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In recent years, the rural-urban divide has not only made its way back into political science, but has also been given an entirely new angle by investigating place of living as its own social identity. However, research is still in its early stages and studies so far focus on linear explanations of place-based resentment. This paper studies place in the light of social identity theory and investigates how place of living and place-based identity interact in shaping place-based resentment. Original survey data on around 4000 respondents from Switzerland from 2022 with a novel measure of place-based identity and resentment is used. A distinction is made not only between rural and urban residents, but also between the suburbanites. Results show that rural residents hold the highest levels of identity and resentment, while suburban residents hold higher levels of resentment than urban ones do. Findings show that there is a moderating effect, whereby the rural-urban divide in resentment increases with place-based identity, while the suburban-urban gap diminishes with increasing place-based identity. These differences in place-based identity and resentment could explain the rural-urban divide in political attitudes and behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Working in pediatric palliative care (PPC) impacts healthcare and allied professionals' work-related quality of life (QoL). Professionals who lack specific PPC training but who regularly provide services to the affected children have articulated their need for support from specialized PPC (SPPC) teams. Objectives: This study had two objectives: (1) to evaluate whether the availability of a SPPC team impacted the work-related QoL of professionals not specialized in PPC; and (2) to explore the work-related QoL of professionals working in PPC without specialized training. Design: Repeated cross-sectional comparative effectiveness design. Methods: One hospital with an established SPPC program and affiliated institutions provided the intervention group (IG). Three hospitals and affiliated institutions where generalist PPC was offered provided the comparison group (CG). Data were collected by paper-pencil questionnaire in 2021 and 2022. The Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL 5) questionnaire was used to assess work-related QoL, yielding separate scores for burnout (BO), secondary traumatic stress (STS) and compassion satisfaction (CS). A descriptive statistical analysis was performed and general estimation equations were modelled. To increase the comparability of the IG and CG, participants were matched by propensity scores. Results: The 301 participating non-PPC-specialized professionals had overall low to moderate levels of BO and STS and moderate to high levels of CS. However, none of these scores (BO: p = 0.36; STS: p = 0.20; CS: p = 0.65) correlated significantly with support from an SPPC team. Compared to nurses, physicians showed higher levels of BO (1.70; p = 0.02) and STS (2.69; p ⩽ 0.001). Conclusion: Although the study sample's overall work-related QoL was satisfactory, it showed a considerable proportion of moderate BO and STS, as well as moderate CS. To provide tailored support to professionals working in PPC, evidence regarding key SPPC support elements and their effectiveness is needed. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov ID, NCT04236180. Plain language summary: Work-related quality of life in professionals involved in pediatric palliative care - Why was this study done? Caring for children suffering from life-limiting conditions and their families impacts professionals' work-related Quality of Life (QoL). Professionals without specific training often provide pediatric palliative care (PPC) to children and their families. - What did the researchers do? We aimed to determine whether the work-related the QoL of professionals without specialised PPC training would be positively influenced when they were supported by PPC specialists. We also wanted to explore what person-specific factors might correspond with higher or lower work-related QoL. Work-related QoL was analysed in relation to burnout (BO), secondary traumatic stress (STS), and compassion satisfaction (CS). These variables' levels were assessed with a questionnaire survey in 2021 and 2022. - What did the researchers find? The 301 participating professionals had overall low to moderate levels of BO and STS and moderate to high levels of CS. There was no substantial difference in work-related QoL in the professionals supported by PPC specialists compared to those who did not receive specialist support. Physicians showed higher levels of BO and STS than nurses. - What do the findings mean? Although the studied professionals' overall work-related QoL was satisfactory, there is a considerable proportion of moderate BO and STS scores in professionals working with children suffering from life-limiting conditions. Further research should explore the specific needs of professionals not specialised in PPC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a critical look at the promises and drawbacks of a popular, novel data collection technique—online tracking—from the point of view of sample composition. Using data from two large-scale studies about political attitudes and information consumption behavior carried out in Germany and Switzerland, we find that the likelihood of participation in a tracking study at several critical dropout points is systematically related to the gender, age, and education of participants, with men, young, and more educated participants being less likely to dropout of the studies. Our findings also show that these patterns are incremental, as changes in sample composition accumulate over successive study stages. Political interest and ideology were also significantly