Transnational authority in the knowledge-based economy: Who sets the standards of ICT training and certification?

This article examines the extent and limits of nonstate forms of authority in international relations. It analyzes how the information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure for the tradability of services in a global knowledge-based economy relies on informal regulatory practices for the adjustment of ICT-related skills. By focusing on the challenge that highly volatile and short-lived cycles of demands for this type of knowledge pose for ensuring the right qualification of the labor force, the article explores how companies and associations provide training and certification programs as part of a growing market for educational services setting their own standards. The existing literature on non-conventional forms of authority in the global political economy has emphasized that the consent of actors, subject to informal rules and some form of state support, remains crucial for the effectiveness of those new forms of power. However, analyses based on a limited sample of actors tend toward a narrow understanding of the issues concerned and fail to fully explore the differentiated space in which non state authority is emerging. This article develops a three-dimensional analytical framework that brings together the scope of the issues involved, the range of nonstate actors concerned, and the spatial scope of their authority. The empirical findings highlight the limits of these new forms of nonstate authority and shed light on the role of the state and international governmental organizations in this new context.

Understanding Political Knowledge and Its Influence on Voting Preferences in the 2007 Federal Election

In this article we propose a model to explain how voters' perceptions of their ideological proximity to a party affect their propensity to vote for that party. We argue that political knowledge plays a crucial moderating role in the relationship between party proximity and voting propensity. It is necessary, however, to distinguish between institutional knowledge (information about the political system) and party knowledge (information about the parties' left-right positions). An analysis of survey data from the 2007 Swiss federal elections supports our main hypothesis that party knowledge enhances the link between party proximity and voting propensity. Institutional knowledge may have additional influence, but clear evidence for this effect was obtained only for propensities to vote for the Swiss People's Party (SVP). Overall, the impact of political knowledge was found to be substantial, even after controlling for the outstanding influence of party identification and other predictors of voting propensities

Riesenzellarteriitis : Ätiologische Erkenntnisse und diagnostische Herausforderung für den Pathologen [Giant cell arteritis : Etiological knowledge and diagnostic challenge for pathologists].

Giant cell arteritis is a potentially systemic disease of medium-sized and large caliber arteries, showing a preferential manifestation in the extracranial branches of the carotid artery. The diagnosis is oriented to clinical and histomorphological criteria which will be critically reviewed. Particular emphasis is placed on the differentiation from normal aging processes and from healing stages under steroid therapy. In addition, the advances in our understanding of the disease pathomechanism during the last 10 years will be briefly presented as the basis for the hitherto empiric steroid treatment.

Current state of knowledge on neuroendocrine small bowel tumours: non-systematic review of the literature based on one case.

More than 60% of neuroendocrine tumours, also called carcinoids, are localised within the gastrointestinal tract. Small bowel neuroendocrine tumours have been diagnosed with increasing frequency over the past 35 years, being the second most frequent tumours of the small intestine. Ileal neuroendocrine tumours diagnosis is late because patients have non-specific symptoms. We have proposed to illustrate as an example the case of a patient, and on its basis, to make a brief review of the literature on small bowel neuroendocrine tumours, resuming several recent changes in the field, concerning classification criteria of these tumours and new recommendations and current advances in diagnosis and treatment. This patient came to our emergency department with a complete bowel obstruction, along with a 2-year history of peristaltic abdominal pain, vomits and diarrhoea episodes. During emergency laparotomy, an ileal stricture was observed, that showed to be a neuroendocrine tumour of the small bowel.

10 ans de lutte contre la violence domestique dans le canton de Vaud: résumé de la recherche menée par l'Unité de Médecine des Violences (UMV) sur mandat de la Commission cantonale de lutte contre la violence domestique (CCLVD)

[Sommaire] Introduction. - 1. Quelques données de base: le contexte juridique, la violence domestique: une réalité chiffrée, principales institutions du réseau d'aide dans le canton de Vaud. - 2. Résumé de la recherche "10 ans de lutte contre la violence domestique dans le canton de Vaud": contexte, méthode, résultats, recommandations à l'intention de la CCLVD. - 3. Axes stratégiques de la politique cantonale de prévention de lutte contre la violence domestique 2011-2015. - Bibliographie [Introduction (extrait)] La violence entre membres d'une même famille ou entre proches, à savoir la violence domestique, a longtemps été considérée comme une affaire privée et un tabou. Un important changement de mentalité s'est toutefois opéré ces 20 dernières années. La lutte contre la violence envers les femmes d'une manière générale et contre la violence domestique en particulier préoccupe de plus en plus les organes internationaux, nationaux et locaux et est reconnue comme une tâche d'intérêt public. [...] Dans le canton de Vaud, en 1999, le Bureau de l'égalité entre les femmes et les hommes (BEFH) a mandaté l'Unité de Prévention de l'Institut de médecine sociale et préventive du CHUV, afin de mener une étude sur la violence conjugale, auprès des institutions concernées2. Cette recherche visait à établir un état des lieux et à identifier les besoins prioritaires. En 2001, des recommandations ont émergé de cette étude sous la forme de 40 mesures. Six d'entre elles ont été retenues comme prioritaires par la Conseillère d'Etat Madame Jacqueline Maurer Mayor. Presque 10 ans après, en automne 2008, la Commission cantonale de lutte contre la violence domestique (CCLVD), instituée par le Conseil d'Etat afin de coordonner les efforts en vue de la prévention et de la lutte contre la violence domestique, a décidé de faire un bilan sur la réalisation de ces mesures, d'identifier les besoins actuels des professionnel-le-s de terrain et les problématiques émergeantes. Les résultats de cette étude, menée par L'Unité d médecine des violences (UMV) ont servi de fondement à la CCLVD dans l'établissement d'un plan stratégique 2011-2015, en matière de lutte contre la violence conjugale dans le canton de Vaud. Le présent document présente à la fois un éclairage contextuel sur la situation dans le canton de Vaud aujourd'hui et une synthèse de la recherche précitée.