This paper applies a choice experiment to estimate how Austrian households value the multiple impacts associated with future hydropower investments. Clear evidence was obtained that Austrian households are willing to pay for an expansion of hydropower capacities. More precisely, Austrians are willing to incur extra costs for economic (employment) and environmental (reduced air emissions) benefits related to the generation of electricity from hydroelectric power, but wish to be compensated for the loss of nature and landscape new hydropower plants are associated with. This relation can formally be denoted as the ‘energy–water trade-off’ imposed by the use of hydropower. Moreover, confirmation of the ‘Not in my backyard’ phenomenon was found, meaning that people prefer the construction of new hydropower stations, but not close to their homes.

We simulate and analyze the direct and indirect economic impacts of climate change on water availability for irrigation on the economy of the Netherlands and the other EU countries which share the Rhine and Meuse river basin (France, Germany and Belgium), employing a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. We make use of the GTAP-W model, distinguishing between rainfed and irrigated land and irrigation water as input factors in agricultural production. We assess the scope of market adaptation to climate change by comparing the CGE results with the direct agricultural damage costs estimated using hydrological and crop growth models. We find considerable scope for market adaptation in that total economic impacts on agriculture are much lower when accounting for substitution effects and cross-sectoral and cross-country interlinkages, while the impact on the nonagricultural sectors becomes larger when these substitution effects and interlinkages are accounted for.

Employing a multi-region multi-sector computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling framework, this study estimates the direct and indirect economic impacts of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Eastern Nile economies. The study contributes to the existing literature by evaluating the impact of the dam under three different climatic and hydrological scenarios, taking into account both the transient GERD impounding phase and the long-term operation phase in a global CGE setting. The results demonstrate the significance of the GERD in generating basin-wide economic benefits and improving welfare in the Eastern Nile basin. During the impounding phase, the GERD benefits mainly Ethiopia and to some extent Sudan. GERD impounding inflicts economic costs, however, on Egypt, especially if it occurs during a sequence of dry years, and depending on the level of water withdrawal in Sudan. The negative effects of the GERD on Egypt׳s economy are reversed when the GERD becomes operational. In that case, the GERD generates substantial economic benefits and enhances economic growth and welfare in all the Eastern Nile countries. Instituting a basin-wide power trade scheme would substantially boost Egypt׳s economy and thereby further increase the economic value of the dam.

Testing chemicals for fish acute toxicity is a legal requirement in many countries as part of environmental risk assessment. To reduce the number of fish used, substantial efforts have been focused on alternative approaches. Prominently, the cell viability assay with the rainbow trout (<em>Oncorhynchus mykiss</em>) gill cell line, RTgill-W1, has proven to be highly predictive and robust. Like the gills, the intestine is considered a major site of chemical uptake and biotransformation, but, in contrast to the gills, it is expected to be exposed to more hydrophobic chemicals, which enter the fish via food. In the present study, we therefore aimed to extend the cell bioassay to the rainbow trout epithelial cell line from intestine, RTgutGC. Using 16 hydrophobic and volatile chemicals from the fragrance palette, we show that also the RTgutGC cell line can be used to predict fish acute toxicity of chemicals and yields intra-laboratory variability in line with other bioassays. By comparing the RTgutGC toxicity to a study employing the RTgill-W1 assay on the same group of chemicals, a fragrance-specific rela­tionship was established that reflects an almost perfect 1:1 relationship between <em>in vitro </em>and <em>in vivo </em>toxicity results. Thus, both cell lines can be used to predict fish acute toxicity, either by extrapolating based on the <em>in vivo-in vitro </em>relationship or by taking the <em>in vitro </em>results at face value. We moreover demonstrate the derivation of non-toxic concentrations for down­stream applications that rely on a healthy cell state, such as the assessment of biotransformation or chemical transfer.

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)–CoV-2, has gained unprecedented global attention. SARS-CoV-2, which causes the newly described coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has affected millions of people and led to over 1.9 million deaths worldwide by the beginning of January 2021. Several governments have opted for lockdown as one of the measures to combat the rapidly increasing number of COVID-19 cases. Academic institutions (i.e., universities, colleges, research centers and national laboratories), which are home to thousands of students, researchers, technicians, and administrative staff, have strictly followed government regulations. Due to the lockdown, the majority of academics are facing various challenges, especially in transitioning from classroom to remote teaching and conducting research activities from a home office. This article from an early-career researchers’ perspective addresses the common challenges that academic institutions have faced and possible strategies they have adopted at the individual organizational level. Furthermore, we propose a framework to facilitate the handling of such crisis in any near future at the organizational level. We hope academics, policymakers and (non) government organizations across the globe will find this perspective a call to better improve the overall infrastructure of academic institutions.

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird eine neue Blaualge <em>Plectonema capitata</em> beschrieben und ein Beitrag geliefert zur Kenntnis der Fadenmorphologie und der Ausbildung der Scheide bei den Cyanophyceen.