Social media and political change: The case of the 2011 revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt

Throughout the past decade, social media have come on the scene of various popular revolts. Their role as tools of information and coordination of social movements, from the Iranian Green Movement in 2009 to the Arab uprisings in 2011, has been widely debated. In most cases, online activism through blogs, Facebook, Twitter or other forms of social media has allowed citizens to be part of a social networking exercise and to engage in a public sphere that would have otherwise been unreachable to them due to severe repression. In Tunisia and Egypt, social media helped protests start and expand thanks to their ability to coordinate and disseminate information quickly. The new information and communication tools were an influential factor in accelerating the revolutionary processes across the Arab world, albeit they cannot be seen as neither the spur nor the drivers of any revolution.

Political Humor as a confrontational tool against the Syrian regime: A study case: Syria, 15th March 2011 – 15th May 2012

The aim of this working paper is to analyze the inclusion of political humor into the set of actions used by opponents to the Syrian regime during the first year of a state-wide uprising in 2011. The research argues that although political humor has traditionally been seen mainly as a concealed voice against dominant elites, it can nevertheless take a confrontational stance and challenge a regime. In this paper we assess the role of political humor in challenging the legitimacy of the Syrian State through the battle for the signification of events. We will work with a theoretical framework that draws its assumptions from social movements’ studies and cultural studies. Through the assessment of the importance of discourse and the role of ideological domination to a regime we will see how the first year of the Syrian uprising included widespread acts of political humor as part of the strategy against the regime.

Companies in Conflict Situations: Advancing the Research Agenda. Seminar proceedings. Barcelona, october 2011

Seminar proceedings about the Seminar “Companies in Confict Situations”, organized by ICIP, with the aim of reflecting on the causes, the dynamics and the consequences of the participation of companies in armed conflicts. Over thirty international experts will be participating in the conferences to analyze the role and responsibilities of companies in connection with the international arms market (especially regarding small arms, light weapons and conventional weapons), the provision of military and security services, and the exploitation of, and trade in, natural resources.

La Sarcoïdosi a Osona: Revisió retrospectiva 1983-2011

Objectius: Determinar l’epidemiologia de la Sarcoïdosi a Osona. I descriure’n les característiques clíniques. Material i mètodes: Identificació i selecció de casos de Sarcoïdosi al nostre centre, entre 1983-2011. Revisió retrospectiva, recollida i anàlisi. Resultats: Incidència 2.12 casos/105habitants/any. n = 55. Predomini femení (69%), edat mitjana 47.8 anys. Clínica més freqüent: simptomatologia general. Patrons radiològics més freqüents: Estadi I-II. Biòpsia transbronquial: tècnica més utilitzada. Retard diagnòstic 5.9 mesos i mortalitat relacionada 7.6%. Conclusions: Incidència superior a la publicada a Catalunya. Predomini femení, amb diagnòstic més tardà que en homes. Presentació clínica predominant: síndrome Löfgren. Notable retard diagnòstic i baixa mortalitat.

Anàlisi dels efectes de l’edat, la generació i el període en el suport a la independència de Catalunya 1991-2011

Aquesta anàlisi es proposa conèixer la naturalesa interna del canvi en el suport a la independència de Catalunya. L’evolució d’aquesta actitud política no ha restat inalterable en les dues darreres dècades i en aquesta recerca volem saber si la edat dels individus, el canvi generacional o el període en què es prenen les observacions tenen la capacitat d’explicar aquestes oscil•lacions i en quina mesura. Immediatament comprovarem que per comprendre bé aquesta actitud hem de tenir en compte una segona que la literatura especialitzada no dubta en relacionar: la identificació nacional subjectiva. Amb aquest objectiu es realitzaran unes aproximacions descriptives i exploratòries i una contrastació estadística a partir de models de regressió multinivell per conèixer com afecten l’edat, la generació i el període al suport a la independència de Catalunya i a la identificació nacional subjectiva.

European cancer mortality predictions for the year 2011.

Background: Mortality figures become available after some years.Materials and methods: Using the World Health Organization mortality and population data, we estimated numbers of deaths in 2011 from all cancers and selected sites for the European Union (EU) and six major countries, by fitting a joinpoint model to 5-year age-specific numbers of deaths. Age-standardized rates were computed using EUROSTAT population estimates.Results: The predicted number of cancer deaths in the EU in 2011 was 1 281 436, with standardized rates of 143/100 000 men and 85/100 000 women. Poland had the highest rates, with smaller falls over recent periods. Declines in mortality for major sites including stomach, colorectum, breast, uterus, prostate and leukemias, plus male lung cancer, will continue until 2011, and a trend reversal or a leveling off is predicted where upward trends were previously observed. Female lung cancer rates are increasing in all major EU countries except the UK, where it is the first cause of cancer death, as now in Poland. The increasing pancreatic cancer trends in women observed up to 2004 have likely leveled off.Conclusions: Despite falls in rates, absolute numbers of cancer deaths are stable in Europe. The gap between Western and former nonmarket economy countries will likely persist.

Cirugía micrográfica de Mohs: Estudio retrospectivo de los últimos trece años (1999-2011) en el Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau

El objetivo de este trabajo fue describir las características de los pacientes tratados con cirugía micrográfica de Mohs entre 1999-2011 y evaluar la eficacia de esta cirugía para el tratamiento de los carcinomas basocelulares. Durante este periodo se realizaron 560 cirugías de Mohs, el 95.36% de las cuales fueron de carcinomas basocelulares. Se observó una tasa de recidiva del 1.40% para los carcinomas basocelulares primarios y del 13.62% para los recurrentes, siendo la diferencia estadísticamente significativa (p <0.0001).

Incidencia y características de las agudizaciones asmáticas en 2005 y 2011 en Barcelona (ASMAB III y IV).

Conocer nuevamente la tasa de agudizaciones asmáticas en una población determinada así como sus características clínicas puede contribuir a acotar con mayor precisión los factores desencadenantes sobre los que incidir así como a ajustar mejor los tratamientos a instaurar. Así mismo haber estudiado las mismas características clínicas además de los tratamientos de base de los pacientes y los tratamientos administrados durante la exacerbación y alta en una misma población, con un intervalo de 6 años puede ayudarnos a comprender la aplicabilidad y a realizar una monitorización real del uso del tratamiento en nuestra sociedad.

Social Policy Preferences and Party Choice in the 2011 Swiss Elections

To what extent do social policy preferences explain party choice? This question has received little attention over the past years, because the bulk of the literature has argued that electoral choice is increasingly shaped by identity-based attitudes, rather than by preferences for economic-distributive social policies. We argue that in the wake of this debate, the significance of social policy preferences for electoral choice has been underestimated, because most contributions neglect social policy debates that are specific to post-industrial societies. In particular, they merely focus on income redistribution, while neglecting distributive conflicts around social investment. The Selects 2011 data allows investigating this crucial distinction for Switzerland. Our empirical analyses confirm that it is pivotal to take the pluridimensionality of distributive conflicts seriously: when looking at preferences for social investment rather than income redistribution, we find that social policy preferences are significant explanatory factors for the choice of the five major Swiss political parties.

Iowa Prison Population Forecast, FY 2002-2011

CJJP takes a look at the forecast of inmates population in the state of Iowa in a ten year period. Information was produced by Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning. This report was made possible partially through funding from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics and its program for State Statistical Analysis Centers. Points of view or opinions expressed in this report are those of the Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning (CJJP), and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the U.S. Department of Justice.