related to the likelihood of participation in tracking research. The study explores some of the most common concerns associated with tracking research leading to non-participation, finding that they also differ across demographic groups. The implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Citation analyses have been used to understand the impact that a group of publications has on its field. As the techniques and indications of reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (RTSA) continue to expand, it is important to identify articles that can orient readers to the history, evolution, and current status of the body of RTSA literature. The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze the 50 most-cited articles related to RTSA. Methods: Various Boolean queries were searched on the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science. Information collected included author name, publication year, country of origin, journal name, article type, total number of citations, and level of evidence. Results: Top 50 most-cited articles amassed a total of 10,521 citations. The most-cited article was cited a total of 766 times. The most common study designs were case series (28) and cohort studies (9). Authors from the United States (24) contributed the most to included papers, followed by France (19) and Switzerland (8). Discussion: The most-cited articles on RTSA are expert opinions, case studies, and cohort studies published by American authors. As RTSA continues to grow over the next decade, studies with higher levels-of-evidence may overtake articles included in this analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic development directly manifests itself in the form of employment at the local level. This paper examines the ability of local politics to shape this development in a competitive federalist environment by examining how local party–political developments affect local economic development in Swiss small and medium-sized towns (SMSTs). Local economic development in the form of employment is a central local policy domain in federal and polycentric Switzerland. This paper argues that party–political influence is conditional on the characteristics of four distinguished economic sectors that differ in their dependence on the regional context. By analyzing the panel data of all Swiss SMSTs, the paper finds that local party–political developments only systematically precede growth in the residential economy, while regional processes determine the economic sectors in ambiguous ways. The grip of local politics on the development of export-oriented economies therefore is not guided by party–political development and more influential at regional levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores shifts in political trust during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland, examining the role that media consumption and threat perceptions played in individuals' trust in politics. We combine panel surveys taken before and during the first nation-wide lockdown with webtracking data of participants' online behaviour to paint a nuanced picture of media effects during the crisis. Our work has several findings. First, political trust, an attitude known for its stability, increased following lockdown. Second, consumption of mainstream news on COVID-19 directly hindered this increase, with those reading more news having lower over-time trust, while the relatively minor alternative news consumption had no direct effect on political trust. Third, threat perceptions a) to health and b) from the policy response to the pandemic, have strong and opposite effects on political trust, with threats to health increasing trust, and threats from the government policy response decreasing it. Lastly, these threat perceptions condition the effect of COVID-19 news consumption on political trust: perceptions of threat had the power to both exacerbate and mute the effect of media consumption on government trust during the pandemic. Notably, we show that the expected negative effect of alternative news on political trust only exists for those who did not think COVID-19 posed a threat to their health, while public service news consumption reduced the negative effect produced by government threat perceptions. The paper therefore advances our understanding of the nuanced nature of media effects, particularly as relates to alternative media, especially during moments of crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate effects of diaper-free times, elimination communication (EC) and early toilet training, a web-based survey was conducted for caregivers. The more diaper-free times an infant experienced during day, the earlier it was toilet trained (P <.001), which was enhanced by the usage of cloth diapers. The amount of diaper-free times significantly reduced the caregiver's continuous sleep, the occurrence of rashes and balm usage (P <.001) and lead to a more regular defecation frequency. Cloth diaper usage had no effect on rashes or balm usage, but on diaper change rate (P <.001). We could show that, although not as effective as full-time EC, part-time EC is more effective if cloth diapers are used, provided they are changed frequently. Furthermore, EC causes a more regular defecation in infants between 1 and 2 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do ethnic majorities and minorities have diverging preferences for fiscal capacity? Do these preferences converge during national emergencies such as interstate war? In this paper, we provide evidence from a natural experiment to demonstrate that politically salient minority-majority divisions undermine the development of fiscal capacity. In addition, we show that the pressure of interstate war is insufficient to supersede differences in support for the expansion of state's capacity for taxation between majority and