The media is becoming increasingly independent from politics in Switzerland

The agenda setting power of the mass media has significant influence over the political process in European countries. Anke Tresch, Pascal Sciarini and Frédéric Varone assess the relationship between the media and policy-makers’ issue attention in the four phases of the law-making process in Switzerland. They find that although the media do not always give priority to the same issues as policy-makers, when looking at the referendum phase of the law-making process, media and policy makers’ priorities are aligned. However, this strong alignment becomes weaker over time. This, they argue, is a sign of the media’s growing independence from politics

Comment l'agenda médiatique influence celui des parlementaires

Les parlementaires utilisent les médias pour s’informer sur les besoins de la société et pour obtenir des informations nécessaires à l’exercice de leurs fonctions législative et de contrôle. À l’inverse, ils se servent des médias pour rendre visibles leurs activités et convaincre l’opinion publique. Une étude menée pour le compte du Fonds national suisse de la recherche scientifique (FNS) s’est intéressée aux interactions entre agendas médiatique et parlementaire. Elle suggère, avec d’autres, que les médias influencent davantage les parlementaires qu’inversement. L’intensité varie toutefois selon le pays, le type de parti, l’enjeu et l’activité parlementaire

Hot Beverages at Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Drive-Thru Windows

The Liebeck hot coffee case is discussed, showing that the court’s decision was not whimsical, but predicated on the knowledge and behaviour of McDonald’s as represented and displayed by their employees and agents. Subsequent research establishing consumer preferred temperatures for consuming hot beverages is reviewed, as is the literature considering that such temperatures are above medical literature thresholds for injuries, yet not causing injuries. Past and current quick service restaurant (QSR) drive-thru window practices regarding hot beverage service temperatures and warnings are established and examined. Finally, circumstances and conditions under which QSR management need to practice due diligence in providing for their customers are addressed

Leadership in the Lodging and Non-Commercial Food Service Industries

The qualities of vision, communication, trust, and perseverance are strongly identified by leaders in the lodging and food service businesses as characterizing effective leaders. The authors report on their research into essential qualities which mark the innovative industry leader

The Use of Performance Appraisal Systems in Restaurants

Do restaurant managers commonly use performance appraisals and, if so, how frequently anf for what purposes? The authors address these questions and review the restaurant industry in general

Noninvasive Physiological Measures And Workload Transitions:an Investigation Of Thresholds Using Multiple Synchronized Sensors

The purpose of this study is to determine under what conditions multiple minimally intrusive physiological sensors can be used together and validly applied for use in areas which rely on adaptive systems including adaptive automation and augmented cognition. Specifically, this dissertation investigated the physiological transitions of operator state caused by changes in the level of taskload. Three questions were evaluated including (1) Do differences exist between physiological indicators when examined between levels of difficulty? (2) Are differences of physiological indicators (which may exist) between difficulty levels affected by spatial ability? (3) Which physiological indicators (if any) account for variation in performance on a spatial task with varying difficulty levels? The Modular Cognitive State Gauge model was presented and used to determine which basic physiological sensors (EEG, ECG, EDR and eye-tracking) could validly assess changes in the utilization of two-dimensional spatial resources required to perform a spatial ability dependent task. Thirty-six volunteers (20 female, 16 male) wore minimally invasive physiological sensing devices while executing a challenging computer based puzzle task. Specifically, participants were tested with two measures of spatial ability, received training, a practice session, an experimental trial and completed a subjective workload survey. The results of this experiment confirmed that participants with low spatial ability reported higher subjective workload and performed poorer when compared to those with high spatial ability. Additionally, there were significant changes for a majority of the physiological indicators between two difficulty levels and most importantly three measures (EEG, ECG and eye-tracking) were shown to account for variability in performance on the spatial task

Switzerland wanted more immigration controls, but economic self-interest will probably prevail

Four years ago the Swiss voted to curb the freedom of movement of people between their country and the EU. Faced with the threat of a breakdown in its bilateral agreements with the EU, the government implemented only minor changes. With a further vote in prospect, Pascal Sciarini (University of Geneva) argues that economic realism is likely to win out over the desire to control immigration

Investigating The Reliability And Validity Of Knowledge Structure Evaluations: The Influence Of Rater Error And Rater Limitation

The likelihood of conducting safe operations increases when operators ave effectively integrated their knowledge of the operation into meaningful relationships, referred to as knowledge structures (KSs). Unlike knowing isolated facts about an operation, well integrated KSs reflect a deeper understanding. It is, however, only the isolated facts that are often evaluated in training environments. To know whether an operator has formed well integrated KSs, KS evaluation methods must be employed. Many of these methods, however, require subjective, human-rated evaluations. These ratings are often prone to the negative influence of a rater\u27s limitations such as rater biases and cognitive limitations; therefore, the extent to which KS evaluations are beneficial is dependent on the degree to which the rater\u27s limitations can be mitigated. The main objective of this study was to identify factors that will mitigate rater limitations and test their influence on the reliability and validity of KS evaluations. These factors were identified through the delineation of a framework that represents how a rater\u27s limitations will influence the cognitive processes that occur during the evaluation process. From this framework, one factor (i.e., operation knowledge), and three mitigation techniques (i.e., frame-of-reference training, reducing the complexity of the KSs, and providing referent material) were identified. Ninety-two participants rated the accuracy of eight KSs over a period of two days. Results indicated that reliability was higher after training. Furthermore, several interactions indicated that the benefits of domain knowledge, referent material, and reduced complexity existed within subsets of the participants. For example, reduced complexity only increased reliability among evaluators with less knowledge of the operation. Also, referent material increased reliability only for those who scored less complex KSs. Both the practical and theoretical implications of these results are provided

Alcohol Consumption Among Hospitality Students and Hospitality Employees: A Replication and Pilot Study

This is a descriptive study that investigates alcohol consumption among hospitality students and hospitality employees. A comparison is made to other majors and to those employed elsewhere as well as to prior research in Scandinavia and the US. In a general sense the claim that hospitality students and hospitality employees consume alcohol at higher rates than students and employees with different affiliations is confirmed. Explanations for the disparate alcohol consumption are proposed

Estudio del efecto de diferentes aditivos sobre la calidad y la conservación de panes libres de gluten

Objetivo general Estudiar el efecto de diferentes aditivos sobre la calidad y la conservación de panes libres de gluten, prestando fundamental atención a las interacciones que se establecen entre las diferentes moléculas que conforman las masas. Objetivos específicos Evaluar el efecto de las diferentes mezclas de harinas para elaborar productos libres de gluten. Estudiar la interacción entre el almidón y las proteínas de las diferentes mezclas de harinas usadas en la elaboración de los productos. Evaluar el efecto de los aditivos sobre las interacciones físico-químicas que ocurren entre los componentes de las harinas usadas en la elaboración de panes libres de gluten. Determinar el efecto de los aditivos sobre las propiedades reológicas de la masa y la calidad del pan libre de gluten. Estudiar el efecto de los aditivos en el proceso de envejecimiento en productos libres de gluten con el fin de incrementar su vida útil.Facultad de Ciencias Exacta