Judicialisation and Direct Democracy. Switzerland's Ban on Minaret Construction

Launched by representatives from the Union démocratique du centre (UDC) with the aim of circumventing political and judicial decisions made at both local and national levels, the 2009 federal popular initiative calling for a ban on the construction of minarets rekindled the stigmatisation of Muslims living in Switzerland. Within the prevalent institutional configuration it moreover revived controversies surrounding issues such as direct democracy versus fundamental rights, or "the will of the people" versus "the power of the judges", whether national or international. "Judicialisation" is a polysemous concept. It is not understood here as the transfer to the courts of matters of political significance - in this instance the public regulation of religion - but as a process of juridification (or juridicalisation) in which court rulings were constantly anticipated in the political debate provoked by the popular initiative.

Projecte Android App

El projecte realitzat procura una aproximació real al desenvolupament amb dispositius Android. La funció principal de l'aplicació desenvolupada és consultar les dades meteorològiques utilitzant un web service i l'actual posició GPS.

L'utilisation des anticoagulants oraux directs chez les patients âgés : les limites de la médecine fondée sur les preuves [The use of the new direct oral anticoagulants among older subjects: The limits of the evidence-based medicine?].

The growing use of direct oral anticoagulants, in particular among older subjects, raises questions about the limits of the evidence-based medicine. The phase III studies that have validated the efficacy and the safety profile of these molecules (dabigatran, rivaroxaban, apixaban, edoxaban) in their both indications, the venous thromboembolic disease and the non-valvular atrial fibrillation raise concerns in four major fields: the financial support of pharmaceutical companies, the links of interest for many authors with the industry, the study design (exclusively non-inferiority studies), and the poor representativeness of the older subjects included. All these points are discussed, using data of sub-groups studies, post-marketing studies and recent meta-analysis. The lack of data for the very old subjects, with frailty or comorbidities, remains the main concern from these phase III studies.

Correlação entre posicionamento escapular, análise postural funcional e grau de incapacidade dos membros superiores (DASH Brasil) em médicos ultrassonografistas

OBJETIVO: Avaliar e mensurar o posicionamento escapular e correlacioná-lo com o grau de incapacidade e avaliação funcional de ultrassonografistas. MATERIAIS E MÉTODOS: Dezoito médicos, divididos em grupos sintomático e assintomático em relação à presença de dor por mais de seis meses, responderam a uma entrevista e foram submetidos a avaliação física e aplicação do DASH Brasil. Foi realizada a medida do ângulo de inclinação escapular e avaliação do posicionamento dos membros superiores durante a ultrassonografia. Foram utilizados testes U Mann-Whitney para avaliação do questionário de incapacidade, t de Student para posicionamento do membro superior, ANOVA para inclinação escapular e coeficiente de Spearman para correlação do posicionamento funcional de membros superiores e grau de incapacidade. RESULTADOS: Nas 30 primeiras questões do DASH Brasil houve diferença significativa entre os grupos sintomático e assintomático. No módulo opcional, relacionado ao trabalho, houve diferença significativa entre os grupos. As medidas do inclinômetro apresentaram diferenças significativas entre os grupos no plano frontal em 90° e 120°. Para o ângulo funcional dos membros superiores não houve diferença significativa entre os grupos. CONCLUSÃO: Alterações no ângulo de inclinação escapular podem levar à disfunção dos membros superiores e a aplicação do DASH Brasil pode indicar o grau de dor e incapacidade do indivíduo.

The transatlantic business community faced with US direct investment in Western Europe, 1958-1968

This article examines the position of US and European business in the debate about American direct investment in Western Europe in a historical perspective, from the establishment of the Common Market to the introduction of US regulation of foreign direct investment (FDI) a decade later. Based on abundant and diverse archival documents, it sheds new light on the process of Americanisation and contributes to existing research on transnational networks, by revealing the active role industrial leaders on both sides of the Atlantic played in shaping the political responses to problems raised by the American firms' massive presence in the Common Market.

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation for the Treatment of Chronic Tinnitus: A Randomized Controlled Study.

BACKGROUND: Tinnitus is an often disabling condition for which there is no effective therapy. Current research suggests that tinnitus may develop due to maladaptive plastic changes and altered activity in the auditory and prefrontal cortex. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) modulates brain activity and has been shown to transiently suppress tinnitus in trials. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the efficacy and safety of tDCS in the treatment of chronic subjective tinnitus. METHODS: In a randomized, parallel, double-blind, sham-controlled study, the efficacy and safety of cathodal tDCS to the auditory cortex with anode over the prefrontal cortex was investigated in five sessions over five consecutive days. Tinnitus was assessed after the last session on day 5, and at follow-up visits 1 and 3 months post stimulation using the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI, primary outcome measure), Subjective Tinnitus Severity Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale, Visual Analogue Scale, and Clinical Global Impression scale. RESULTS: 42 patients were investigated, 21 received tDCS and 21 sham stimulation. There were no beneficial effects of tDCS on tinnitus as assessed by primary and secondary outcome measures. Effect size assessed with Cohen's d amounted to 0.08 (95% CI: -0.52 to 0.69) at 1 month and 0.18 (95% CI: -0.43 to 0.78) at 3 months for the THI. CONCLUSION: tDCS of the auditory and prefrontal cortices is safe, but does not improve tinnitus. Different tDCS protocols might be beneficial.