minority groups. More specifically, we employ a regression discontinuity design using a natural border that separates linguistic groups and municipality outcomes of a popular vote on the introduction of direct taxation at federal level in Switzerland during the First World War. The findings suggest that salient minority-majority divisions have a negative effect on the expansion of states' capacity for taxation even during periods of interstate war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critiques of the parochialism of urban theory have resulted in appeals for more global urban studies. Yet, the fruitful responses to postcolonial work frequently remain sequestered, reflecting the persistence of Eurocentrism as a burden shouldered largely by the so-called "South". This paper aims to shift the work implied by critiques of Eurocentrism – from the labor of translation to the chore of representation – to those whom Eurocentrism serves. We argue that recognizing the ways academics are always already complicit in Eurocentrism by working within the academy is an important starting point. Can the functions of complicity also serve to redistribute the burdens of redress and allow cultivating new possibilities to respond? To understand the functions of complicity, we take inspiration from the historical position of Switzerland on "the margins" of colonialism. Scrutinizing the history of a formally non-colonizing country reveals multiple forms of taking part in, benefitting from and assisting in colonial efforts. Applying these learnings to institutional and epistemological possibilities of working with complicity in the academy, we interrogate the potentials and limits of these functions to address the reproduction of Eurocentrism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials is generally considered the most reliable source of estimates of relative treatment effects. However, in the last few years, there has been interest in using non-randomized studies to complement evidence from randomized controlled trials. Several meta-analytical models have been proposed to this end. Such models mainly focussed on estimating the average relative effects of interventions. In real-life clinical practice, when deciding on how to treat a patient, it might be of great interest to have personalized predictions of absolute outcomes under several available treatment options. This paper describes a general framework for developing models that combine individual patient data from randomized controlled trials and non-randomized study when aiming to predict outcomes for a set of competing medical interventions applied in real-world clinical settings. We also discuss methods for measuring the models' performance to identify the optimal model to use in each setting. We focus on the case of continuous outcomes and illustrate our methods using a data set from rheumatoid arthritis, comprising patient-level data from three randomized controlled trials and two registries from Switzerland and Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Global literature on medical travel focuses on patients from high-income countries traveling to middle-income countries reputed for providing high quality care at significantly lower costs. However, little is known about the movement of wealthy foreign patients to high-income countries such as the USA, the UK or Switzerland. Objective: In this paper, we focus on Swiss medical tourism stakeholders and their strategies to attract a niche of self-paying foreign patients to undergo medical treatment in Switzerland. We describes how they harness the label of 'Swiss quality' healthcare to promote Switzerland in global medical travel industry. Methods: We conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 30 medical tourism stakeholders including 15 healthcare professionals (HCPs) treating self-paying foreign patients in publicly funded and privately owned hospitals in French- and German-speaking regions of Switzerland. The data were inductively coded using thematic analysis. Results: We present their views on 'Swiss quality' healthcare under three themes: health-related human resources, Swiss medical infrastructure, and foreign patients' perceived trust in the 'Swiss quality' label. Participants equated Switzerland's global image and 'Swiss quality' as a 'brand' and believed that foreign patients' trust in 'Swiss quality' is a unique selling point of Swiss healthcare system. Conclusion: By problematizing the use of 'Swiss quality' label to attract wealthy patients to Switzerland, we highlight a few ethical questions that deserve further scrutiny. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Families of persons with acquired brain injuries need to be supported from the early phase of hospitalization. To date, no known early family intervention is available for this population. Using the Medical Research Council Framework, we developed a new intervention based on the Calgary Assessment and Intervention Models that includes the family preferences, clinician's expertise, and the contextual resources. This paper aims to describe the complete development process including a scoping review, an assessment of families and clinicians' needs, an evaluation of the contextual resources, and an adaptation of the theoretical framework. Using a systemic perspective, we tailored the new intervention to involve the stakeholder's preferences. The result is an early family intervention named SAFIR©, led by a clinical nurse specialist, including five core components and structured around three phases and a follow-up. The next steps will be focused on assessment of the clinical feasibility of this new intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies how ordinary people in Switzerland represent and engage with environmental issues in daily practices. Bringing together conceptual developments in