This paper describes the hitherto unknown larva of Apatania helvetica Schmid 1954. Sequence data from the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase region were used to associate adult females and larvae. Genetic data confirmed the autochthonous status of this taxon within the parthenogenetic Apatania muliebris Complex ('sous groupe') sensu Schmid 1954. Information on the morphology of the larva is giv...

We studied the phylogeography of Eryngium alpinum by sequencing two intergenic chloroplast spacers, trnH-psbA and trnS-trnG (1322 bp). The sampling design included 36 populations and 397 individuals spanning the entire distribution range of the species, from France to Bosnia. Twenty-one haplotypes were characterized and polymorphism was observed both within and among populations. Population dif...

The real option management of commodity conversion assets gives rise to intractable Markov decision processes (MDPs), in part due to the use of high dimensional models of commodity forward curve evolution, as commonly done in practice. Focusing on commodity storage, we identify a deficiency of approximate linear programming, which we address by developing a novel approach to derive relaxations ...

The European high Alps are internationally renowned for their dairy produce, which are of huge cultural and economic significance to the region. Although the recent history of alpine dairying has been well studied, virtually nothing is known regarding the origins of this practice. This is due to poor preservation of high altitude archaeological sites and the ephemeral nature of transhumance eco...

Quaternary glaciations and mostly last glacial maximum have shaped the contemporary distribution of many species in the Alps. However, in the Maritime and Ligurian Alps a more complex picture is suggested by the presence of many Tertiary paleoendemisms and by the divergence time between lineages in one endemic species predating the Late Pleistocene glaciation. The low number of endemic species ...

Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable B-cell malignancy, requiring new therapeutic strategies. We have found that synthetic alkyl-lysophospholipids (ALPs) edelfosine and perifosine induced apoptosis in MM cell lines and patient MM cells, whereas normal B and T lymphocytes were spared. ALPs induced recruitment of Fas/CD95 death receptor, Fas-associated death domain-containing protein, and procas...

This study integrates quantitative social network analysis (SNA) and qualitative interviews for understanding tourism business links in isolated communities through analysing spatial characteristics. Two case studies are used, the Surselva-Gotthard region in the Swiss Alps and Longyearbyen in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, to test the spatial characteristics of physical proximity, isolatio...

Let us briefly describe a pedagogical example from [15] and a real-life example. Our pedagogical example is a triangle. A triangle is described by its angles A,B, C and side lengths a, b, c, and we know the following relations between them: A+ B+C = π (the sum of the angles is 180, or π radians), a2+b2−2ab cosC = c and similar expressions for a and b (cosine theorem), and a/ sin A = b/ sin B = ...

The fossil coralline fl ora of the Badenian bioclastic limestone outcropping in Northern Croatia is known by the name “Litavac”, shortened from “Lithothamnium Limestone”. The name was given to indicate that unidentifi ed coralline algae are the major component. In this fi rst contribution to the knowledge of the coralline fl ora of the Litavac, Lithothamnion valens seems to be the most common s...

25 years after the discovery in the Ötztal Italian Alps, the 5,300-year-old mummy keeps providing key information on human biological and medical conditions, aspects of everyday life and societal organization in the Copper Age. The hand axe found with the body of the Alpine Iceman is one of the rare copper objects that is firmly dated to the early Copper Age because of the radiocarbon dating of...