The Apuan Alps are characterized by frequent heavy rainfall. In several cases this triggered many shallow landslides (soil slips). With the aim of contributing to the landslide hazard evaluation of the southern Apuan Alps (upper Versilian area), a detailed analysis of the main pluviometric events was carried out. Data recorded at the main raingauge of the area from 1975 to 2002 were analysed an...

The Mesoscale Alpine Program (MAP) is a cooperative international effort to improve numerical forecasting of precipitation and circulation patterns over complex terrain (Bougeault et al. 2000). One of the primary objectives is better understanding of the mechanisms of heavy orographic precipitation. An intensive field phase of MAP was held over the European Alps from 7 September 1999 to 15 Nove...

Background Autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome (ALPS) a disease which is based on primary violations lymphocyte apoptosis caused by various molecular defects: mutation in the proapoptotic receptor Fas (la ALPS type) or its ligand FasL (Ib type), a mutation in the gene caspase10 (type II), or an unidentified defect in the signaling pathway of Fas-receptor (III type). The typical clinical pic...

An Axion-Like Particle (ALP) is any scalar or pseudo-scalar field which couples to the kinetic terms of the photon. The pseudo scalar coupling to photons is identical to that of the axion; L ⊃ φ 4M ǫμνλρFF, and a scalar field couples through the Lagrangian term; L ⊃ φ 4MFμνF μν . The presence of contact interactions between ALPs and photons means that ALPs affect the propagation of photons thro...

We argue that a large region of so-far unconstrained parameter space for axionlike particles (ALPs), where their couplings to the standard model are of order (0.01-1)  TeV^{-1}, can be explored by searches for the exotic Higgs decays h→Za and h→aa in run 2 of the LHC. Almost the complete region in which ALPs can explain the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon can be probed by searches for the...

We propose that axionlike particles (ALPs) with a two-photon vertex, consistent with all astrophysical and laboratory bounds, may lead to a detectable signature in the spectra of high-energy gamma-ray sources. This occurs as a result of gamma rays being converted into ALPs in the magnetic fields of efficient astrophysical accelerators according to the "Hillas criterion", such as jets of active ...

The Alps are a hotspot of biodiversity in Europe with many Lepidoptera species still to be discovered. Here we describe a new gracillariid genus and species, Mercantouria neli gen. n. and sp. n. The morphology of the male genitalia is highly differentiated with unique features. DNA barcodes show that its nearest neighbor is the North American species 'Caloptilia' scutellariella (Braun, 1923). M...

This contribution provides an overview of the intricacies of mountain climates, particularly as they pertain to the European Alps. Examples will be given of issues that are related to climatic change as observed in the Alps during the course of the 20th century, and some of the physical mechanisms that may be responsible for those changes. The discussion will then focus on the problems related ...

A new species, Acerentulus shrubovychae sp. nov., from Ligurian Alps, northwestern Italy, is described and illustrated. All specimens are deposited in the Genoa Natural History Civic Museum (MSNG).

Article history: In the Southern Alps, New Z Received 2 April 2008 Received in revised form 21 December 2008 Accepted 22 December 2008 Available online 3 January 2009