Incline, speed, and distance assessment during unconstrained walking.

Body accelerations during human walking were recorded by a portable measuring device. A new method for parameterizing body accelerations and finding the pattern of walking is outlined. Two neural networks were designed to recognize each pattern and estimate the speed and incline of walking. Six subjects performed treadmill walking followed by self-paced walking on an outdoor test circuit involving roads of various inclines. The neural networks were first "trained" by known patterns of treadmill walking. Then the inclines, the speeds, and the distance covered during overground walking (outdoor circuit) were estimated. The results show a good agreement between actual and predicted variables. The standard deviation of estimated incline was less than 2.6% and the maximum of the coefficient of variation of speed estimation is 6%. To the best of our knowledge, these results constitute the first assessment of speed, incline and distance covered during level and slope walking and offer investigators a new tool for assessing levels of outdoor physical activity.

Ingénieur pédagogique et démarche projet : facteurs clés de succès pour l'intégration des technologies dans la pratique enseignante?

Résumé: Les gouvernements des pays occidentaux ont dépensé des sommes importantes pour faciliter l'intégration des technologies de l'information et de la communication dans l'enseignement espérant trouver une solution économique à l'épineuse équation que l'on pourrait résumer par la célèbre formule " faire plus et mieux avec moins ". Cependant force est de constater que, malgré ces efforts et la très nette amélioration de la qualité de service des infrastructures, cet objectif est loin d'être atteint. Si nous pensons qu'il est illusoire d'attendre et d'espérer que la technologie peut et va, à elle seule, résoudre les problèmes de qualité de l'enseignement, nous croyons néanmoins qu'elle peut contribuer à améliorer les conditions d'apprentissage et participer de la réflexion pédagogique que tout enseignant devrait conduire avant de dispenser ses enseignements. Dans cette optique, et convaincu que la formation à distance offre des avantages non négligeables à condition de penser " autrement " l'enseignement, nous nous sommes intéressé à la problématique du développement de ce type d'applications qui se situent à la frontière entre les sciences didactiques, les sciences cognitives, et l'informatique. Ainsi, et afin de proposer une solution réaliste et simple permettant de faciliter le développement, la mise-à-jour, l'insertion et la pérennisation des applications de formation à distance, nous nous sommes impliqué dans des projets concrets. Au fil de notre expérience de terrain nous avons fait le constat que (i)la qualité des modules de formation flexible et à distance reste encore très décevante, entre autres parce que la valeur ajoutée que peut apporter l'utilisation des technologies n'est, à notre avis, pas suffisamment exploitée et que (ii)pour réussir tout projet doit, outre le fait d'apporter une réponse utile à un besoin réel, être conduit efficacement avec le soutien d'un " champion ". Dans l'idée de proposer une démarche de gestion de projet adaptée aux besoins de la formation flexible et à distance, nous nous sommes tout d'abord penché sur les caractéristiques de ce type de projet. Nous avons ensuite analysé les méthodologies de projet existantes dans l'espoir de pouvoir utiliser l'une, l'autre ou un panachage adéquat de celles qui seraient les plus proches de nos besoins. Nous avons ensuite, de manière empirique et par itérations successives, défini une démarche pragmatique de gestion de projet et contribué à l'élaboration de fiches d'aide à la décision facilitant sa mise en oeuvre. Nous décrivons certains de ses acteurs en insistant particulièrement sur l'ingénieur pédagogique que nous considérons comme l'un des facteurs clé de succès de notre démarche et dont la vocation est de l'orchestrer. Enfin, nous avons validé a posteriori notre démarche en revenant sur le déroulement de quatre projets de FFD auxquels nous avons participé et qui sont représentatifs des projets que l'on peut rencontrer dans le milieu universitaire. En conclusion nous pensons que la mise en oeuvre de notre démarche, accompagnée de la mise à disposition de fiches d'aide à la décision informatisées, constitue un atout important et devrait permettre notamment de mesurer plus aisément les impacts réels des technologies (i) sur l'évolution de la pratique des enseignants, (ii) sur l'organisation et (iii) sur la qualité de l'enseignement. Notre démarche peut aussi servir de tremplin à la mise en place d'une démarche qualité propre à la FFD. D'autres recherches liées à la réelle flexibilisation des apprentissages et aux apports des technologies pour les apprenants pourront alors être conduites sur la base de métriques qui restent à définir. Abstract: Western countries have spent substantial amount of monies to facilitate the integration of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) into Education hoping to find a solution to the touchy equation that can be summarized by the famous statement "do more and better with less". Despite these efforts, and notwithstanding the real improvements due to the undeniable betterment of the infrastructure and of the quality of service, this goal is far from reached. Although we think it illusive to expect technology, all by itself, to solve our economical and educational problems, we firmly take the view that it can greatly contribute not only to ameliorate learning conditions but participate to rethinking the pedagogical approach as well. Every member of our community could hence take advantage of this opportunity to reflect upon his or her strategy. In this framework, and convinced that integrating ICT into education opens a number of very interesting avenues provided we think teaching "out of the box", we got ourself interested in courseware development positioned at the intersection of didactics and pedagogical sciences, cognitive sciences and computing. Hence, and hoping to bring a realistic and simple solution that could help develop, update, integrate and sustain courseware we got involved in concrete projects. As ze gained field experience we noticed that (i)The quality of courseware is still disappointing, amongst others, because the added value that the technology can bring is not made the most of, as it could or should be and (ii)A project requires, besides bringing a useful answer to a real problem, to be efficiently managed and be "championed". Having in mind to propose a pragmatic and practical project management approach we first looked into open and distance learning characteristics. We then analyzed existing methodologies in the hope of being able to utilize one or the other or a combination to best fit our needs. In an empiric manner and proceeding by successive iterations and refinements, we defined a simple methodology and contributed to build descriptive "cards" attached to each of its phases to help decision making. We describe the different actors involved in the process insisting specifically on the pedagogical engineer, viewed as an orchestra conductor, whom we consider to be critical to ensure the success of our approach. Last but not least, we have validated a posteriori our methodology by reviewing four of the projects we participated to and that we think emblematic of the university reality. We believe that the implementation of our methodology, along with the availability of computerized cards to help project managers to take decisions, could constitute a great asset and contribute to measure the technologies' real impacts on (i) the evolution of teaching practices (ii) the organization and (iii) the quality of pedagogical approaches. Our methodology could hence be of use to help put in place an open and distance learning quality assessment. Research on the impact of technologies to learning adaptability and flexibilization could rely on adequate metrics.