cultural sociology and social practice theory, the paper argues that cultural repertoires strongly shape how representations and forms of engagement play out. It identifies two main repertoires of social and environmental change: adaptation and transformation. The adaptation repertoire is reformist and aligned with individualism and the capitalist growth-paradigm; the transformation repertoire consists of a critique of the market society and calls for systemic change. Using qualitative in-depth interviews and a random survey of residents of Western Switzerland, the analyses show that most people's representations and engagements with environmental issues relate to the dominant repertoire of adaptation, which appears to be very compatible with existing social practices. Although people hint at limits to the adaptation repertoire, only very few of our study participants relate to the transformative repertoire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the worldwide unprecedented bunker infrastructure of Switzerland. Since the 1960s, the country has built hundreds of thousands of nuclear bomb shelters in family homes. Drawing on poststructural theories of social practice and ritual theory, the all-pervasive structures in the private sphere are analyzed as transitory spaces that coordinate the movement and connections between different milieus, regimes, and bodies. By studying the operational scripts of the authorities and the spatial arrangements and artifacts of the shelter, the paper argues that a sequenced set of “rites of passage” were to be practiced in order to guarantee a transition into the postapocalypse without any violations of norms, social roles, and affective regimes. However, this “territorializing” process launched by the state with the aim of engineering a “bomb-proof” society met with little success. By ignoring, distorting, or violating the constant prewar situation in their homes, Swiss people, as early as in the 1970s, started to undermine the shelter as an instance of concrete governmentality. Being traversed by various processes of “deterritorialization” the bunker lost its function as a locus of secured passage and transformed into a highly dynamic “empty space” that hides, till this day, residua for creativity and difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the hazards of a majority rights discourse. It argues that this discourse can become a platform for dominant groups to recognize in policies that disadvantage and exclude minorities a legitimate defense of majority rights. The first section examines two ways in which multicultural frameworks already privilege majority rights and interests. The second section distinguishes between legitimate majority entitlements and the demands of entitled majorities to retain their privilege and dominance. I argue that an entitled majority (1) considers itself to be inherently deserving of special treatment and thereby does not believe that minorities have genuine justice-based entitlements similar to its entitlements and (2) views itself as owed appreciation for the ways in which it waives its putative entitlements to accommodate minority interests. Evidence of these features can be found in current political struggles in Quebec and Switzerland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how market and regulatory factors affect stakeholders' investments in smart grid projects in Europe. Distribution System Operators (DSOs), universities, and technology manufacturers are leading investors, with a cumulative 2286 M€ financed since 2002. Statistical tests were conducted on these groups' investments in smart grid projects in the EU-28, Norway, and Switzerland from 2008-2015, to evaluate the influence of the following factors on investment: the level of distribution sector concentration, the regulatory mechanism in place, and the existence of innovation stimulus mechanisms. The level of distribution sector concentration did not significantly influence investments by these three groups. Market-minded stakeholders, such as DSOs and technology manufacturers, invested more in countries that employed hybrid, incentive, or innovation-stimulus mechanisms; meanwhile, collaborative knowledge-seeking institutions, such as universities, were not swayed by these factors. Taking these findings into consideration will help policy makers design adequate incentives for stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores several dimensions of the work and career of Kurt Leibbrand, often considered the most influential German urban transportation planner after 1945. It examines some key ideas prevalent in his publications, such as his advocacy of the priority of transportation planning, hostility to citizen participation in planning, and rejection of pedestrian zones. In assessing his status, the paper discusses his contributions to traffic plans for the cities of Basel, Mainz and Selb. The paper also examines some shifts in his career, including his move to the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology in 1950 and his resignation there after his arrest for having ordered the murder of Italian volunteers in his army unit during the war. Leibbrand was convicted of manslaughter but not punished because the statute of limitations had expired. He continued to work as a consultant but did not again hold an academic position in the German-speaking world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This quantitative content analysis applies the theory of instrumental actualization to Swiss newspaper coverage of smoking bans in public places. The theory holds that journalists' opinions affect news selection; it is studied here for the weighting and evaluation of arguments in news stories. The editorial stance of newspapers was related to the weighting of argumentative fields and the frequency of contradiction of different