Mittellateinisch-romanisch vallis 'Tal' als administrative Raumbezeichnung in der französchischen Schweiz: das Zeugnis der Ortsnamen

There are not many written records of the early Middle Ages in French- speaking Switzerland. One must therefore try to enhance our knowledge by other means. The Latin word vallis, literally 'valley', is known to mean “district of the Carolingian period' in Southern France. Rather surprisingly, one also finds in Suisse romande the same meaning when vallis is followed not by a river name but by a place name. Some instances seem to be quite sure: there is not always a watercourse available in the surroundings and vallis alternates with its synonym pagus “district'

RESS - Real Estate Six Sigma: Empirische Ergebnisse – theoretische Grundlagen – praktische Umsetzung

(Executive Summary) Six Sigma ist für die Immobilienwirtschaft ein noch junges Thema. Es ist bereits mehr als einem Drittel der im Immobilienmanagement tätigen Organisationen bekannt und befindet sich derzeit bei fünf Prozent im Einsatz. Konkrete Erfahrungen mit dem Einsatz von Six Sigma beschränken sich derzeit noch auf die Corporate Real Estate Management Einheiten von Non-Property Companies und die Offenen Immobilienfonds; der Erfahrungshintergrund beträgt durchschnittlich zwischen zwei und vier Jahren. Fast alle Unternehmen haben Six Sigma unternehmensweit eingeführt. Als wichtigste Faktoren einer erfolgreichen Einführung von Six Sigma werden Aktzeptanz und die dahingehende Veränderungsbereitschaft genannt. Genauso wichtig ist die aktive Förderung der Six Sigma Initiative durch das Management. Betrachtet über alle Organisationseinheiten und Prozesse, weist Six Sigma bei den befragten Unternehmen derzeit einen durchschnittlichen Implementierungsgrad von rund 30 Prozent auf; insgesamt sind jedoch starke Schwankungen zwischen den einzelnen Unternehmen festzustellen. Die Einführung ist in den Organisationseinheiten für kaufmännisches und technisches Facility Management und den Prozessen für Nebenkostenabrechnung, Vermietung und Instandhaltung am weitesten Fortgeschritten. Trotz des geringen durchschnittlichen Implementierungsgrades konnten in Bezug auf Fehler, Qualitätssteigerungen (Organisation, Prozesse), Prozessdurchlaufzeiten, Kundenzufriedenheit und Kosten Verbesserungen im einbis zweistelligen Prozentbereich erzielt werden. Von den Unternehmen, die Six Sigma noch nicht einsetzen, wird als Hauptgrund (rund zwei Drittel der Nennungen) angeführt, dass die Vorteile einer Six Sigma Einführung noch nie überprüft worden sind. Dennoch sehen die Unternehmen deutliche Potenziale für Six Sigma; bezogen auf Organisationseinheiten werden diese für Facility Management, An- und Verkauf bzw. Portfoliomanagement am höchsten geschätzt. Bei den Prozessen werden die größten Potenziale in Vermietung, Nebenkostenabrechnung, Kundenbetreuung, Mietpreisbildung und Instandhaltung gesehen. Unternehmen, die bereits Erfahrungen mit anderen Managementkonzepten gesammelt haben, und Teilnehmer mit Six Sigma Erfahrung schätzen die Potenziale einer Einführung von Six Sigma dabei im Durchschnitt zehn bis 14 Prozent höher ein. Wichtigste Voraussetzungen für eine Einführung von Six Sigma sind aus Sicht der Unternehmen erfolgreiche Beispiele aus der Immobilienbranche und ein attraktives Kosten/Nutzenverhältnis (beziehungsweise ein hoher Return on Investment). Zudem wurde bei zahlreichen Unternehmen ein Informationsdefizit in Bezug auf Six Sigma festgestellt; insbesondere eine immobilienspezifische Aufbereitung des Themas wurde bisher vermisst. Als wichtigste Ziele für die Zukunft sehen die befragten Unternehmen mit deutlichem Abstand Prozessoptimierung und Kostensenkungen an. Der Ansatz von Six Sigma, Kostensenkungen durch eine an den Kundenanforderungen orientierte Steigerung der Prozessqualität zu erreichen, stellt dabei auf eben diese Punkte ab. Insgesamt wurden 500 Organisationen befragt: Property Companies, Non-Property Companies (Corporate Real Estate Management) und der öffentliche Sektor (Public Real Estate Management). Die Rücklaufquote von 42 Prozent spiegelt das hohe Interesse an der vorliegenden Thematik wieder.