Implementing evidence-based patient and family education on oral anticoagulation therapy: a community-based participatory project.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: This study aimed at developing and implementing evidence-based patient and family education on oral anticoagulation therapy. BACKGROUND: The number of persons with chronic diseases who live at home is increasing. They have to manage multiple diseases and complex treatments. One such treatment is oral anticoagulation therapy, a high risk variable dose medication. Adherence to oral anticoagulation therapy is jeopardised by limited information about the medications, their risk and complications, the impact of individual daily routine and the limited inclusion of family members in education. Hence, improved and tailored education is essential for patients and families to manage oral anticoagulation therapy at home. DESIGN AND METHODS: A community-based participatory research design combined with the Precede-Proceed model was used including a systematic literature review, posteducation analysis, an online nurse survey, a documentation analysis and patient/family interviews. The study was conducted between April 2010-December 2012 at a department of general internal medicine in a teaching hospital in Switzerland. Participants were the department's nursing and medical professionals including the patients and their families. RESULTS: The evidence-based patient and family education on oral anticoagulation therapy emerged comprising a learning assessment, teaching units, clarification of responsibilities of nurse professionals and documentation guidelines. CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The inclusion of the whole department has contributed to the development and implementation of this evidence-based patient family education on oral anticoagulation therapy, which encompasses local characteristics and patient preferences. This education is now being used throughout the department.

The function of natural killer cells: education, reminders and some good memories.

