Acquisition of consultative status under the Antarctic Treaty

Under the regime established by the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, decision-making remains exclusively with the limited number of states that are entitled to appoint representatives to participate in Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings. Whereas the 12 original signatory states have a permanent right to attend these meetings, acceding states may gain consultative status only during the time they carry out substantial scientific research in the Antarctic. This paper addresses three issues: the first relates to the problems arising out of the ‘admission procedure' adopted by the original signatory states when faced with the first application of an acceding state to become an Antarctic Treaty Consultative Party, a procedure that has been applied ever since to similar cases. The second looks at the forms of scientific research activities an acceding party ought to conduct in Antarctica in order to meet the requirements laid down in the Antarctic Treaty. The third deals more generally with the issue of limited participation in the Antarctic Treaty decision-making process, which has come under severe criticism from non-Consultative Parties and states that have not acceded to the Treat

Hémorragie colique active visualisée à l'angio-CT: chirurgie versus radiologie interventionnelle

Abstract Objectif Le but de ce travail est de déterminer des critères pour orienter la prise en charge d'une hémorragie colique active visualisée à l'angio-CT abdominal. Matériel et méthode Ce travail porte sur l'analyse rétrospective de cas admis au CHUV pour une hémorragie active du côlon entre août 2003 et juillet 2014. Au final, 39 cas on t été inclus dans l'étude. Ces cas ont été divisés en deux groupes. Le premier a été pris en charge par radiologie interventionnelle (n=21) et le deuxième par chirurgie (n=18). L'analyse de la procédrue effectuée lors de la prise en charge par radiologie interventionnelle a été revue par un expert de la discipline. Les données cliniques ont été obtenues par analyse rétrospective des dossiers d'hospitalisation. Les analyses statistiques ont été réalisées par un statisticien du CHUV sur la base des données que nous avons compilées. Résultats Sur le plan clinique et biologique, aucune différence, statistiquement significative, n'a été observée entre les deux groupes. Cependant, les résultats ont révélé plusieurs tendances. En effet, dans le groupe pris en charge par radiologie interventionnelle, il y a une prépondérance de symptômes d'hémorragie digestive basse (hématochézie ou méléna) (p=0.0775) et une chute de l'hémoglobine (p=0.0893). Le traitement par radiologie interventionnelle se fait, le plus souvent, lorsque l'hémorragie provient du côlon proximal (p=0.0866). au final, après le geste, les cas traités par chirurgie ont des lactates supérieurs aux cas pris en charge par radiologie interventionnelle (p=0.09432). Conclusion Après avoir visualisé l'hémorragie colique à l'angio-CT abdominal, la prise en charge devrait être effectuée en premier lieu par radiologie interventionnelle. Il s'agit d'une technique plus rapide, moins invasive et qui présente moins de complications sévères que la prise en charge chirurgicale d'emblée. Si une embolisation ne peut pas être effectuée ou lors d'un récidive de l'hémorragie, la chirurgie est indiquée pour traiter l'hémorragie colique, dans un second temps

Enfants blessés, parents concernés: une revue de littérature autour des parents d'adolescents souffrant d'automutilations

But : Ce travail vise à établir, d’une part, de quels types de soutien ont besoin les parents d’adolescents qui s’automutilent, et d’autre part, dans quelle mesure les parents peuvent devenir des aidants pour leur adolescent lorsque celui-ci a recours à des comportements automutilateurs. Méthode : Sept études, soit cinq qualitatives, une mixte et une quantitative ont été sélectionnées pour effectuer cette revue de littérature. Les études qui la composent sont toutes disciplinaires et traitent des automutilations chez l’adolescent. Les recherches retenues sont des recherches primaires uniquement ; les méta-analyses et revues de littérature étaient exclues. Résultats : Les principaux résultats ont pu être classés en cinq catégories, soit : la perception de l’automutilation par les infirmières1, l’infirmière dans l’accompagnement des parents, la perception de l’automutilation par les parents, les parents en tant qu’aidants et l’influence des parents sur les adolescents. Il en ressort essentiellement que les conceptions infirmières et parentales du phénomène d’automutilation diffèrent. Le besoin le plus marqué est le besoin d’être informé. En outre, les parents ont rencontré des difficultés à parler d’automutilations avec les infirmières, même en milieu psychiatrique et souhaiteraient avoir accès à des groupes de soutien

Optimisation des stratégies de réglage d'une installation de pompage-turbinage à vitesse variable