Navigating Relationships and Boundaries: Concerns around ICT-uptake for Elderly People

Despite a proliferation of research in the use of ICTs to support active and healthy ageing, few have considered the privacy and security concerns particular to the elderly. We investigated the appropriation of tablet devices and a neighborhood portal as well as emerging privacy and security issues through ethnographic and action research in a long-term participatory design (PD) project with elderly participants. We discuss two major themes: a) the tensions related to perceived digital threats and the social pressures of online disclosure to the social environment; and b) the relation of these issues to the ICT appropriation process and the referring challenges we encountered. We argue that there is a need to understand the interleaving of physical and virtual habitats, the various ways resulting in discomfort and the senior citizens' actions – which at first glance appear contradictory. We consider the implications of the issues observed for examining privacy and security concerns more broadly as well as discussing implications for the design of the portal and the shaping of social measures for appropriation support

Mismatch negativity generation in subjects at risk for psychosis: source analysis is more sensitive than surface electrodes in risk prediction

Background: Deficits of mismatch negativity (MMN) in patients with schizophrenia have been demonstrated many times and there is growing evidence that alterations of MMN already exist in individuals at risk for psychosis. The present study examines differences in MMN between subjects fulfilling ultra-high risk (UHR) or only basic symptoms criteria and it addresses the question, if MMN source analysis can improve prediction of transition to psychosis. Methods: The MMN to duration, frequency, and intensity deviants was recorded in 50 healthy controls and 161 individuals at risk for psychosis classified into three subgroups: only basic symptoms (n = 74), only ultra-high risk (n = 13) and persons who fulfill both risk criteria (n = 74). Based on a three-source model of MMN generation, we conducted an MMN source analysis and compared the amplitudes of surface electrodes and sources among the three groups. Results: Significant differences in MMN generation among the four groups were revealed at surface electrodes Cz and C4 (p < 0.05) and at the frontal source (p < 0.001) for duration deviant stimuli. The 15 subjects from the risk groups who subsequently developed a manifest psychosis had a significantly lower MMN amplitude at frontal source (p = 0.019) without showing significant differences at surface electrodes. Low activity at frontal MMN source increased the risk of transition to manifest disease by the factor 3.12 in UHR subjects. Conclusion: MMN activity differed significantly between subjects presenting only basic symptoms and subjects which additionally meet UHR criteria. The largest differences between groups as well as between individuals with and without transition were observed at the frontal source. The present results suggest that source analysis is more sensitive than surface electrodes in psychosis risk prediction by MMN

Examining outpatients' hand hygiene behaviour and its relation to COVID-19 infection prevention measures

BACKGROUND: The increasing demand for outpatient care is associated with a higher risk of infection transmission in these settings. However, there is limited research on infection prevention and control practices in ambulatory clinics, and none focuses on patients. AIM: This study aims to examine outpatients' hand hygiene behaviours, their determinants, and their associations with other infection prevention measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: We observed the hand hygiene behaviour of one cohort of patients in one outpatient clinic and surveyed a separate sample in five clinics about their hand hygiene practice in outpatient facilities. A questionnaire based on the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) was used to examine predictors of the behaviour. Moreover, patients indicated their compliance with COVID-19 infection prevention measures, vaccination status, disease risk perception, and vaccine hesitancy. FINDINGS: Observed hand hygiene rates among 618 patients were low (12.8%), while 67.3% of the 300 surveyed patients indicated sanitising their hands upon entering the clinic. The TDF domains memory, attention, and decision processes, and emotions significantly predicted both current (today's) and general hand hygiene behaviour in outpatient clinics. Hand hygiene behaviour and compliance with COVID-19 infection prevention showed a positive association; however, no significant connection was found with patients' vaccination status, suggesting different behavioural motivators. CONCLUSION: Hand hygiene among outpatients should be improved through interventions focusing on helping patients remember to clean their hands. More research on infection prevention in outpatient facilities is needed to ensure patient safety