The effector response of natural killer (NK) cells is determined by opposing signals received through activating and inhibitory receptors. A process termed NK cell education, which is guided by the recognition of Major Histocompatibility Complex class I (MHC-I) molecules, determines how efficiently activating receptors respond to stimulation. This ensures NK cell tolerance to healthy tissues while allowing robust responses to diseased host cells. It was thought that NK cells are educated during their development in the bone marrow and that education fixes the NK cells' functional properties. However, recent findings suggest that the function of mature peripheral NK cells can adapt to changes in their environment and that the persistent exposure to normal-self is essential to maintain NK cell reactivity. Notwithstanding, NK cell stimulation in the context of inflammation can stably improve the functional properties of NK cells.

Association of education and receiving social transfers with allostatic load in the Swiss population-based CoLaus study.

BACKGROUND: Allostatic load reflects cumulative exposure to stressors throughout lifetime and has been associated with several adverse health outcomes. It is hypothesized that people with low socioeconomic status (SES) are exposed to higher chronic stress and have therefore greater levels of allostatic load. OBJECTIVE: To assess the association of receiving social transfers and low education with allostatic load. METHODS: We included 3589 participants (1812 women) aged over 35years and under retirement age from the population-based CoLaus study (Lausanne, Switzerland, 2003-2006). We computed an allostatic load index aggregating cardiovascular, metabolic, dyslipidemic and inflammatory markers. A novel index additionally including markers of oxidative stress was also examined. RESULTS: Men with low vs. high SES were more likely to have higher levels of allostatic load (odds ratio (OR)=1.93/2.34 for social transfers/education, 95%CI from 1.45 to 4.17). The same patterns were observed among women. Associations persisted after controlling for health behaviors and marital status. CONCLUSIONS: Low education and receiving social transfers independently and cumulatively predict high allostatic load and dysregulation of several homeostatic systems in a Swiss population-based study. Participants with low SES are at higher risk of oxidative stress, which may justify its inclusion as a separate component of allostatic load.

Doctoral education's reform in Switzerland and Norway : a public management analyis

This doctoral thesis examines a recent phenomenon in European higher education, namely the reform of doctoral education. On the basis of a number of case studies, consisting of Swiss and Norwegian doctoral schools, and their institutional, national and international context, it demonstrates to what extent changes appear in doctoral education and its governance. Findings indicate new practices regarding doctoral students' recruitment, curricular component, supervision, scientific exchange, follow-up and their career. Doctoral education's character is not anymore exclusively determined by individual supervisors, but increasingly by interdisciplinary and interinstitutional colleges of academics. Finally, general governance patterns are identified: according to the type of scientific discipline and higher education institution, the institution's size and national political system, the field of higher education is more or less dominated by New Public Management or Network Governance characteristics.

The development and pilot-testing of a training curriculum in adolescent medicine and health.

PURPOSE: To select and propose a set of knowledge, attitudes, and skills essential for the care of adolescents; to encourage the development of adolescent health multidisciplinary networks; and to set up training programs in as many European countries as possible. METHODS: The curriculum was developed by 16 physicians from 11 European countries with various professional specializations. In line with modern guidelines in medical education, it is a modular, flexible instrument which covers the main teaching areas in the field, such as basic skills (i.e. setting, rights and confidentiality, gender and cultural issues) as well as specific themes (i.e. sexual and reproductive health, eating disorders, chronic conditions). It consists of 17 thematic modules, each containing detailed objectives, learning approaches, examples, and evaluation methods. RESULT: Two international one-week summer schools were used to assess the feasibility and appropriateness of the curriculum. The overall evaluation was good, with most of the items surpassing three on a four-point Likert scale. However, it pointed to several aspects (process and content) which will need to be refined in the future, such as an increase in interactive sessions (role playing), and a better mix of clinical and public health issues.

