In den vorangehenden Kapiteln wurden verschiedene Analysen zur Verbreitung erneuerbarer Energien in der Schweiz präsentiert. Dabei fokussierten wir auf die unterschiedliche Verbreitung von Anlagen in den Kantonen und den Gründen dafür, auf die Motive bei der Wahl von Steuerungsinstrumenten in den Kantonen zugunsten der erneuerbaren Energien sowie auf die Einstellung der Bevölkerung zu verschiedenen Arten der Elektrizitätsproduktion. Zentral waren dabei die Aspekte der sozialen Akzeptanz. Diese wurde analysiert in Bezug auf die Präferenzen der kantonalen Elite wie auch im Hinblick auf die Reaktionen der Bevölkerung auf Projekte im Bereich der erneuerbare Energie. Dabei haben wir nicht zuletzt den Einfluss der direkten Demokratie und der föderalen Staatsstruktur auf den Verlauf der politischen Entscheidungsprozesse zur Förderung der erneuerbaren Energien beleuchtet.<br /><br /> Im abschliessenden Kapitel verfolgen wir das Ziel, die verschiedenen Befunde in einer Synthese zusammenzufassen. Dazu werden im nächsten Unterkapitel die wichtigsten Ergebnisse dargelegt und damit zwei Fragen beantwortet: Welche Faktoren beeinflussen die Verbreitung der erneuerbaren Energie in der  Schweiz und wie lassen sich politische Instrumente zur Förderung erneuerbarer Energie einführen und umsetzen? Anschliessend werden übergreifende, zentrale Erkenntnisse diskutiert. Dazu gehören das Verhältnis zwischen der politischen Elite und der Bevölkerung, die Frage der Steuerungsinstrumente und das Mass von Akzeptanz für eine erfolgreiche Energiepolitik. Im letzten Unterkapitel stellen wir sieben Empfehlungen vor.

Sludge management arises as a relevant problem after being accumulated in primary ponds of septage treatment plants. One of the most attractive options for sludge disposal is its use in agriculture and then specific guidelines regarding hygienic quality must be fulfilled. This study aimed at evaluating the storage time needed to inactivate Ascaris eggs and Salmonella in sludge accumulated in a primary pond treating septage. Raw septage exhibited very low concentrations of viable Ascaris eggs, hence, experiments with Ascaris suum egg spiking were conducted. The concentration of Ascaris eggs in the solids accumulated at the bottom of the pond was 20 eggs/g of total solids (g TS) at the time of pond closure. Although it decreased, some eggs remained viable (0.59 mean viable eggs/g TS) up to 20 months of in-pond storage of the biosolids. Salmonella survival was studied after developing an analytical method that inhibited the native flora. Sludge was seeded with Salmonella enteritidis. An equation adequately describing Salmonella die-off in biosolids subjected to 115 days of in-pond storage/dewatering, was found to be represented by the regression: y = log MPN Salmonella/g TS = 6.67 · t – 0.086, with "t" = storage time elapsed in days. The initial concentration was 7.0x106 MPN/g TS and the removal efficiency was 99%.

Evolutionary theory of senescence emphasizes the importance of intense selection on early reproduction owing to the declining force of natural selection with age that constrains lifespan. In humans, recent studies have, however, suggested that late-life mortality might be more closely related to late rather than early reproduction, although the role of late reproduction on fitness remains unclear. We examined the association between early and late reproduction with longevity in historical post-reproductive Sami women. We also estimated the strength of natural selection on early and late reproduction using path analysis, and the effect of reproductive timing on offspring survival to adulthood and maternal risk of dying at childbirth. We found that natural selection favoured both earlier start and later cessation of reproduction, and higher total fecundity. Maternal age at childbirth was not related to offspring or maternal survival. Interestingly, females who produced their last offspring at advanced age also lived longest, while age at first reproduction and total fecundity were unrelated to female longevity. Our results thus suggest that reproductive and somatic senescence may have been coupled in these human populations, and that selection could have favoured late reproduction. We discuss alternative hypotheses for the mechanisms which might have promoted the association between late reproduction and longevity.

In contrast to the plethora of studies focusing on the genomic basis of adaptive phenotypic divergence, the role of gene expression during speciation has been much less investigated and consequently less understood. Yet, the convergence of differential gene expression patterns between closely related species‐pairs might reflect the role of natural selection during the process of ecological speciation. Here, we test for intercontinental convergence in differential transcriptional signatures between limnetic and benthic sympatric species‐pairs of Lake Whitefish (<em>Coregonus clupeaformis</em>) and its sister lineage, the European Whitefish (<em>Coregonus lavaretus</em>), using six replicated sympatric species‐pairs (two in North America, two in Norway and two in Switzerland). We characterized both sequence variation in transcribed regions and differential gene expression between sympatric limnetic and benthic species across regions and continents. Our first finding was that differentially expressed genes (DEG) between limnetic and benthic whitefish tend to be enriched in shared polymorphism among sister lineages. We then used both genotypes and covariation in expression in order to infer polygenic selection at the gene level. We identified parallel outliers and DEG involving genes primarily overexpressed in limnetic species relative to the benthic species. Our analysis finally revealed the existence of shared genomic bases underlying parallel differential expression across replicated species‐pairs from both continents, such as a <em>cis</em>‐eQTL affecting the pyruvate kinase expression level involved in glycolysis. Our results are consistent with a long‐standing role of natural selection in maintaining trans‐continental diversity at phenotypic traits involved in ecological speciation between limnetic and benthic whitefishes.