Authoritative Bodies Research Articles

ҐЕНДЕРНИЙ АСПЕКТ ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ ДЕМОКРАТИЧНОГО ЦИВІЛЬНОГО КОНТРОЛЮ ЗА СЕКТОРОМ БЕЗПЕКИ І ОБОРОНИ ДЕРЖАВИ

The effective command and control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other elements of the defense forces with the aim toachieve the high-level of defense capability of the state which are inextricably related with the appropriate normalization andexercising the practical events of democratic civil control of the military organization of the state.The process of reforming the defense sector is aimed at transforming the system of unified command and control andmilitary command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The establishment of a new system of command and control provides for aclear delimitation of authority between the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the functioning of new typesand branches of troops (forces). Additionally, it is provided for the separation of the functions of planning, generation andimplementation of means and forces within the Armed Forces, and the Ministry of defense has transformed from the body ofmilitary command to the central body of executive authority, responsible for the reform and implementation of the state policy inthe military sphere and the sphere of defense, the military policy in terms of staff, the technical policy and the policy in terms ofdefense purchases etc. One of the major tasks of the Ministry of Defense is the exercise within the framework of authority ofdemocratic civil control of the activity of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the military-political and administrative command andcontrol of the military organization.The gender equality requires the establishment of equal rights and opportunities for men and women in the matters ofmilitary service, participation in the protection of the state – not only on a legislative but also on a practical level. For a longperiod of time the military profession was solely masculine. It has been related with the significant physical, moral-psychologicalpressure on a human being, the necessity to be firm in overcoming the hard and difficult daily military routine. Currently, the roleof the woman in a society has undergone significant changes. The latter have also touched the military sphere. It is therefore theissue of democratic civil control of the military organization of the state is to be considered through the prism of its genderaspect. For the sole, gender element of this control is the finest measure of its effectiveness, the indicator of absolute control ofcivic society in the military sphere, which assures the accountability of military to civil personnel and totally includes thepossibility of a military coup d’état in a state.

Опыт работы органов самоуправления на Тульском оружейном заводе во второй половине XVIII ‒ первой половине XIX вв.

The article is devoted to the study of the concept of self-government at the regional level on the example of self-government bodies established at the Tula Arms Plant in the second half of the 18th century. There has been an increase in the number of studies on the elective services of Tula gunsmiths since the 1990s and this article takes the next step in the detailed research of the subject. Most of the archival documents used to prepare the article have been introduced into academic circulation for the first time. The author focuses on a number of issues: the membership and method of manning self-government bodies of Tula gunsmiths, the specifics of their activities and functions, their place in the system of self-government at the plant, and their role in the organization of the production process. The system of self-government bodies at the Tula Arms Plant included the armourers’ ratusha, the orphan court and the verbal court. Functional approach was used to analyse the activities of these bodies; it allowed us to systematize the directions of their work and reveal the hierarchy and the position of each of the elective services there. Special attention is paid to the interaction of armourers’ ratusha with other self-government bodies and the reflection of the topic of self-government in the normative legal acts regulating the work of the Tula Arms Plant (Regulations on the plant dated 1782 and 1823). At the same time, the activities of selfgovernment bodies are considered as elements of social policy carried out by the administration of the Tula Arms Plant. The formation and development of self-government institutions are examined on the example of the Tula and Izhevsk arms plants, with the identification of common and characteristic features in the development of these bodies of authority.

Personal Protective Equipment in the coronavirus pandemic: training with Rapid Cycle Deliberate Practice.

to discuss the application of Rapid Cycle Deliberate Practice for attire and unattire training in the context of COVID-19 and structure a practical guide to the application at this juncture. this methodological study described theoretical and practical aspects of the application of a simulation strategy as a technological training tool. An application guide was constructed from the search for evidence from the main health authority bodies in Brazil. maximizing time in Deliberate Practice, feedback with evidence and psychological security are the principles of this strategy. The dynamic involves repetition and feedback. The application guide presents the sequence of actions for attire and unattire. coping with this pandemic requires appropriate use of personal protective equipment. The authors suggest the Rapid Cycle Deliberate Practice as a technological educational tool for attire/unattire, since it encourages mastery performance.

