La détermination du cadre juridictionnel et législatif applicable aux contrats de cyberconsommation

Un résumé en anglais est également disponible.[À l'origine dans / Was originally part of : CRDP - Droit et technologies d'information et de communication]La détermination de la loi applicable et de la juridiction compétente en ce qui concerne les contrats électroniques internationaux constitue l’un des défis les plus importants dans l’établissement d’un cadre juridique adapté au commerce électronique. La dématérialisation des échanges et le caractère international des réseaux rendent difficile l’application des règles de droit international privé conçues pour répondre aux besoins des contrats « papier ». Dans le cas du contrat électronique de consommation, la création d’instruments juridiques adaptés devient essentielle afin de renforcer le rapport de confiance devant exister entre commerçant et cyberconsommateur et d’ainsi permettre au commerce électronique de continuer son développement. Le phénomène « Internet » lié au commerce électronique provoque, depuis un certain temps, un débat au sujet des besoins d’adaptation et de renouvellement des différentes règles étatiques et internationales portant sur les conflits de lois et de juridictions. C’est dans cette optique que cet article fait l’analyse du cadre législatif général permettant la détermination de la loi applicable et de la juridiction compétente en matière de contrat électronique international. L’article aborde également l’étude des différentes règles juridictionnelles encadrant le contrat électronique de consommation et les possibles difficultés d’application de celles-ci. Est finalement analysée la validité du consentement d’un consommateur eu égard aux clauses sur la loi applicable et le tribunal compétent imposées unilatéralement par les cybermarchands

Assessing health promotion activities of community nurses in a GP surgery in the North-East of England

The purpose of this research was to study the extent to which community nurses are involved in health promotion activities in a GP surgery in the North-East of England, and to investigate whether these activities meet the needs of their clients A combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods was used. Data was gathered through: (a) 75 non-participant observation sessions in various clinics. Field notes were analysed using the grounded theory approach; (b) 516 postal questionnaires to a random sample of the surgery patients, aged 17-45 years, covering their health status and lifestyle, and the health promotion information they have received from the GP surgery. A response of 64% was achieved. Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS package for Windows 95; (c) A semi-structured interview with one of the general practitioners was carried out as a triangulation tool and as an additional source of information. Nurses were found to be involved more in health promotion as a pre-set procedure in clinics, rather than on an opportunistic basis. They seem to have an approach centred in the management of illness and risk factors rather than in a health promotion model, which promotes positive health and well being. Questionnaire analysis revealed unhealthy lifestyles among the population that could be tackled through health promotion, e.g. 25% were smokers; 44% exercised occasionally; 40% had a BMI> 25kg/m(^2). Mental health appeared to be an issue. A relatively low rate of lifestyle advice was observed and was also reported by the patients. A major constraint was the professionals' lack of time. In the present study, nurses were already engaged in some health promotion although more could be done, especially during technical procedures where opportunities to promote health were missed. More effective health promotion could be planned according to the needs of the practice population

Designing and implementing a non-smoking policy at the university of Navarre, Spain

The aim of this study was to design and implement a non-smoking policy at a university and to recommend health promotion interventions based on die transtheoretical model and employee interest. A combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods was used. A questionnaire was sent to a random sample of employees (N=641) to assess smoking habits, nicotine dependency, intention to quit, perception of norms, daily exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, and attitudes towards a non-smoking policy. To complement the survey data gathered, measurements of particulate matters and benzene were taken in several locations at the university. In addition, eight focus group discussions took place with a purposive sample of employees seeking positive ideas for implementing a successful policy, and reasons for their objection. A response rate of 70.4% was obtained from 578 eligible employees. Survey results suggest that 25.7% university employees smoke. The majority of respondents supported a restrictive non-smoking policy (81.7%). Acceptance among active smokers was significantly lower (59.2% vs 89.3%). Smoking prohibition with the provision of smoking areas was the most favoured option (46.9%). Lack of compliance and the presence of persistent smokers were seen as potential obstacles for the implementation of a non-smoking policy. Most of the smokers (73.6%) presented a low level of nicotine dependence. The application of the transtheoretical model of change to the sample under study suggests that the majority (59.6%) of smokers at the university were not considering quitting in the near future. Interest in availability of smoking cessation activities differed by stage of change. Based on this research a non-smoking policy has been implemented at the University of Navarre. This project could result in an improvement on die future health of 1,900 university employees and 12,000 students. There is great potential for learning from this experience and for applying it to other settings where tobacco control efforts are needed

Neurobiological correlates of behavioural alterations in mouse models of MBNL2 deficiency and pharmacological interventions : relevance for myotonic dystrophy type 1

Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is a rare disease characterized by muscular defects, as well as, cognitive and mood alterations. Although these neurophysiological disturbances are very debilitating, there is lack of data on the neurobiological mechanisms involved, and no specific treatment is available. Here, we investigated the neurobiological correlates underlying MBNL2 loss-of-function using two transgenic mouse lines: (i) constitutive Mbnl2 knockout (KO) mice and (ii) tissue-specific KO mice, where Mbnl2 expression is selectively deleted in the glutamatergic neurons of the forebrain. We demonstrated that both models exhibit long-term memory recognition deficits and a depressive-like state associated with increased microglia and altered neurochemical levels. Moreover, chronic treatments with the psychostimulant methylphenidate and the atypical antidepressant mirtazapine attenuated these behavioural alterations through a reduction of pro-inflammatory microglial overexpression and restoring the levels of several neurotransmitters and its receptors. Together, these data reveal new insights into the neurobiology of DM1 and provide evidence that methylphenidate and mirtazapine could be novel potential candidates to alleviate the debilitating symptoms related to the central nervous system in patients with DM1.La distrofia miotónica tipo 1 (DM1) es una enfermedad rara caracterizada por defectos musculares, así como por alteraciones cognitivas y afectivas. Aunque estas alteraciones neurofisiológicas son muy debilitantes, faltan datos sobre los mecanismos neurobiológicos involucrados, y no hay un tratamiento específico disponible. Aquí, investigamos los correlatos neurobiológicos subyacentes a la pérdida de función de MBNL2 utilizando dos líneas de ratones transgénicos: (i) ratones knockout (KO) constitutivos del gen Mbnl2 y (ii) ratones KO condicionales con una deleción específia del gen Mbnl2 en las neuronas glutamatérgicas del cerebro anterior. Los resultados demostraron que ambos modelos exhiben déficits de reconocimiento de memoria a largo plazo y un estado depresivo, asociado con un aumento de la microglia y niveles neuroquímicos alterados. Además, los tratamientos crónicos con el psicoestimulante metilfenidato y el antidepresivo atípico mirtazapina, atenuaron estas alteraciones del comportamiento mediante una reducción de la sobreexpresión microglial proinflamatoria y el restablecimiento de los niveles de varios neurotransmisores y sus receptores. Juntos, estos datos aportan nuevos conocimientos sobre la neurobiología de DM1 y proporcionan evidencia de que el metilfenidato y la mirtazapina podrían ser nuevos candidatos potenciales para aliviar los síntomas debilitantes relacionados con el sistema nervioso central en pacientes con DM1

The Cosmological Bootstrap: Spinning Correlators from Symmetries and Factorization

We extend the cosmological bootstrap to correlators involving massless particles with spin. In de Sitter space, these correlators are constrained both by symmetries and by locality. In particular, the de Sitter isometries become conformal symmetries on the future boundary of the spacetime, which are reflected in a set of Ward identities that the boundary correlators must satisfy. We solve these Ward identities by acting with weight-shifting operators on scalar seed solutions. Using this weight-shifting approach, we derive three- and four-point correlators of massless spin-1 and spin-2 fields with conformally coupled scalars. Four-point functions arising from tree-level exchange are singular in particular kinematic configurations, and the coefficients of these singularities satisfy certain factorization properties. We show that in many cases these factorization limits fix the structure of the correlators uniquely, without having to solve the conformal Ward identities. The additional constraint of locality for massless spinning particles manifests itself as current conservation on the boundary. We find that the four-point functions only satisfy current conservation if the s, t, and u-channels are related to each other, leading to nontrivial constraints on the couplings between the conserved currents and other operators in the theory. For spin-1 currents this implies charge conservation, while for spin-2 currents we recover the equivalence principle from a purely boundary perspective. For multiple spin-1 fields, we recover the structure of Yang-Mills theory. Finally, we apply our methods to slow-roll inflation and derive a few phenomenologically relevant scalar-tensor three-point functions.Comment: 128 pages, 15 figures; V3: minor corrections and references adde

A Cosmological Bootstrap for Resonant Non-Gaussianity

Recent progress has revealed a number of constraints that cosmological correlators and the closely related field-theoretic wavefunction must obey as a consequence of unitarity, locality, causality and the choice of initial state. When combined with symmetries, namely homogeneity, isotropy and scale invariance, these constraints enable one to compute large classes of simple observables, an approach known as (boostless) cosmological bootstrap. Here we show that it is possible to relax the restriction of scale invariance, if one retains a discrete scaling subgroup. We find an infinite class of solutions to the weaker bootstrap constraints and show that they reproduce and extend resonant non-Gaussianity, which arises in well-motivated models such as axion monodromy inflation. We find no evidence of the new non-Gaussian shapes in the Planck data. Intriguingly, our results can be re-interpreted as a deformation of the scale-invariant case to include a complex order of the total energy pole, or more evocatively interactions with a complex number of derivatives. We also discuss for the first time IR-divergent resonant contributions and highlight an inconsequential inconsistency in the previous literature.Comment: 33 pages, 3 figure

A survey of tobacco dependence treatment guidelines content in 61 countries

Aims: To assess tobacco dependence treatment guidelines content in accordance with Article 14 of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and its guidelines, and association between content and country income level. Design: Cross sectional study. Setting Online survey from March to July 2016. Participants: Contacts in 77 countries, including 68 FCTC Parties, six Signatories and three non-Parties which had indicated having guidelines in previous surveys, or had not been surveyed before. Measurements: A nine item questionnaire on guidelines content, key recommendations, writing and dissemination. Findings:We received responses from contacts in 63 countries (82%); 61 had guidelines. The majority are for doctors (93%), primary care (92%) and nurses (75%). All recommend brief advice, 82% recording tobacco use in medical notes, 98% nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), 61% quitlines, 31% text messaging, 87% intensive specialist support, and 54% stress the importance of healthcare workers not using tobacco. Only 57% have a dissemination strategy, and 62% have not been updated for five or more years. Compared with high income countries, quitlines are less likely to be recommended in upper middle income countries guidelines, OR 0.15 (95% CI 0.04 ‐ 0.61), and intensive specialist support in lower middle income countries guidelines, OR 0.01 (95%CI 0.00 – 0.20). Guidelines updating is positively associated with country income level (p =0.027). Conclusions: Although most tobacco dependence treatment guidelines in the 61 countries assessed in 2016 follow the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Article 14 recommendations and do not differ significantly by income level, improvements are needed in keeping guidelines up‐to‐date, applying good writing practices, and developing a dissemination strategy