Effective corporate governance : experimental evidence on international auditors'judgments and the contribution of financial accounting education

1 Summary This dissertation deals with two major aspects of corporate governance that grew in importance during the last years: the internal audit function and financial accounting education. In three essays, I contribute to research on these topics which are embedded in the broader corporate governance literature. The first two essays consist of experimental investigations of internal auditors' judgments. They deal with two research issues for which accounting research lacks evidence: The effectiveness of internal controls and the potentially conflicting role of the internal audit function between management and the audit committee. The findings of the first two essays contribute to the literature on internal auditors' judgment and the role of the internal audit function as a major cornerstone of corporate governance. The third essay theoretically examines a broader issue but also relates to the overall research question of this dissertation: What contributes to effective corporate governance? This last essay takes the perspective that the root for quality corporate governance is appropriate financial accounting education. r develop a public interest approach to accounting education that contributes to the literature on adequate accounting education with respect to corporate governance and accounting harmonization. The increasing importance of both the internal audit function and accounting education for corporate governance can be explained by the same recent fundamental changes that still affect accounting research and practice. First, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX, 2002) and the 8th EU Directive (EU, 2006) have led to a bigger role for the internal audit function in corporate governance. Their implications regarding the implementation of audit committees and their oversight over internal controls are extensive. As a consequence, the internal audit function has become increasingly important for corporate governance and serves a new master (i.e. the audit committee) within the company in addition to management. Second, the SOX (2002) and the 8th EU Directive introduced additional internal control mechanisms that are expected to contribute to the reliability of financial information. As a consequence, the internal audit function is expected to contribute to a greater extent to the reliability of financial statements. Therefore, effective internal control mechanisms that strengthen objective judgments and independence become important. This is especially true when external- auditors rely on the work of internal auditors in the context of the International Standard on Auditing (ISA) 610 and the equivalent US Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) 65 (see IFAC, 2009 and AICPA, 1990). Third, the harmonization of international reporting standards is increasingly promoted by means of a principles-based approach. It is the leading approach since a study of the SEC (2003) that was required by the SOX (2002) in section 108(d) was in favor of this approach. As a result, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) commit themselves to the development of compatible accounting standards based on a principles-based approach. Moreover, since the Norwalk Agreement of 2002, the two standard setters have developed exposure drafts for a common conceptual framework that will be the basis for accounting harmonization. The new .framework will be in favor of fair value measurement and accounting for real-world economic phenomena. These changes in terms of standard setting lead to a trend towards more professional judgment in the accounting process. They affect internal and external auditors, accountants, and managers in general. As a consequence, a new competency set for preparers and users of financial statements is required. The basil for this new competency set is adequate accounting education (Schipper, 2003). These three issues which affect corporate governance are the initial point of this dissertation and constitute its motivation. Two broad questions motivated a scientific examination in three essays: 1) What are major aspects to be examined regarding the new role of the internal audit function? 2) How should major changes in standard setting affect financial accounting education? The first question became apparent due to two published literature reviews by Gramling et al. (2004) and Cohen, Krishnamoorthy & Wright (2004). These studies raise various questions for future research that are still relevant and which motivate the first two essays of my dissertation. In the first essay, I focus on the role of the internal audit function as one cornerstone of corporate governance and its potentially conflicting role of serving both management and the audit committee (IIA, 2003). In an experimental study, I provide evidence on the challenges for internal auditors in their role as servant for two masters -the audit committee and management -and how this influences internal auditors' judgment (Gramling et al. 2004; Cohen, Krishnamoorthy & Wright, 2004). I ask if there is an expectation gap between what internal auditors should provide for corporate governance in theory compared to what internal auditors are able to provide in practice. In particular, I focus on the effect of serving two masters on the internal auditor's independence. I argue that independence is hardly achievable if the internal audit function serves two masters with conflicting priorities. The second essay provides evidence on the effectiveness of accountability as an internal control mechanism. In general, internal control mechanisms based on accountability were enforced by the SOX (2002) and the 8th EU Directive. Subsequently, many companies introduced sub-certification processes that should contribute to an objective judgment process. Thus, these mechanisms are important to strengthen the reliability of financial statements. Based on a need for evidence on the effectiveness of internal control mechanisms (Brennan & Solomon, 2008; Gramling et al. 2004; Cohen, Krishnamoorthy & Wright, 2004; Solomon & Trotman, 2003), I designed an experiment to examine the