standpoints. Therefore, elements of both a dialectical (papers of different stance explicitly contradicting one another) and a rhetorical (papers of different stance speaking of different matters) model of discourse were [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public authorities in charge of managing public real-estate assets at the local level face conflicting interests. In Switzerland, short-term solutions often prevail. This paper looks at another group of actors which are characterized by their long-term real-estate management strategies: civic corporations. In Switzerland old civic corporations, which share many characteristics with common pool resource (CPR) institutions, are large landowners, some of them very powerful, which seem to have been successful in the management of their assets over centuries. The objective of this paper is to address the role played today by large urban civic corporations in the implementation process of land-use planning policies, as well as to understand the conditions of their perpetuation within the complex policy framework characterizing Swiss and European welfare states. This research examines the real-estate strategy of the civic corporations of Bern and Chur-ie their choice to buy, sell, or lease parcels of land depending on their location-in order to highlight their complex relationship with local authorities in charge of land-use planning. We show that CPR institutions such as civic corporations must not be dismissed too quickly as relicts of the past: quite the reverse, their strategies gain a renewed significance in a time when public bodies are looking for new ways to improve the sustainability of their spatial footprint and incorporate long-term thinking in their management objectives. More concretely, we show that their significance within land-use planning processes depends on their capacity to complement local authorities through the mobilization of their real-estate assets in order to support the implementation of land-use and urban planning policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El artículo describe el programa de investigación Lenguaje, Acción y Formación (LAF) llevado a cabo en la Universidad de Ginebra, inspirado en la corriente de análisis del trabajo y estudia la enseñanza del alemán (segunda lengua), en la escuela primaria ginebrina. Este programa parte, por un lado, de un modelo del trabajo desarrollado en la corriente de la ergonomia cognitiva francófona, y por otro de la corriente sociológica de la morfogénesis de lo social, que enfatiza el papel del lenguaje en la definición y, en consecuencia, en la realización de las acciones De los distintos campos profesionales considerados en el programa –una empresa farmacéutica, servicio hospitalario y escuela– este trabajo se centra en este último, más concretamente en la enseñanza del alemán lengua segunda en la escuela primaria ginebrina. El corpus incluye el conjunto de textos producidos por la institución a propósito de las tareas seleccionadas para la investigación, grabaciones vídeo de sesiones de aula y entrevistas con los profesores, antes y después de la realización de la clase. La metodología empleada se basa en la perspectiva del interaccionismo sociodiscursivo, desarrollada en el departamento de Didáctica de las lenguas de Ginebra. Los resultados muestran elementos descriptivos que dan cuenta de cómo el profesor construye su actividad en el aula a partir del manual, y como produce en la primera lengua los enunciados verbales de enmarque de la acción, lo que pone en evidencia que la formación del profesorado debería ocuparse de este contenido de formación en segundas lenguas.The paper reviews a Language, Action and Training (LAF: langage, action et formation) research programme run at the University of Geneva. It is inspired on a work analysis approach and studies L2 German teaching. The programme is based on 1) a working model developed in French cognitive ergonomics, and 2) a socio-morphogenesis sociological approach that highlights the role played by language in defining actions and, consequently, in performance. Although the programme includes different professional fields –pharmaceutical company, hospital service, and school– the present paper focuses on the latter, more specifically on L2 German teaching in Geneva primary schools. The corpus includes texts elaborated by the institution regarding the research tasks, video recordings of classroom sessions, and interviews with teachers before and after giving their class. The methodology used follows a socio-discursive interactionist perspective drawn up at the Geneva Language Education Department. The results show descriptive elements that account for how teachers build their lesson plan based on the class textbook, and how they use the L1 to frame the action. This highlights the need to include teacher-student interaction in teachers'' second language training courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors conducted a randomized trial in Geneva, Switzerland, to assess whether response rates to a mailed survey could be increased by printing the questionnaire on green paper. The authors also conducted a meta-analysis of 10 experimental studies that tested the effect of colored questionnaires on response rates. The randomized trial showed no effect (relative risk of responding [RR] = 1.00). The meta-analysis showed that mailing questionnaires on pink paper increased response rates by 12% (RR = 1.12, 95% confidence interval = 1.01 to 1.25, p = 0.04). Other colors had no statistically significant effect (blue: RR = 1.03, p = 0.49; green: RR = 1.02, p = 0.23; yellow: RR = 0.96, p = 0.30). Overall, using colored instead of white paper had no effect (RR = 1.02, p = 0.17). Thus, printing questionnaires on colored paper does not substantially increase response rates in surveys, except for pink paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents recent experimental investigations on structural strengthening by means of (Carbon) Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Matrix (FRCM) in Switzerland. A first test series deals with full-scale reinforced concrete slabs strengthened with one or two composite reinforcement meshes embedded in a shotcrete layer. Static load tests up to failure show the efficiency of the strengthening in terms of increased yield and ultimate load compared to the reference specimen. Due to the initially necessary straightening of the textile, the contribution at lower deflection levels is limited. Only with advanced cracking and crack opening, the mesh develops its full contribution. Ultimate load is reached after a prompt relative slip of the mesh in the shotcrete. In the post-peak domain, failure by concrete crushing was observed. To study the residual tensile strength of the carbon reinforcement after exposure to high temperatures, various tensile tests on small rovings previously cut out of a composite mesh were performed. The specimens were heated to temperatures of 300 °C, 500 °C, 700 °C, and 1000 °C, kept at that level for 30 minutes, and finally cooled down to room temperature. The subsequent tensile tests performed at room temperature revealed a significant drop in the residual tensile strength for exposure temperature higher than 300 °C. A final test was performed on a reinforced concrete slab strip strengthened with a shotcrete layer including a composite mesh as tensile reinforcement. Under a constant service load, the slab was exposed to fire with a temperature rise according to a European standard curve (ETK) for two hours. The slab could withstand the applied loads for the full two hours, during which the composite mesh reached a temperature of about 440 °C. This observation is consistent with the results from tensile tests on filaments, clearly indicating a residual tensile strength after exposure at a similar temperature. The temperature in the internal steel reinforcement did not trespass a critical value of 500 °C as proposed by current design recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on the literature on residential mobility in order to address the housing choice of gentrifiers and its different dimensions (profile, trajectories, and motivations). The gentri-fication literature is reviewed in regard to these dimensions. Empirical material is based on questionnaires sent to the inhabitants of new high-status developments (new-build gentrification) in two Swiss cities (Zurich and Neuchâtel). By pointing out some of the characteristics found in the Swiss context, the results contribute to an understanding of the attributes of contemporary gentrifiers, such as their diversity in terms of life-course position, the transitory stage that living in a gentrified neighbourhood may represent, and the predominance of the convenience of urban life (proximity and mobility) in their motivations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates (1) if, and to what extent, self-congruity theory is applicable in tourism, (2) to what extent travel and person characteristics explain the degree of self-congruity, and (3) how the operationalization of self-congruity affects the conclusions about whether self-congruity holds in tourism. Results derived from a large-scale study of Swiss travelers indicate that conclusions depend heavily on how self-congruity is measured. Using a relatively strict measure, more than half the trips under study can be classified as self-congruent. However, travel and sociodemographic characteristics are very limited in their ability to explain when self-congruity occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The role of state discourses in the construction of 'otherness' and in the production of inequality has become a major issue during a time of increasing changes in migration flows, of an increased presence of nationalist parties, and of increasingly restrictive immigration policies in Europe. In this paper we examine historical shifts in the representation of foreigners within Swiss state discourses and the effects of these shifts on the integration of immigrants into Swiss society. As state discourses regarding foreigners significantly changed after the First World War, the emphasis of immigration policies shifted from a facilitating to a constraining approach. Überfremdung, the notion that excessive numbers of foreigners can threaten Swiss identity, emerged as one of the most influential discourses in Switzerland and provided the foundation for a quantitative and qualitative strategy of defence against the immigration, settlement, and naturalisation of foreigners. In recent years, however, an agreement on freedom of movement between Switzerland and the European Union has been struck, and immigration policies have once again adopted a facilitating stance. As this applies only to citizens of the European Union, a stratified system of immigrant rights has been continued and perpetuated. At the same time, right-wing parties, which have recently risen to power, have successfully used Überfremdung propaganda to persuade Swiss populations to vote against the relaxation of conditions for the naturalisation of foreigners, thus ensuring that immigrants will be excluded from access to citizenship rights over generations. The politics of immigration in Switzerland is above all a politics of national identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on the contributions of Swiss physician Samuel Auguste Andre David Tissot to the study of migraine in the 18th century. Writing of the paper 'Traite des nerfs et de leurs maladies'; Provision of thorough clinical description of migraine; Comparison of Tissot's work to the work of other physicians who studied migraine; Other medical books written; Career background.