Image Resilience after Multiple Crises : The Case of Switzerland in the United States

In der heutigen Welt sind die Reputation und das Image eines Landes als wichtige Faktoren für den wirtschaftlichen und politischen Erfolg angesehen. Jedoch ist die Pflege der Marke eines Landes komplex und führt zu zwei Positionen, die sich potentiell widersprechen: Einerseits kann ein positives Erscheinungsbild eines Landes durch aktive Massnahmen gefördert werden. Andererseits ist es schwierig, das Bild eines Landes abzugrenzen und es ist mit Klischees behaftet. Dieser Beitrag analysiert die Auswirkungen von zwei grösseren Krisen auf das Image der Schweiz in den Vereinigten Staaten: die Krise um die nachrichtenlosen Vermögen aus der Zeit des 2. Weltkriegs im Jahr 2000 sowie die Krise um die UBS und das Bankgeheimnis im Jahr 2009. Die Studie zeigt, dass das Erscheinungsbild der Schweiz unberührt blieb, obwohl ein beachtlicher Teil der Bevölkerung und der Meinungsführer von beiden Krisen wusste. Dies stützt die Hypothese, dass das Image eines Landes eine hohe Beständigkeit aufweist. In today's world, country's reputation and image have become key issues, widely believed to be success factors both economically and politically. Nevertheless, managing a country's brand is complex and leads to two positions that are potentially contradictory: On the one hand, a country's image can be influenced either by promotional activities. On the other hand, a country's image is a construct that is very difficult to delimit and is highly stereotyped. This contribution study the impact of two major crises on the image of Switzerland in the United States: the unclaimed wartime deposits crisis in 2000 and the UBS and banking secrecy crisis in 2009. It shows that despite the fact that a substantial proportion of the public and of opinion leaders was aware of both crises, the image of Switzerland was unaffected, which tends to support the hypothesis of strong stability of a country's image.

Immunodeficiency and the risk of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 2/3 and cervical cancer: A nested case-control study in the Swiss HIV cohort study.

HIV-infected women are at increased risk of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and invasive cervical cancer (ICC), but it has been difficult to disentangle the influences of heavy exposure to HPV infection, inadequate screening and immunodeficiency. A case-control study including 364 CIN2/3 and 20 ICC cases matched to 1,147 controls was nested in the Swiss HIV Cohort Study (1985-2013). CIN2/3 risk was significantly associated with low CD4+ cell counts, whether measured as nadir [odds ratio (OR) per 100-cell/μL decrease = 1.15, 95% CI: 1.08, 1.22], or at CIN2/3 diagnosis (1.10, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.16). An association was evident even for nadir CD4+ 200-349 versus ≥350 cells/μL (OR = 1.57, 95% CI: 1.09, 2.25). After adjustment for nadir CD4+, a protective effect of >2-year cART use was seen against CIN2/3 (OR versus never cART use = 0.64, 95% CI: 0.42, 0.98). Despite low study power, similar associations were seen for ICC, notably with nadir CD4+ (OR for 50 vs. >350 cells/μL= 11.10, 95% CI: 1.24, 100). HPV16-L1 antibodies were significantly associated with CIN2/3, but HPV16-E6 antibodies were nearly exclusively detected in ICC. In conclusion, worsening immunodeficiency, even at only moderately decreased CD4+ cell counts, is a significant risk factor for CIN2/3 and cervical cancer.

Blurred pictures from the crime scene: the growing case for a function of Chlamydiales in plastid endosymbiosis.

A number of recent papers have brought suggestive evidence for an active role of Chlamydiales in the establishment of the plastid. Chlamydiales define a very ancient group of obligate intracellular bacterial pathogens that multiply in vesicles within eukaryotic phagotrophic host cells such as animals, amoebae or other protists, possibly including the hypothetical phagotroph that internalized the cyanobacterial ancestor of the plastid over a billion years ago. We briefly survey the case for an active role of these ancient pathogens in plastid endosymbiosis. We argue that a good understanding of the Chlamydiales infection cycle and diversity may help to shed light on the process of metabolic integration of the evolving plastid.

A lower bound in Nehari's theorem on the polydisc

By theorems of Ferguson and Lacey ($d=2$) and Lacey and Terwilleger ($d>2$), Nehari's theorem is known to hold on the polydisc $\D^d$ for $d>1$, i.e., if $H_\psi$ is a bounded Hankel form on $H^2(\D^d)$ with analytic symbol $\psi$, then there is a function $\varphi$ in $L^\infty(\T^d)$ such that $\psi$ is the Riesz projection of $\varphi$. A method proposed in Helson's last paper is used to show that the constant $C_d$ in the estimate $\|\varphi\|_\infty\le C_d \|H_\psi\|$ grows at least exponentially with $d$; it follows that there is no analogue of Nehari's theorem on the infinite-dimensional polydisc.