joint effect of accountability and obedience pressure in an internal audit setting. I argue that obedience pressure potentially can lead to a negative influence on accountants' objectivity (e.g. DeZoort & Lord, 1997) whereas accountability can mitigate this negative effect. My second main research question - How should major changes in standard setting affect financial accounting education? - is investigated in the third essay. It is motivated by the observation during my PhD that many conferences deal with the topic of accounting education but very little is published about what needs to be done. Moreover, the Endings in the first two essays of this thesis and their literature review suggest that financial accounting education can contribute significantly to quality corporate governance as argued elsewhere (Schipper, 2003; Boyce, 2004; Ghoshal, 2005). In the third essay of this thesis, I therefore focus on approaches to financial accounting education that account for the changes in standard setting and also contribute to corporate governance and accounting harmonization. I argue that the competency set that is required in practice changes due to major changes in standard setting. As the major contribution of the third article, I develop a public interest approach for financial accounting education. The major findings of this dissertation can be summarized as follows. The first essay provides evidence to an important research question raised by Gramling et al. (2004, p. 240): "If the audit committee and management have different visions for the corporate governance role of the IAF, which vision will dominate?" According to the results of the first essay, internal auditors do follow the priorities of either management or the audit committee based on the guidance provided by the Chief Audit executive. The study's results question whether the independence of the internal audit function is actually achievable. My findings contribute to research on internal auditors' judgment and the internal audit function's independence in the broader frame of corporate governance. The results are also important for practice because independence is a major justification for a positive contribution of the internal audit function to corporate governance. The major findings of the second essay indicate that the duty to sign work results - a means of holding people accountable -mitigates the negative effect of obedience pressure on reliability. Hence, I found evidence that control .mechanisms relying on certifications may enhance the reliability of financial information. These findings contribute to the literature on the effectiveness of internal control mechanisms. They are also important in the light of sub-certification processes that resulted from the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the 8th EU Directive. The third essay contributes to the literature by developing a measurement framework that accounts for the consequences of major trends in standard setting. Moreovér, it shows how these trends affect the required .competency set of people dealing with accounting issues. Based on this work, my main contribution is the development of a public interest approach for the design of adequate financial accounting curricula. 2 Serving two masters: Experimental evidence on the independence of internal auditors Abstract Twenty nine internal auditors participated in a study that examines the independence of internal auditors in their potentially competing roles of serving two masters: the audit committee and management. Our main hypothesis suggests that internal auditors' independence is not achievable in an institutional setting in which internal auditors are accountable to two different parties with potentially differing priorities. We test our hypothesis in an experiment in which the treatment consisted of two different instructions of the Chief audit executive; one stressing the priority of management (cost reduction) and one stressing the priority of the audit committee (effectiveness). Internal auditors had to evaluate internal controls and their inherent costs of different processes which varied in their degree of task complexity. Our main results indicate that internal auditors' evaluation of the processes is significantly different when task complexity is high. Our findings suggest that internal auditors do follow the priorities of either management or the audit committee depending on the instructions of a superior internal auditor. The study's results question whether the independence of the internal audit function is actually achievable. With our findings, we contribute to research on internal auditors' judgment and the internal audit function's independence in the frame of corporate governance.

Citizenship education in Switzerland before, during and after the First World War

Citizenship education was intensively discussed during the 1910s. Patriotic ideals and the love of the fatherland were described with diligence in teachers' journals. After the outbreak of the World War I, Swiss teachers reacted immediately to the new circumstances and published lessons in their weekly teacher journals for every day of school for different grade levels. These lessons comprised current events and civic education as well as didactical instructions for the teacher. In pupils' essays, citizens are often depicted as religious members of society who are industrious and hardworking, whereas in the journals, religious aspects are related to peace but not to citizenship education. As a multilingual and neutral country, Switzerland struggled with major domestic problems due to the cultural conflict between the French- and the German-speaking regions, especially during wartime. However, teachers promoted unity from the beginning. Therefore, changes and continuities during this decade concerning citizenship education are of crucial research interest. The practical sections of teachers' journals, including lessons and didactical instructions, and pupils' essays provide insight into what happened in the classrooms. Which forms of national identity and citizenship were taught in classrooms before, during and shortly after WW1 in public schools in Switzerland? How did pupils describe the current issues of war and citizenship?