Internationalization dynamics in the Swiss Corporate Tax Reform III

Over the last years, in a context of international tax competition, international and regional institutions such as the G20, the OECD, and the European Union are redefining what is acceptable in terms of corporate fiscal policy. Certain Swiss preferential tax treatments are considered by the above-mentioned institutions as harmful tax practices. As a consequence, the Swiss government has planned a third corporate tax reform (CTR III). The objective of this reform is to ensure international acceptability of the corporate tax system without prejudicing local public finances and Swiss corporate tax attractiveness. Therefore, we can posit that the CTR III is an internationalized object influenced by both regulation trends and tax competition framework. The main purpose of this paper is to provide elements of answer on how the currently discussed CTR III is influenced by the international environment, by focusing on its content as well as the reactions and positions of local stakeholders. With the help of internationalization literature, two distinct internationalization processes have been identified through the propositions of compliance measures with internationally-defined standards and competitiveness-enhancing measures. With regard to the configuration of local actors, the degree of conflict seems to be rather high. The current content of the reform is supported by the business community and right-wing parties and rejected by the unions and the Socialist Party.

International STakeholder NETwork (ISTNET): creating a developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) testing road map for regulatory purposes.

A major problem in developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) risk assessment is the lack of toxicological hazard information for most compounds. Therefore, new approaches are being considered to provide adequate experimental data that allow regulatory decisions. This process requires a matching of regulatory needs on the one hand and the opportunities provided by new test systems and methods on the other hand. Alignment of academically and industrially driven assay development with regulatory needs in the field of DNT is a core mission of the International STakeholder NETwork (ISTNET) in DNT testing. The first meeting of ISTNET was held in Zurich on 23-24 January 2014 in order to explore the concept of adverse outcome pathway (AOP) to practical DNT testing. AOPs were considered promising tools to promote test systems development according to regulatory needs. Moreover, the AOP concept was identified as an important guiding principle to assemble predictive integrated testing strategies (ITSs) for DNT. The recommendations on a road map towards AOP-based DNT testing is considered a stepwise approach, operating initially with incomplete AOPs for compound grouping, and focussing on key events of neurodevelopment. Next steps to be considered in follow-up activities are the use of case studies to further apply the AOP concept in regulatory DNT testing, making use of AOP intersections (common key events) for economic development of screening assays, and addressing the transition from qualitative descriptions to quantitative network modelling.

Analytical Strategies for Doping Control Purposes: Needs, Challenges, and Perspectives.

The fight against doping in sports has been governed since 1999 by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), an independent institution behind the implementation of the World Anti-Doping Code (Code). The intent of the Code is to protect clean athletes through the harmonization of anti-doping programs at the international level with special attention to detection, deterrence and prevention of doping.1 A new version of the Code came into force on January 1st 2015, introducing, among other improvements, longer periods of sanctioning for athletes (up to four years) and measures to strengthen the role of anti-doping investigations and intelligence. To ensure optimal harmonization, five International Standards covering different technical aspects of the Code are also currently in force: the List of Prohibited Substances and Methods (List), Testing and Investigations, Laboratories, Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUE) and Protection of Privacy and Personal Information. Adherence to these standards is mandatory for all anti-doping stakeholders to be compliant with the Code. Among these documents, the eighth version of International Standard for Laboratories (ISL), which also came into effect on January 1st 2015, includes regulations for WADA and ISO/IEC 17025 accreditations and their application for urine and blood sample analysis by anti-doping laboratories.2 Specific requirements are also described in several Technical Documents or Guidelines in which various topics are highlighted such as the identification criteria for gas chromatography (GC) and liquid chromatography (LC) coupled to mass spectrometry (MS) techniques (IDCR), measurements and reporting of endogenous androgenic anabolic agents (EAAS) and analytical requirements for the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP).

