soil due to erosion - Residence time of a possible chemical (pesticides, fertilizers) applied to the soil. Thematic real time maps are produced give the user support decision on irrigation, soil management and pesticide/fertilizer application. The ongoing project will also lead to validation and improvement of estimates of hydrological variables from satellite imagery and radar data. The tool has been cross-validated with estimates of evapotranspiration and soil water content in agricultural sites in South Tyrol (Italy) in the framework of MONALISA project (http://www.monalisa-project.eu). A comparison with physical based models, satellite imagery and radar data will allow further generalization of the product. The ultimate goal of the tool is to make available on the market a service that is generally applicable in Europe , using commonly available data, to provide single farmers and organizations effective and up to date information for planning and programming their activities.

Paix et démocratie chez Kreisky – deux processus dynamiques indissociables

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lise Barrière

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Bruno Kreisky, chancelier autrichien de 1970 à 1983 a, tout au long de sa carrière politique, manifesté un grand intérêt pour la construction de la paix et l’apaisement des conflits. Sa première action d’envergure eut lieu à partir de 1959, lorsqu’il devint ministre des Affaires étrangères autrichiennes et qu’il décida de s’emparer de la question du Tyrol méridional qui empoisonnait les relations entre l’Autriche et l’Italie depuis la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Pour tenter de mettre un terme à ce conflit, Kreisky privilégia la discussion avec l’Italie directement, puis ensuite par l’intermédiaire des Nations unies, lorsque les négociations bilatérales aboutirent à une impasse. Si Kreisky manifestait un tel intérêt pour la construction de la paix, c’est parce qu’il considérait que paix et démocratie étaient intimement liées. C’est également cette conviction qui le poussa à vouloir apaiser un conflit qui se déroula sur le territoire autrichien lui-même. Il s’agit du conflit à propos de la mise en place de panneaux bilingues en Carinthie. Dans ce cas, malgré ses efforts, Kreisky ne parvint pas à apaiser les opposants à la loi sur les panneaux bilingues qui refusaient et refusent toujours à l’heure actuelle de voir ériger des panneaux en allemand et en slovène dans les régions de Carinthie à forte minorité slovène.Bruno Kreisky, österreichischer Bundeskanzler von 1970 bis 1983, engagierte sich überaus stark in der Frage der Lösung (internationaler Konflikte. 1959 österreichischer Außenminister geworden, war der erste Konflikt, mit dem er sich auseinanderzusetzen hatte, die sog. „Südtirolfrage“. Überzeugt davon, dass sich diese nur im Rahmen der UNO lösen ließe, bestand der Chef der österreichischen Diplomatie 1960 darauf, das Problem den Vereinten Nationen vorzutragen. Die Vollversammlung der UNO verabschiedete in der Folge tatsächlich zwei Resolutionen, die

Ecohydrological interactions between soil and trees in Alpine apple orchards

Science.gov (United States)

Penna, Daniele; Scandellari, Francesca; Zanotelli, Damiano; Michael, Engel; Tagliavini, Massimo; Comiti, Francesco

2016-04-01

Tracer-based investigations of water exchanges between soil and trees in natural forested catchments are receiving relevant attention in modern ecohydrology. However, the interactions between tree water use and the hydrological cycle in agricultural environments are still poorly understood. In this work, we use stable isotopes of water (2H and 18O) and electric conductivity as tracers to improve our understanding of the functional interrelations between water generating surface runoff and recharging groundwater, and water taken up by apple trees (Malus domestica, cv. 'Pinova') in an Alpine valley in South Tyrol, Northern Italy. From April to October 2015 we monitored two orchards approximately of the same size (roughly 400 m2) and soil texture (silt loam) located in a flat area at different distance from the Adige/Etsch River (50 m vs. 450 m). We have addressed the following questions: i) at which soil depth do apple trees take up water? ii) do apple trees take up water from shallow groundwater? iii) are there differences in the isotopic composition of the water fluxes between the two sites? Samples for isotopic analysis were taken approximately fortnightly from the river, two groundwater wells close to each field, mobile soil water (from suction cups at 25 cm and 50 cm), open area precipitation, throughfall, irrigation and sap (through a portable pressure bomb). Tightly-bound soil water was also cryogenically extracted from samples taken every 10 cm from 60 cm-long soil cores taken at three locations for each field on one occasion in mid-summer. Ancillary measurements were electrical conductivity of all water sources except for sap. In addition to meteorological and discharge data, soil moisture was continuously measured at 10 cm and 50 cm in three locations, and sap flow on three trees, for each field. Preliminary results show that two water pools with distinct isotopic signature exist: i) river water, groundwater and irrigation water show values relatively

A comparison of multicopter and fixed-wing unmanned aerial systems (UAS) applied to mapping debris flows in small alpine catchments

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Sotier, Bernadette; Lechner, Veronika