An interactive web-GIS tool for risk analysis: a case study in the Fella River basin, Italy

This paper presents a prototype of an interactive web-GIS tool for risk analysis of natural hazards, in particular for floods and landslides, based on open-source geospatial software and technologies. The aim of the presented tool is to assist the experts (risk managers) in analysing the impacts and consequences of a certain hazard event in a considered region, providing an essential input to the decision-making process in the selection of risk management strategies by responsible authorities and decision makers. This tool is based on the Boundless (OpenGeo Suite) framework and its client-side environment for prototype development, and it is one of the main modules of a web-based collaborative decision support platform in risk management. Within this platform, the users can import necessary maps and information to analyse areas at risk. Based on provided information and parameters, loss scenarios (amount of damages and number of fatalities) of a hazard event are generated on the fly and visualized interactively within the web-GIS interface of the platform. The annualized risk is calculated based on the combination of resultant loss scenarios with different return periods of the hazard event. The application of this developed prototype is demonstrated using a regional data set from one of the case study sites, Fella River of northeastern Italy, of the Marie Curie ITN CHANGES project.

Multidetector-row computed tomography in the preoperative diagnosis of intestinal complications caused by clinically unsuspected ingested dietary foreign bodies: a case series emphasizing the use of volume rendering techniques

Objective The present study was aimed at describing a case series where a preoperative diagnosis of intestinal complications secondary to accidentally ingested dietary foreign bodies was made by multidetector-row computed tomography (MDCT), with emphasis on complementary findings yielded by volume rendering techniques (VRT) and curved multiplanar reconstructions (MPR). Materials and Methods The authors retrospectively assessed five patients with surgically confirmed intestinal complications (perforation and /or obstruction) secondary to unsuspected ingested dietary foreign bodies, consecutively assisted in their institution between 2010 and 2012. Demographic, clinical, laboratory and radiological data were analyzed. VRT and curved MPR were subsequently performed. Results Preoperative diagnosis of intestinal complications was originally performed in all cases. In one case the presence of a foreign body was not initially identified as the causal factor, and the use of complementary techniques facilitated its retrospective identification. In all cases these tools allowed a better depiction of the entire foreign bodies on a single image section, contributing to the assessment of their morphology. Conclusion Although the use of complementary techniques has not had a direct impact on diagnostic performance in most cases of this series, they may provide a better depiction of foreign bodies' morphology on a single image section.

Health Migration Policies and Ethical Controversies: the Case of African Nurses in the UK

The United Kingdom (UK) for last few decades has been faced with a growing need for health personnel and has therefore attracted professionals, particularly overseas nurses. The country has been characterised by a historical migration policy favourable to the recruitment of foreign health staff. However, in the context of deep shortage and high level of diseases and health system weakness, the international health professional recruitment from Sub Saharan Africa has created unprecedented ethical controversies which have pushed the UK to the centre of discussions because of its liberal policies towards international recruitment that have been considered as aggressive. While the 'brain drain' controversy is well known, less attention has been devoted to the specific international health migration controversy and the pivotal role of the UK in the diffusion of ethical code of practice. Using mainly the perspective of the policy analysis of controversy (Roe 1994) and the analysis of discourses (de Haas 2008), our paper comes back respectively to the nature of the controversy and the pivotal role of the UK. It also analyses how the implementation of UK ethical policies - Code of Practice, banned countries list of recruitment, restrictive immigration policies - have been considered as inefficient and unethical in their contents and their targets.

Modelling the disability severity score in motor insurance claims: an application to the Spanish case

Bodily injury claims have the greatest impact on the claim costs of motor insurance companies. The disability severity of motor claims is assessed in numerous European countries by means of score systems. In this paper a zero inflated generalized Poisson regression model is implemented to estimate the disability severity score of victims in-volved in motor accidents on Spanish roads. We show that the injury severity estimates may be automatically converted into financial terms by insurers at any point of the claim handling process. As such, the methodology described may be used by motor insurers operating in the Spanish market to monitor the size of bodily injury claims. By using insurance data, various applications are presented in which the score estimate of disability severity is of value to insurers, either for computing the claim compensation or for claim reserve purposes.

Is the influence of quality of life on urban growth non-stationary in space? A case study of Barcelona

There are several determinants that influence household location decisions. More concretely, recent economic literature assigns an increasingly important role to the variables governing quality of life. Nevertheless, the spatial stationarity of the parameters is implicitly assumed in most studies. Here we analyse the role of quality of life in urban economics and test for the spatial stationarity of the relationship between city growth and quality of life.