Direct Interrogation of Viral Peptides Presented by the Class I HLA of HIV-Infected T Cells

Identification of CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes has traditionally relied upon testing of overlapping peptide libraries for their reactivity with T cells in vitro. Here, we pursued deep ligand sequencing (DLS) as an alternative method of directly identifying those ligands that are epitopes presented to CTLs by the class I human leukocyte antigens (HLA) of infected cells. Soluble class I HLA-A*11:01 (sHLA) was gathered from HIV-1 NL4-3-infected human CD4+ SUP-T1 cells. HLA-A*11:01 harvested from infected cells was immunoaffinity purified and acid boiled to release heavy and light chains from peptide ligands that were then recovered by size-exclusion filtration. The ligands were first fractionated by high-pH high-pressure liquid chromatography and then subjected to separation by nano-liquid chromatography (nano-LC)–mass spectrometry (MS) at low pH. Approximately 10 million ions were selected for sequencing by tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). HLA-A*11:01 ligand sequences were determined with PEAKS software and confirmed by comparison to spectra generated from synthetic peptides. DLS identified 42 viral ligands presented by HLA-A*11:01, and 37 of these were previously undetected. These data demonstrate that (i) HIV-1 Gag and Nef are extensively sampled, (ii) ligand length variants are prevalent, particularly within Gag and Nef hot spots where ligand sequences overlap, (iii) noncanonical ligands are T cell reactive, and (iv) HIV-1 ligands are derived from de novo synthesis rather than endocytic sampling. Next-generation immunotherapies must factor these nascent HIV-1 ligand length variants and the finding that CTL-reactive epitopes may be absent during infection of CD4+ T cells into strategies designed to enhance T cell immunity.

Détermination du coût direct lors d'une procédure de cathétérisation d'une angioplastie avec ou sans pose de stent au CHUV

Cette étude consiste à comparer les coûts de deux procédures de dilatation artérielle coronaire (angioplastie par ballonet et angioplastie avec pose de stent) uniquement lors de la phase de cathérisation (et non pas de l'ensemble des coûts du séjour hospitalier). La première partie traite de l'importance de la maladie coronarienne, de ses traitements et des objectifs de l'étude. La deuxième partie explique les éléments et la méthode qui composent le calcul des coûts, illustre les résultats et compare les résultats des deux procédures. La troisième partie analyse les résultats en identifiant quels types de coûts sont à l'origine de la différence du coût total et en explicitant les limites et les compléments nécessaires à l'étude.

RentacarApp : Aplicación Android de alquiler de coches

Desarrollo de una aplicación Android de alquiler de coches. Utiliza el servicio web de la empresa Canarias.com para consultar disponibilidad de vehículos y confirmar las reservas. Permite visualizar los detalles de vehículos y de los puntos de reserva, así como la localización de los puntos de reservas en el mapa.

Disseny d'una aplicació Android de l'EPS seguint el model de procés de la enginyeria de la usabilitat i accessibilitat

Aquest document descriu el procés de creació d’una aplicació basada en la pàgina web de l’Escola Politècnica Superior amb tecnologia Android seguint el model de Procés de l’Enginyeria de la Usabilitat i Accessibilitat, desenvolupat per Griho, des de la idea inicial fins a la programació i presentació d’aquesta.

Desenvolupament d'una aplicació mòbil en Android per a una botiga de menjar preparat

El tema del projecte va sorgir arran de la problemàtica que els va sorgir a uns amics que van muntar un negoci de menjars preparats. Per augmentar la clientela i donar un valor afegit i diferenciat al seu negoci, va sorgir la idea de muntar un app perquè els clients poguessin consultar els plats disponibles i fer una comanda d’allò què volien aquell dia, i un cop estigués llesta la comanda, els arribés una notificació al mòbil. D'aquesta manera no els caldria estar esperant a la botiga fins que la seva comanda estigués preparada. La idea seria millorar l’eficiència en l’atenció al client i la preparació de comandes.

Desenvolupament d'una aplicació Android per a la gestió d'esdeveniments esportius utilitzant una plataforma de serveis al núvol

L'objectiu del projecte és donar una alternativa específicament dissenyada per gestionar trobades d'esports col·lectius, creant una aplicació amb tecnologia Android que tingui una doble funció: • Gestionar l'organització d'aquestes trobades per part d'un usuari que farà d'administrador, podent donar d'alta diversos grups d'usuaris i trobades associades per a cadascun dels grups. • Consultar els grups per als que cada usuari està inclòs, consultar la informació referent als usuaris i trobades de cadascun d'aquests grups i poder respondre a les interaccions que proposi l'adminstrador del grup. • Desenvolupar tot el projecte amb eines de codi obert. Quant a l'àmbit personal, l'objectiu és fer una introducció en el món de les aplicacions per a mòbils, concretament en la tecnologia Android i també en l'ús de serveis d'emmagatzemament de dades al núvol (Cloud Services), en aquest cas de la plataforma Appcelerator.

TAPADÚ un lanzador de aplicaciones Android por voz

El objetivo final es construir una aplicación en Android que a través de un comando de voz inicie una aplicación. Por consiguiente es necesario crear una aplicación con una fuerte base en usabilidad y accesibilidad que permita configurar estos comandos de voz, que en adelante serán llamados rutina, y un widget que se encargue de escuchar al usuario para que inicie la aplicación tras escuchar el comando de voz. Además se añade la opción de guardar el catálogo de rutinas configuradas en un servidor externo, permitiendo descargar todas las rutinas configuradas en un nuevo dispositivo tras haberse logueado.