2016-04-01

The use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for documenting natural hazard events (e.g. debris flows) is becoming increasingly popular, as UAS allow on-demand, flexible and cost-efficient data acquisition. In this paper, we present the results of a comparison of multicopter and fixed-wing UAS. They were employed in the summer of 2015 to map two small alpine catchments located in Western Austria, where debris flows had occurred recently: The first event took place in the Seigesbach (Tyrol), the second occurred in the Plojergraben (Salzburg). For the Seigesbach mission, a fixed-wing UAS (Multiplex Mentor), equipped with a Sony NEX5 (50 mm prime lens, 14 MP sensor resolution) was employed to acquire approximately 4,000 images. In the Plojergraben an AustroDrones X18 octocopter was used, carrying a Sony ILCE-7R (35 mm prime lens, 36 MP sensor resolution) to record 1,700 images. Both sites had a size of approximately 2km². 20 ground control points (GCP) were distributed within both catchments, and their location was measured (Trimble GeoXT, expected accuracy 0.15 m). Using standard structure-from-motion photogrammetry software (AgiSoft PhotoScan Pro, v. 1.1.6), orthophotos (5 cm ground sampling distance - GSD) and digital surface models (DSM) (20 cm GSD) were calculated. Volume differences caused by the debris flow (i.e. deposition heights and erosion depths) computed by subtracting post-event from pre-event DSMs. Even though the terrain conditions in the two catchments were comparable, the challenges during the field campaign and the evaluation of the aerial images were very different. The main difference between the two campaigns was the number of flights required to cover the catchment: only four were needed by the fixed-wing UAS, while the multicopter required eleven in the Plojergraben. The fixed-wing UAS is specially designed for missions in hardly accessible regions, requiring only two people to carry the whole equipment, while in this case a car was needed for the

Spirits and liqueurs in European traditional medicine: Their history and ethnobotany in Tuscany and Bologna (Italy).

Science.gov (United States)

Egea, Teresa; Signorini, Maria Adele; Bruschi, Piero; Rivera, Diego; Obón, Concepción; Alcaraz, Francisco; Palazón, José Antonio

2015-12-04

fermented beverages, liqueurs, distilled spirits and aromatized wines. Among these, 37 ingredients (33 species) are used as medicinal remedies. 15 ingredients (14 species) are also used to prepare specific medicinal liqueurs. Most are addressed to the treatment of diseases of the digestive system, dyspepsia in particular, followed by diseases of the respiratory system symptoms, not elsewhere classified and diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue, fundamentally of allergic origin. Although medicinal wines, liqueurs and spirits are recorded in numerous classical herbals and pharmacopoeias in Italy and other countries of Europe these show in terms of formulations and ingredients little influence in the ethnobotanical formulations recorded in Alta Valle del Reno (Italy), they apparently play no role in present ethnobotanical knowledge in Appennino Tosco-Emiliano and similarly in other areas of Italy, France and Austria. No (or very poor) persistence was found of ancient uses, recipes and formulas for medicinal liqueurs from pharmacopoeias and herbals of the 16th century CE in later periods in the formulas in use in the pharmacies of Tuscany. Popular recipes are strongly dependent on the availability of local wild and cultivated plants. Overall, Alta Valle del Reno ethnobotanical formulations of medicinal wines and spirits are extremely simple involving from one single ingredient to a few, which are locally produced or collected and selected among relevant medicinal resources used for a wide range of diseases in form of non-alcoholic aqueous extracts. Fruits gathered in the forests are the main ingredients which in this aspect show similarities with those from Tyrol (Austria). Medicinal liqueurs and wines are in analyzed ethnobotanical data mainly employed as digestives. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Teenagers as scientist - Learning by doing or doing without learning?

Science.gov (United States)

Kapelari, Suzanne; Carli, Elisabeth; Tappeiner, Ulrike

2010-05-01

involve scientists and children simulates the research process and has a high impact on skill building for both partners". In the contrary hardly anything do we actually know about how effective these learning environments really are. For the last decades a large body of science education research has predominantly taken place in laboratories and formal educational settings. Significant "blind spots" in the current literature appear when it comes to focusing on "the nature of learning in outdoor education" as well as "learning in research-education partnerships". The Institute of Ecology at the University of Innsbruck, Austria was awarded the project: Top-Klima-Science: Hydrologic Balance and Global Change: Future Prospect for Mountain Areas in the Face of Changes in Land Use and Climate. The University of Innsbruck and the European Academy Bolzano are coordinating their efforts with their partner school HLFS Kematen in Tyrol. Two classes with nearly 60 students age 15 -18 years are involved in all areas of the project. The research project as such is accompanied by an ongoing evaluation of the process, which is carried out by science education researchers from the Science Education Centre at the University to Innsbruck, Austria. Iterative testing of teaching and learning strategies to improve them as they are developed is going along with a front, middle and end evaluation to find out what expectations, fears and motivations pupils, teachers and researchers have before joining in and how these develop in course of the two years working relationship. Evaluators also watch closely on how pupil develop their conceptual understanding of the topic they are investigating and whether their attitude towards science and science research changes in course of working as "real scientists. This talk will present preliminary results from work in progress and will discuss pros and cons of "doing real research" as a long term strategy for science in tomorrow's classrooms.