Important modifications of the electricity generation landscape are expected in the next decades. This is mainly due to the increase of the demand, the limitation of traditional resources as fossil fuel energy resources and the development of renewable energy resources, especially the wind power. Consequently, hydraulic pumped storage power plants, whose main advantage is the ability to store big amounts of energy and to compensate very fast power fluctuations in the grid, will play a very important role. So it is essential to find and develop solutions to optimize the performances of this type of power plant. Nearly all the pumped storage power plants in operation today are equipped with groups working at constant speed consisting of synchronous motor-generators. Nevertheless, efficiency and dynamic performances of such power plants can be significantly improved by using variable speed motor-generators. The main objective of this work is to propose and develop control strategies and operation procedures for a variable speed pumped storage power plant in order to optimize its efficiency and to guarantee the stability of the grid. Such a study requires three main steps, which are theoretical development, modelling and validation through simulation results. The power plant considered in this study is fully and in detail modelled, the model including the electrical system and the converters, the hydraulic part and the control equipments. The simplification of the electrical part, and more particularly the replacement of the converters by controlled voltage sources, pseudo-continuous model, leads to a drastic simulation time reduction. Proposed control strategies enable the optimal operation of the variable speed group in the case of interconnected and isolated grid topologies and for both generating and pumping modes. The dynamic performances achieved are better than those obtained when considering an equivalent group working at constant speed, even if important electrical faults occur in the grid. Moreover the proposed procedures of start-up and synchronization related to the commissioning of the group operating in pumping mode do not require any supplementary equipment and enable to start the group in a short time. These different control strategies and procedures have been validated by simulations realized with the program SIMSEN

Pharmacological thromboembolic prophylaxis in a medical ward: Room for improvement

To evaluate the adequacy of pharmacological thromboembolic prevention in the medical ward of a university hospital, we performed a retrospective study in 227 consecutive inpatients. The presence of risk factors, and type, length, and dose of pharmacological prevention were documented by chart review. Only 22% of the 153 risk patients received adequate prevention, whereas 38% of the patients at low risk were given pharmacological prophylaxis. The high prevalence of over- and undertreatment is an indicator of less than optimal care. Quality of care interventions, such as the development of local guidelines, might improve the appropriateness of pharmacological thromboembolic prophylaxis in medical inpatient

Diverse soil carbon dynamics expressed at the molecular level

The stability and potential vulnerability of soil organic matter (SOM) to global change remains incompletely understood due to the complex processes involved in its formation and turnover. Here we combine compound-specific radiocarbon analysis with fraction-specific and bulk-level radiocarbon measurements in order to further elucidate controls on SOM dynamics in a temperate and sub-alpine forested ecosystem. Radiocarbon contents of individual organic compounds isolated from the same soil interval generally exhibit greater variation than those among corresponding operationally-defined fractions. Notably, markedly older ages of long-chain plant leaf wax lipids (n-alkanoic acids) imply that they reflect a highly stable carbon pool. Furthermore, marked 14C variations among shorter- and longer-chain n-alkanoic acid homologues suggest that they track different SOM pools. Extremes in SOM dynamics thus manifest themselves within a single compound class. This exploratory study highlights the potential of compound-specific radiocarbon analysis for understanding SOM dynamics in ecosystems potentially vulnerable to global change

Drought alters timing, quantity, and quality of wood formation in Scots pine

Drought has been frequently discussed as a trigger for forest decline. Today, large-scale Scots pine decline is observed in many dry inner-Alpine valleys, with drought discussed as the main causative factor. This study aimed to analyse the impact of drought on wood formation and wood structure. To study tree growth under contrasting water supply, an irrigation experiment was installed in a mature Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) forest at a xeric site in a dry inner-Alpine valley. Inter- and intra-annual radial increments as well as intra-annual variations in wood structure of pine trees were studied. It was found that non-irrigated trees had a noticeably shorter period of wood formation and showed a significantly lower increment. The water conduction cells were significantly enlarged and had significantly thinner cell walls compared with irrigated trees. It is concluded that pine trees under drought stress build a more effective water-conducting system (larger tracheids) at the cost of a probably higher vulnerability to cavitation (larger tracheids with thinner cell walls) but without losing their capability to recover. The significant shortening of the growth period in control trees indicated that the period where wood formation actually takes place can be much shorter under drought than the ‘potential' period, meaning the phenological growth perio

A decade of monitoring at Swiss Long-Term Forest Ecosystem Research (LWF) sites: can we observe trends in atmospheric acid deposition and in soil solution acidity?

Trends in atmospheric acid deposition and in soil solution acidity from 1995 or later until 2007 were investigated at several forest sites throughout Switzerland to assess the effects of air pollution abatements on deposition and the response of the soil solution chemistry. Deposition of the major elements was estimated from throughfall and bulk deposition measurements at nine sites of the Swiss Long-Term Forest Ecosystem Research network (LWF) since 1995 or later. Soil solution was measured at seven plots at four soil depths since 1998 or later. Trends in the molar ratio of base cations to aluminum (BC/Al) in soil solutions and in concentrations and fluxes of inorganic N (NO3-N + NH4-N), sulfate (SO4-S), and base cations (BC) were used to detect changes in soil solution chemistry. Acid deposition significantly decreased at three out of the nine study sites due to a decrease in total N deposition. Total SO4-S deposition decreased at the nine sites, but due to the relatively low amount of SO4-S load compared to N deposition, it did not contribute to decrease acid deposition significantly. No trend in total BC deposition was detected. In the soil solution, no trend in concentrations and fluxes of BC, SO4-S, and inorganic N were found at most soil depths at five out of the seven sites. This suggests that the soil solution reacted very little to the changes in atmospheric deposition. A stronger reduction in base cations compared to aluminum was detected at two sites, which might indicate that acidification of the soil solution was proceeding faster at these site