Ultra-high Field (7 T) MRI and a Novel Robust Segmentation of Thalamic Nuclei on DWI for Gamma Knife Surgery Purposes: The Targeting of the Ventrointermediate Nucleus

Introduction: Gamma Knife surgery (GKS) is a noninvasive neurosurgical stereotactic procedure, increasingly used as an alternative to open functional procedures. This includes the targeting of the ventrointermediate nucleus of the thalamus (e.g., Vim) for tremor. Objective: To enhance anatomic imaging for Vim GKS using high-field (7 T) MRI and Diffusion Weighted Imaging (DWI). Methods: Five young healthy subjects and two patients were scanned both on 3 and 7 T MRI. The protocol was the same in all cases, and included: T1-weighted (T1w) and DWI at 3T; susceptibility weighted images (SWI) at 7T for the visualization of thalamic subparts. SWI was further integrated into the Gamma Plan Software® (LGP, Elekta Instruments, AB, Sweden) and co-registered with 3T images. A simulation of targeting of the Vim was done using the quadrilatere of Guyot. Furthermore, a correlation with the position of the found target on SWI and also on DWI (after clustering of the different thalamic nuclei) was performed. Results: For the 5 healthy subjects, there was a good correlation between the position of the Vim on SWI, DWI and the GKS targeting. For the patients, on the pretherapeutic acquisitions, SWI helped in positioning the target. For posttherapeutic sequences, SWI supposed position of the Vim matched the corresponding contrast enhancement seen at follow-up MRI. Additionally, on the patient's follow-up T1w images, we could observe a small area of contrast-enhancement corresponding to the target used in GKS (e.g., Vim), which belongs to the Ventral-Lateral-Ventral (VLV) nuclei group. Our clustering method resulted in seven thalamic groups. Conclusion: The use of SWI provided us with a superior resolution and an improved image contrast within the central gray matter, enabling us to directly visualize the Vim. We additionally propose a novel robust method for segmenting the thalamus in seven anatomical groups based on DWI. The localization of the GKS target on the follow-up T1w images, as well as the position of the Vim on 7 T, have been used as a gold standard for the validation of VLV cluster's emplacement. The contrast enhancement corresponding to the targeted area was always localized inside the expected cluster, providing strong evidence of the VLV segmentation accuracy. The anatomical correlation between the direct visualization on 7T and the current targeting methods on 3T (e.g., quadrilatere of Guyot, histological atlases, DWI) seems to show a very good anatomical matching.

Development of a systematic computer vision-based method to analyse and compare images of false identity documents for forensic intelligence purposes-Part I: acquisition, calibration and validation issues

Following their detection and seizure by police and border guard authorities, false identity and travel documents are usually scanned, producing digital images. This research investigates the potential of these images to classify false identity documents, highlight links between documents produced by a same modus operandi or same source, and thus support forensic intelligence efforts. Inspired by previous research work about digital images of Ecstasy tablets, a systematic and complete method has been developed to acquire, collect, process and compare images of false identity documents. This first part of the article highlights the critical steps of the method and the development of a prototype that processes regions of interest extracted from images. Acquisition conditions have been fine-tuned in order to optimise reproducibility and comparability of images. Different filters and comparison metrics have been evaluated and the performance of the method has been assessed using two calibration and validation sets of documents, made up of 101 Italian driving licenses and 96 Portuguese passports seized in Switzerland, among which some were known to come from common sources. Results indicate that the use of Hue and Edge filters or their combination to extract profiles from images, and then the comparison of profiles with a Canberra distance-based metric provides the most accurate classification of documents. The method appears also to be quick, efficient and inexpensive. It can be easily operated from remote locations and shared amongst different organisations, which makes it very convenient for future operational applications. The method could serve as a first fast triage method that may help target more resource-intensive profiling methods (based on a visual, physical or chemical examination of documents for instance). Its contribution to forensic intelligence and its application to several sets of false identity documents seized by police and border guards will be developed in a forthcoming article (part II).