Belgique. Quatre ans de blocage institutionnel

audience: professionalLe clivage entre les différentes nationalités est l’un des facteurs permettant d’expliquer l’évolution du pays, depuis la naissance en Belgique, en 1830, d’un nationalisme anti-hollandais, partagé par la bourgeoisie francophone du nord et du sud du pays, qui, par contrecoup, suscita des revendications quant au statut de la langue du nord, constituée d’un ensemble de dialectes flamands. Bien que la communauté flamande soit majoritaire sur le plan démographique, il fallut attendre 1967 pour que la Constitution soit enfin traduite dans sa langue. Les réformes de l’État, mises en œuvre de 1970 à 1993, portent la trace à la fois des exigences flamandes sur le plan linguistique et de celles des Wallons sur le plan économique. Après la dernière grande révision de la Constitution, intervenue en 1993 au terme d’un long travail en commission, cinq résolutions votées en 1999 par le Parlement flamand ont réclamé l’instauration d’un « confédéralisme », c’est-à-dire un transfert massif des compétences vers les communautés, avec pour conséquence de vider l’État fédéral de sa substance. Jusqu’à présent, les francophones ont rejeté pratiquement toutes les demandes flamandes, ce qui a eu pour effet de doper la montée électorale d’un parti séparatiste, lequel s’oppose ouvertement à toute négociation ne prenant pas en compte ses thèses nationalistes. Au nom d’un nationalisme belge et de la défense de l’État social, les francophones refusent que l’on procède à la moindre modification substantielle de la répartition des compétences. Le blocage est tel que la Belgique se trouve engagée dans la plus longue crise politique du monde à laquelle, en cette fin d’hiver 2011, aucune solution n’a encore été trouvée

Developing a sustainable, student centred VLE: the OUNL case

Hermans, H., & Verjans, S. (2009). Developing a sustainable, student centred VLE: the OUNL case. Paper presented at the 23rd ICDE World Conference on Open Learning and Distance Education including the 2009 EADTU Annual Conference (M-2009). June, 7-10, 2009, Maastricht, The Netherlands.The Open University of the Netherlands (OUNL) has adopted the concept of the personal learning and working environment (PLWE) as the future delivery platform of its educational services to students. This concept means that students should be able to shape their own personal virtual (learning) environment, based on individual tool and technology preferences . To support this concept the OUNL faces the challenge of setting up an architecture and investing in the development of a set of educational services that can be integrated not only in the institutional learning environment, but that can also be merged with personal environments. In this presentation we describe the first steps of a distance teaching university in its move towards this PLWE concept. This means reconsidering the role and position of the current, more traditional VLE, and developing new educational services that aim at getting students more committed and involved, inspired by the success of current web2.0 technology.Open University of the Netherlands - Instellingsbreed Programma Onderwijsinnovati

République démocratique du Congo. Le système politique de la troisième république : Genèse d’une démocratie attendue

Les élections de 2006 en République démocratique du Congo sont la conséquence d'un long processus commencé par les accords de paix à l'issue de la guerre qui a déchiré le pays. Elles sont aussi le début d'un processus démocratique classique. Les résultats de ces élections méritent d'être analysés en terme politique mais aussi démographique.Peer reviewe

MijnOnderwijsdiensten2.0 (Evaluatie Google Apps Education voor gebruik binnen de Open Universiteit Nederland)

De doelstelling van het deelproject luidt: Het onderzoeken van de eventuele meerwaarde van Google Apps Education (GAE) binnen onze primaire onderwijsprocessen dan wel ondersteunende processen, rekening houdend met: * de functionele en technische (on)mogelijkheden van GAE, * Eventueel aanwezige, concrete behoeften van verschillende gebruikersgroepen (studenten, docenten en onderwijsondersteuners), * Reeds geboden ict-oplossingen binnen de organisatie. Het deelrapport levert een eindrapport met daarin een advies t.a.v. de mogelijke inzet van GAE, inclusief een eventueel implementatieplan op hoofdlijnen. Pilotdiensten zullen op enig moment worden stopgezet dan wel beheerst worden opgenomen in de staande organisatie. Deze pilotdiensten gaan ten principale niet 'stilzwijgend' over naar een exploitatie situatie

Thriving in a colder and more challenging climate

Hawkridge, D., Ng, K., & Verjans, S. (Eds.) (2011). Thriving in a colder and more challenging climate. The 18th annual conference of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT-C 2011). September, 6-8, 2011, University of Leeds, England, UK. URI:http://repository.alt.ac.uk/2159Here are the proceedings of the 2011 ALT Conference ‘‘Thriving in a colder and more challenging climate’’. Proceedings papers report on a piece of research, possibly in its early stages, or they can be ‘‘thoughtpieces’’ which state a point of view or summarise an area of work, perhaps giving new insights. The conference has six themes: . Research and rigour: creating, marshalling and making effective use of evidence . Making things happen: systematic design, planning and implementation . Broad tents and strange bedfellows: collaborating, scavenging and sharing to increase value . At the sharp end: enabling organisations and their managers to solve business, pedagogic and technical challenges . Teachers of the future: understanding and influencing the future role and practices of teachers . Preparing for a thaw: looking ahead to a time beyond the disruptive discontinuities of the next few years. Interestingly, there were very few proposals for the conference as a whole against the sixth theme: and no proceedings papers. Perhaps the thaw is still perceived as being too far away to warrant any preparation yet!Association for learning technolog

Herpes simplex virus-specific T cells infiltrate the cornea of patients with herpetic stromal keratitis: no evidence for autoreactive T cells

PURPOSE: Herpetic stromal keratitis (HSK) is a T-cell-mediated inflammatory disease initiated by a herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection of the cornea. Recently, studies in the HSK mouse model have shown that the immunopathogenic T cells are directed against the HSV protein UL6 cross-reacting with an unknown corneal autoantigen. Whether this type of autoimmunity plays a role in human HSK was analyzed. METHODS: T-cell lines (TCLs) were generated from corneal buttons of 12 patients with different clinical stages of HSV-induced necrotizing stromal keratitis (n = 9) or immune stromal keratitis (n = 3). The initiating virus was identified by polymerase chain reaction and immunohistology performed on the corneal buttons. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated, and B cell lines (BLCLs) were generated by transformation with Epstein-Barr virus. Proliferative responses of these intracorneal TCLs were determined by culturing T cells with autologous BLCLs infected with HSV-1, HSV-2, wild-type vaccinia virus (VV-WT), or VV expressing HSV-1 UL6 (rVV-UL6). Alternatively, T cells were incubated with PBMCs pulsed with human cornea protein extract. RESULTS: Irrespective of clinical diagnosis or treatment, T cells were recovered from the corneal buttons of all the 12 HSK patients. The intracorneal TCLs of 9 of the 12 HSK patients showed HSV-specific T-cell reactivity. In none of the TCLs, T-cell reactivity against HSV-1 UL6 or human corneal antigens was detected. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that the potentially immunopathogenic intracorneal T-cell response in HSK patients is directed to the initiating virus and not to a human corneal autoantigen or HSV-1 UL6

IL-17 expression in human herpetic stromal keratitis: modulatory effects on chemokine production by corneal fibroblasts

Herpetic stromal keratitis (HSK) is an immunopathologic disease triggered by infection of the cornea with HSV. Key events in HSK involve the interaction between cornea-infiltrating inflammatory cells and resident cells. This interaction, in which macrophages, producing IL-1 and TNF-alpha, and IFN-gamma-producing Th1 cells play a crucial role, results in the local secretion of immune-modulatory factors and a major influx of neutrophils causing corneal lesions and blindness. The Th1-derived cytokine IL-17 has been shown to play an important role in several inflammatory diseases characterized by a massive infiltration of neutrophils into inflamed tissue. Here we show that IL-17 is expressed in corneas from patients with HSK and that the IL-17R is constitutively expressed by human corneal fibroblasts (HCF). IL-17 exhibited a strong synergistic effect with TNF-alpha on the induction of IL-6 and IL-8 secretion by cultured HCF. Secreted IL-8 in these cultures had a strong chemotactic effect on neutrophils. IL-17 also enhanced TNF-alpha- and IFN-gamma-induced secretion of macrophage-inflammatory proteins 1alpha and 3alpha, while inhibiting the induced secretion of RANTES. Furthermore, considerable levels of IFN-gamma-inducible protein 10 and matrix metalloproteinase 1 were measured in stimulated HCF cultures, while the constitutive secretion of monocyte chemotactic protein 1 remained unaffected. The data presented suggest that IL-17 may play an important role in the induction and/or perpetuation of the immunopathologic processes in human HSK by modulating the secretion of proinflammatory and neutrophil chemotactic factors by corneal resident fibroblast

Chlamydia trachomatis Biovar L2 Infection in Women in South Africa

We detected Chlamydia trachomatis biovar L2 in vaginal swab specimens of 7 women with vaginal discharge in South Africa. Whole-genome sequencing directly from clinical specimens identified a closely related cluster of strains. The clinical role of this infection in the context of syndromic management should be clarified