Assessing functional relations in single-case designs: Quantitative proposals in the context of the evidence-based movement

In the context of the evidence-based practices movement, the emphasis on computing effect sizes and combining them via meta-analysis does not preclude the demonstration of functional relations. For the latter aim, we propose to augment the visual analysis to add consistency to the decisions made on the existence of a functional relation without losing sight of the need for a methodological evaluation of what stimuli and reinforcement or punishment are used to control the behavior. Four options for quantification are reviewed, illustrated, and tested with simulated data. These quantifications include comparing the projected baseline with the actual treatment measurements, on the basis of either parametric or nonparametric statistics. The simulated data used to test the quantifications include nine data patterns in terms of the presence and type of effect and comprising ABAB and multiple baseline designs. Although none of the techniques is completely flawless in terms of detecting a functional relation only when it is present but not when it is absent, an option based on projecting split-middle trend and considering data variability as in exploratory data analysis proves to be the best performer for most data patterns. We suggest that the information on whether a functional relation has been demonstrated should be included in meta-analyses. It is also possible to use as a weight the inverse of the data variability measure used in the quantification for assessing the functional relation. We offer an easy to use code for open-source software for implementing some of the quantifications.

Introducing online teaching in Humanities: A case study about the acceptance of online activities by the academic staff of classical languages

The purpose of this paper is to show the perceptions of the academic staff of classical languages (ancient Greek and Latin) concerning use of online activities during their courses. The study was carried out in three countries: Greece (three major Universities), Spain (University of Barcelona) and the United States (University of California, Berkeley) with the participation of thirty-three academic instructors. Depending on the level of use and acceptance of the ICT and following G. Moore¿s classification, we separated the participating academics in three groups: the conservatives, the mainstream and the early adopters. The fact that the smallest group is the third clearly shows the necessity for teachers¿ preparation and training before introducing innovative projects in the classroom. Since the starting point for the application of innovation in the classroom is the teacher, policy makers should focus on helping them become conscious of changes in teaching methods and include their opinion during the design of innovative projects.

Introducing online teaching in Humanities: A case study about the acceptance of online activities by the academic staff of classical languages

The purpose of this paper is to show the perceptions of the academic staff of classical languages (ancient Greek and Latin) concerning use of online activities during their courses. The study was carried out in three countries: Greece (three major Universities), Spain (University of Barcelona) and the United States (University of California, Berkeley) with the participation of thirty-three academic instructors. Depending on the level of use and acceptance of the ICT and following G. Moore¿s classification, we separated the participating academics in three groups: the conservatives, the mainstream and the early adopters. The fact that the smallest group is the third clearly shows the necessity for teachers¿ preparation and training before introducing innovative projects in the classroom. Since the starting point for the application of innovation in the classroom is the teacher, policy makers should focus on helping them become conscious of changes in teaching methods and include their opinion during the design of innovative projects.

Characterization and Control Strategies of an Integrated Chemical-Biological System for the Remediation of Toxic Pollutants in Wastewater: A case of study

In a previous work, a hybrid system consisting of an advanced oxidation process (AOP) named Photo-Fenton (Ph-F) and a fixed bed biological treatment operating as a sequencing batch biofilm reactor (SBBR) was started-up and optimized to treat 200 mg·L-1 of 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) as a model compound. In this work, studies of reactor stability and control as well as microbial population determination by molecular biology techniques were carried out to further characterize and control the biological reactor. Results revealed that the integrated system was flexible and even able to overcome toxic shock loads. Oxygen uptake rate (OUR) in situ was shown to be a valid tool to control the SBBR operation, to detect toxic conditions to the biomass, and to assess the recovery of performance. A microbial characterization by 16S rDNA sequence analysis reveals that the biological population was varied, although about 30% of the bacteria belonged to the Wautersia genus.

Impacts of climate change on water resources in the Mediterranean basin : a case study in Catalonia, Spain

Most climate change projections show important decreases in water availability in the Mediterranean region by the end of this century. We assess those main climate change impacts on water resources in three medium-sized catchments with varying climatic conditions in north-eastern Spain. A combination of hydrological modelling and climate projections with B1 and A2 IPCC emission scenarios is performed to infer future stream flows. The largest reduction (22-48% for 2076-2100) of stream flows is expected in the headwaters of the two wettest catchments, while lower decreases (22-32% for 2076-2100) are expected in the drier one. In all three catchments, autumn and summer are the seasons with the most notable projected decreases in stream flow, 50% and 34%, respectively (2076-2100). Thus, ecological flows might be noticeably impacted by climate change in the catchments, especially in the headwaters of those wet catchments.