Towards Automation in Landcover Mapping from LiDAR Data in Alpine Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Dorninger, Peter; Briese, Christian; Nothegger, Clemens; Klauser, Armin

2010-05-01

Digital terrain models derived from airborne LiDAR (often referred to as airborne laser scanning) are commonly used for various applications in geomorphology. The ongoing development in sensor technology makes flight campaigns with some 10 points per square meter economically feasible for large areas. Simultaneously, the achievable accuracy of the originally acquired points as well as those of the derived products increases due to improved measurement techniques. Additionally, full-waveform (FWF) laser scanning systems record the time-dependent strength of the backscattered signal. This allows for the determination of numerous points (i.e. echoes) for one emitted laser beam hitting multiple targets within its footprint. Practically, about five echoes may be determined from the digitized signal form. Furthermore, additional attributes can be determined for each echo. These are, for example, a reflectivity measure (amplitude), the widening of the echo (echo width), or the sequence of the echoes of a single shot. By considering the polar measurement range and atmospheric conditions, a physical calibration of such measurements is possible. The application of FWF information to increase the accuracy and the reliability of digital terrain models especially in areas with dense vegetation was shown by Doneus & Briese (2006). However, these additional attributes are rarely used for object or landcover classification. This is still the domain of automated image interpretation (e.g. Zebedin et al., 2006). Nevertheless, image interpretation has well known deficiencies in areas with vegetation or if shadows occur. Therefore, we tested a hybrid approach which uses conventional first echo / last echo (FE/LE) airborne laser scanning data (first and last pulse) and an RGB-orthophoto. The testing site is located in an alpine area in Tyrol, Austria. For the classification, topographic models, a slope map, a local roughness measure and a penetration ratio were determined from the

Monitoring soil moisture patterns in alpine meadows using ground sensor networks and remote sensing techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Bertoldi, Giacomo; Brenner, Johannes; Notarnicola, Claudia; Greifeneder, Felix; Nicolini, Irene; Della Chiesa, Stefano; Niedrist, Georg; Tappeiner, Ulrike

2015-04-01

Soil moisture content (SMC) is a key factor for numerous processes, including runoff generation, groundwater recharge, evapotranspiration, soil respiration, and biological productivity. Understanding the controls on the spatial and temporal variability of SMC in mountain catchments is an essential step towards improving quantitative predictions of catchment hydrological processes and related ecosystem services. The interacting influences of precipitation, soil properties, vegetation, and topography on SMC and the influence of SMC patterns on runoff generation processes have been extensively investigated (Vereecken et al., 2014). However, in mountain areas, obtaining reliable SMC estimations is still challenging, because of the high variability in topography, soil and vegetation properties. In the last few years, there has been an increasing interest in the estimation of surface SMC at local scales. On the one hand, low cost wireless sensor networks provide high-resolution SMC time series. On the other hand, active remote sensing microwave techniques, such as Synthetic Aperture Radars (SARs), show promising results (Bertoldi et al. 2014). As these data provide continuous coverage of large spatial extents with high spatial resolution (10-20 m), they are particularly in demand for mountain areas. However, there are still limitations related to the fact that the SAR signal can penetrate only a few centimeters in the soil. Moreover, the signal is strongly influenced by vegetation, surface roughness and topography. In this contribution, we analyse the spatial and temporal dynamics of surface and root-zone SMC (2.5 - 5 - 25 cm depth) of alpine meadows and pastures in the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Area Mazia Valley (South Tyrol - Italy) with different techniques: (I) a network of 18 stations; (II) field campaigns with mobile ground sensors; (III) 20-m resolution RADARSAT2 SAR images; (IV) numerical simulations using the GEOtop hydrological model (Rigon et al

Analysis of the ‘reformpool’-activity in Austria: is the challenge met?

Science.gov (United States)

Czypionka, Thomas; Röhrling, Gerald

2009-01-01

them 1, with activity subsiding in 2008 (6 projects with a volume of € 2.5 Mio total for 5 of them 1) and most certainly in 2009 (with diminishing tax revenues and health insurance contributions) with only one project granted in the first quarter of the year. Of all funds (theoretically) available, only about 16% have been put to use in a reformpool project per year, with high variation (e.g. in the region of Styria over 30%, in Tyrol only 1.5%). (Preliminary) Conclusions From our study we can tell that the instrument of reformpool was not devised well concerning its incentive structure, and the interest to conduct such projects is diminishing. Stricter control of the requirements by the federal level, more pronounced requirements, a dedication of the funds to projects instead of a virtual budget and more cooperation between regions could improve the effectiveness of the instrument. Conflicts of interest: The project was funded by the federal association of social security institutions. All authors are researchers at the IHS and hold no commercial interests in the subject. Additional information: Founded by the economist Oskar Morgenstern and the sociologist Paul Lazarsfeld, the IHS (Institute for Advanced Studies) is a non-profit post-graduate teaching and research facility in the fields of economics, sociology and politology, and one of the two Austrian institutes preparing the official economic forecast for Austria. For more than a decade, it has been one of the major research facilities in the fields of health economics and health policy in Austria.