Філософсько-правовий аналіз забезпечення права на інформацію в Україні

The purpose of the article is the analysis of philosophic and legal components of the process of enforcement of the natural right of citizen for information in Ukraine. The special attention should be paid to research of principles of national legislation, regulating legal framework of obtainment, distribution and storage of information. In early years of Ukrainian informational society philosophic and legal comprehension of the nature of individual’s right for information happened to be out of scientists’ attention zone to a certain extent. The methodology of application of scientific tools of research of citizen’s right for information has been performed on the ground of systematic and structural analysis as far as effective informational and legal cooperation between authorities and society is a paradigm of interdisciplinary type. Besides, the author has used the method of legal negation to comprehend principles of performance of state informational policy, dogmatic method – for analysis of legislation, regulating informational sphere of Ukraine, and methods of induction, abstracting and formal logic – for generalization of suggestions and conclusions in terms of improvement of the national rules and regulations that define informational relationship between authorities and society. The scientific novelty is that, on the ground of historico-legal and rather-legal methods, the author has defined the current state of problems related to enforcement of citizen’s right for information in Ukraine, that definitely need new scientific recommendations in terms of choice of directions and priorities in improvement of legal rulemaking for informational activities, specification of terms of informational and legal relationships. The major results of this research are directed to development of new philosophic and legal approaches to enforcement of right for information in accordance with EU informational legislation in power. Conclusions. Having analyzed the most common philosophic and legal conceptions of the enforcement of right for information, the author has justified the necessity to improve the legislation in informational sphere of Ukraine in accordance with European approaches, namely: harsher punishment for acting officials of authority bodies for violation of the procedure of provision of requested information, response period, attempts to conceal public information etc. The author has also presented recommendations for prevention of such actions by representatives of government bodies that possess the necessary information. In the meantime, from the point of view of modern model of communication between authorities and society, the author offers philosophic and legal principles and grounds for possible limitation of the right for access to information, that must be ultimately reasoned in Ukrainian legislation and must to be related to: threat to national security, informational security of a citizen, violation of privacy and personal data security

Impact of Government Expenditure in Economic Growth of Nepal: ARDL Approach

Public expenditure refers to the expenditure made by public authority, i.e., central government and other local bodies to carter the demand of the people. It is for protecting the citizens and for promoting their economic and social welfare. Public expenditure is one of the instruments through which government influence economic events. The specific objective of this paper is to analyze the long run and short run relationship between public expenditure and economic growth in Nepal and to examine the Causal relationship between the public expenditure and economic growth in Nepal. The study employed quantitative techniques and econometrics methods to analyze the data. This study used time series data. Data analysis begins with the testing of the unit root of the series to confirm whether the data are stationary or not. Augmented Dicky Fuller unit root test, co-integration test is employed to check the relationship of the variables under study. One period lagged LNGE has significant and positive impact on RGDP. If 1 percent increase in GE leads to increase by 34.99 percent in RGDP at 5 percent level of significance. The coefficient of error correction term (-0.782018) is significant at one percent level. Highly significant negative sign of the error correction term strengthens the presence of long-run relationship among the variables. However, the speed of adjustment from previous year’s disequilibrium in RGDP added to current year’s equilibrium is only 78.20 percent. The P-value of Breusch-Godfrey serial Correlation LM Test, Heteroscedasticity test: Breusch-Pagan-Godfrey and normality test is greater than 5 percent which is desirable. So, this model is free from auto correlation and heteroscedasticity. The residual is normally distributed.

Telemedicine: new technology, new promises?

Telemedicine has emerged to be key player in healthcare delivery in underserved areas. Successful telemedicine projects in India like the Aravind tele-ophthalmology network, the Kerala Onconet project and the Amrita mobile telemedicine unit are an inspiration for future endeavors. While improved access to healthcare, decreased healthcare costs and time saving were lauded as the strengths of telemedicine, the fact that very few reliable literature and statistics is available for the cost-effectiveness of telemedicine and the need for specialized equipment and training are weakening the potential telemedicine boom. As reluctance for acceptance by the public, lack of medicolegal protocols and an authoritative regulatory body are threatening the future of telemedicine, we hope that the establishment of virtual medical centers and international collaboration in the field of telemedicine and its inclusion in government programmes like PMJAY- Ayushman Bharath will prove to be a step towards a brighter future for telemedicine in India.

Realization of the Rights of Convicts in the Russian Constitutional-Legal Model of Free Elections

The author studies retrospective and modern categories of admissible limitations of the constitutional right of a person to elect others and to be elected for appointment into bodies of public authority and public offices if they have committed grave or very grave crimes. The author also gives a contemporary assessment of the normative introduction of such limitations in the election field taking into account the legal positions in international and Russian court practice. It is argued that the current Russian constitutional-legal model of free elections has an undifferentiated limitation of active suffrage for persons sentenced to a criminal punishment with a limitation of freedom. The author analyzes the court practice regarding the lawfulness and adequacy of undifferentiating limitation of suffrage rights of convicts, specifically, the legal position of the European Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. It is shown that some regimes of incarceration should be transferred into alternative types of punishment that do not entail the limitations of active suffrage. It is stated that there could be more stringent limitation for the realization of passive suffrage than for realization of the constitutional right to elect representatives into bodies of public authority and public offices, especially in cases of grave and very grave crimes. The author concludes that the limitations imposed by the federal legislation regarding the constitutional right to suffrage for persons guilty of grave or very grave crimes is admissible, no matter if the criminal punishment for such publically dangerous and illegal actions is conditional or it is an actual imprisonment in a penitentiary institution.

Погляди академіка В. В. Копєйчикова щодо імплементації Європейської хартії місцевого самоврядування в українське законодавство

Стаття присвячена українському правознавцю, доктору юридичних наук, професору, академіку В. В. