71,618 research outputs found

    Towards a Swiss National Research Infrastructure

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    In this position paper we describe the current status and plans for a Swiss National Research Infrastructure. Swiss academic and research institutions are very autonomous. While being loosely coupled, they do not rely on any centralized management entities. Therefore, a coordinated national research infrastructure can only be established by federating the various resources available locally at the individual institutions. The Swiss Multi-Science Computing Grid and the Swiss Academic Compute Cloud projects serve already a large number of diverse user communities. These projects also allow us to test the operational setup of such a heterogeneous federated infrastructure

    Long-term care and intermediary structures for frail older people : Switzerland and Germany in comparison

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    This is a post-peer-review, pre-copy edited version of an article published in [International journal of care and caring]. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1332/239788218X15265697287824Long-term care not only includes residential care, home care and familial care, but services ‘in-between’, such as day and night care, temporary (short-term) stays in nursing homes, respite care, and local infrastructure giving informed advice and conveying informal support. In both Switzerland and Germany, the role of such intermediary structures has been debated and affected by social policy reforms. The authors analyse different functions of intermediary structures, discuss their access and use, and show that intermediary structures can have a different impact on care regimes

    Libraries in Switzerland

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    Ausgehend von einem historischen Überblick schildert der Beitrag die Entwicklung der Schweizer Bibliotheken in der Zeit von 1970 bis 2010: soziopolitischer Kontext, Struktur des Bibliothekswesen, technischer Wandel, wichtigste Akteure und aktuelle Herausforderungen. Starting with a brief history of libraries in Switzerland, this report focusses on the development of Swiss libraries from 1970 to 2010: socio-political context, structure of the Swiss library sector, change driven by technology, main actors, and challenges at the beginning of the new millennium. Suite Ă  un aperçu historique, l'article dĂ©crit le dĂ©veloppement des bibliothĂšques suisses dans la pĂ©riode de 1970 Ă  2010: le contexte socio-politique, la structure du secteur des bibliothĂšques, les changements technologiques, les principaux acteurs et les dĂ©fis actuels

    Costs and benefits of superfast broadband in the UK

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    This paper was commissioned from LSE Enterprise by Convergys Smart Revenue Solutions to stimulate an open and constructive debate among the main stakeholders about the balance between the costs, the revenues, and the societal benefits of ‘superfast’ broadband. The intent has been to analyse the available facts and to propose wider perspectives on economic and social interactions. The paper has two parts: one concentrates on superfast broadband deployment and the associated economic and social implications (for the UK and its service providers), and the other considers alternative social science approaches to these implications. Both parts consider the potential contribution of smart solutions to superfast broadband provision and use. Whereas Part I takes the “national perspective” and the “service provider perspective”, which deal with the implications of superfast broadband for the UK and for service providers, Part II views matters in other ways, particularly by looking at how to realise values beyond the market economy, such as those inherent in neighbourliness, trust and democrac

    Linguistic commodification in tourism

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    Drawing on fieldwork conducted between 2002 and 2012 in Switzerland, Catalunya and different zones of francophone Canada in sites related to heritage and cultural tourism, we argue that tourism, especially i n multilingual peripheries, is a key site for a sociolinguistic exploration of the political economy of globalization. We link shifts in the role of language in tourism to shifts in phases of capitalism, focusing on the shift from industrial to late capitalism, and in particular on the effects of the commodification of authenticity. We examine the tensions this shift generates in ideologies and practices of language, concerned especially with defining the nature of the tourism product, the public and the management of the tourism process. This results in an as yet unresolved destabilization of hitherto hegemonic discourses linking languages to cultures, identities, nations and States

    Niche Markets and Their Lessons

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    Markets are full of nooks and crannies. Out of the glare of the big economies and their public exchanges, markets specializing by financial product, activity, or industry thrive, often attracting little by way of formal regulatory oversight. But there is another kind of specialized market, one which is geographically and politically determined albeit internationally focused. Luxembourg, Ireland, Dubai, Bahrain, Malaysia, Singapore, Switzerland, among others, these are some of the world’s niche markets.It is a hard business being a niche market, operating in a competitive and often unforgiving environment, engaging in constant repositioning and facing inherent limitations on growth. Surprisingly, perhaps, there are lots of niche markets and a very diverse grouping they are, deploying a variety of survival strategies. In all cases, state capitalism, in various guises, supports these markets. In earlier times, reputation, a friendly regulator, and good business practices might have sufficed. Now, there is a new dynamic. This chapter in a new book, International Capital Markets: Law and Institutions (Oxford University Press, 2014), examines the characteristics of niche markets, such as a high tolerance for legal pluralism and the role of state capitalism, the vulnerabilities of niche markets, especially to change, and the secrets of their success

    Transalpine transport policies: towards a shared approach

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    In recent years crossing the Alps has become a central issue in European transport policy. The increase in global transport flow has contributed to bringing two themes to the centre of attention : making transalpine transportation easier and reducing the negative impact of this on the Alpine environment. The resulting debate has shown that there are conflicting transport policy proposals. The main reasons behind such differences are not so much the different evaluations of the trends in transalpine transport, and not only the diverging local and national interests, but rather the implicit reference to three alternative policy paradigms: ‘competition’, ‘sustainability’ and ‘de-growth’. The aim of this paper is twofold : 1) to identify the links between policy paradigms and the transalpine transport policy framework ; 2) to propose a multilevel and multi-criteria approach to transalpine transport policy. The explicit consideration of policy paradigms and the structured participation of citizens and stakeholders are at the heart of such a new and more widely shared approach.Alps; Transport Policy; Participated multi-criteria; Policy paradigms

    Global Risks 2014, Ninth Edition.

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    The Global Risks 2014 report highlights how global risks are not only interconnected but also have systemic impacts. To manage global risks effectively and build resilience to their impacts, better efforts are needed to understand, measure and foresee the evolution of interdependencies between risks, supplementing traditional risk-management tools with new concepts designed for uncertain environments. If global risks are not effectively addressed, their social, economic and political fallouts could be far-reaching, as exemplified by the continuing impacts of the financial crisis of 2007-2008
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