Risk factors for stuttering: a secondary analysis of a large data base

The spectrum of risk and concomitant factors in stuttering is generally thought to be wide and heterogeneous. However, only a few studies have examined these factors using information from large databases. We examined the data on 11,905 Swiss conscripts from 2003. All cases with high psychiatric screening scores indicating "caseness” for a psychiatric disorder were excluded, among them potential malingerers, so that 9,814 records remained. The analyses rely on self-reported information about stuttering in childhood, problems at birth, problems in school, mental disorders of parents and relatives, childhood adversity and socio-demographic information. Statistical modelling was done using logistic regression and path analysis models. Risk factors determined in the logistic regression include premature birth, probable attention deficit hyperactive disorder, alcohol abuse of the parents, obsessive-compulsive disorder in parents and relatives, having a disabled mother and having a parent from a foreign country. There is no overwhelmingly strong risk factor; all odds ratios are about 2 or below. In conclusion, large databases are helpful in revealing less obvious and less frequent risk factors for heterogeneous disorders such as stuttering. Obviously, not only secondary analyses, but also systematical large scale studies would be required to complete the complex epidemiological puzzle in stuttering. An extensive examination of young adults who were initially assessed in childhood might provide the most promising desig

Occupational functioning and work impairment in association with personality disorder trait-scores

Purpose: According to the DSM, functional impairment is a main criterion for the general definition of personality disorders (PDs), but research suggests that some PDs might not be related to impaired functioning. Occupational functioning has rarely been examined in all ten DSM PDs. Methods: We analysed 511 adults aged 20-41years from the general population of the canton of Zurich, Switzerland, using data from the Epidemiology Survey of the Zurich Programme for Sustainable Development of Mental Health Services. All PDs were assessed with dimensional trait-scores and associations with indicators of occupational functioning were analysed with generalised linear models. Results: Each PD revealed at least a weak association with some form of occupational impairment. Most PDs, especially from cluster A and B, were significantly related to occupational dysfunction, in particular low education level, conflicts in the workplace, dismissal or demotion, and unemployment. In contrast, obsessive-compulsive PD was mostly unrelated to occupational functioning. A total personality pathology dose-response relationship was observed for low education level, conflicts in the workplace, dismissal or demotion, and unemployment. Conclusions: Impairment in occupational functioning is an important aspect particularly of cluster A and B PDs. Assuming that functional impairment is a predictor of illness severity, we advocate that clinicians should carefully explore indicators of occupational functioning in the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of PDs. The findings discussed herein have implications for general treatment, interventions in the work environment, or re-integration of patients into the labour force

Interpersonal functioning deficits in association with DSM-IV personality disorder dimensions

Purpose: According to DSM, interpersonal functioning deficits are a main criterion for the general definition of personality disorders (PDs), but some PD diagnoses do not appear to be related to impaired interpersonal functioning. Social deficits have rarely been studied in all PD dimensions to date. Methods: We analyzed 511 adults aged 20-41years from the general population of the canton of Zurich, Switzerland, using data from the Epidemiology Survey of the Zurich Programme for Sustainable Development of Mental Health Services (ZInEP). PD dimensions were measured with a questionnaire and indicators of interpersonal functioning with a semi-structured interview. Associations were analyzed with generalized linear models. Results: All PD dimensions were significantly associated with various indicators of interpersonal functioning deficits, such as distress and conflicts in friendships and partnership, feeling lonely, few close friends, and reduced social support. Schizotypal and borderline PD were relatively strongly associated with distress in friendships when compared with other PD dimensions. Furthermore, both dimensions were significantly related to all indicators of interpersonal functioning deficits. Conclusions: Subjects scoring high on any PD dimension reported considerable deficits in interpersonal functioning as characterized by a solitary lifestyle, conflictual and distressful social relations, and lack of social support. All DSM-IV PDs are associated with poor interpersonal functioning, but there is some evidence that schizotypal and borderline symptomatology affects deficits in social interactions even more profoundly and pervasively than other PD dimensions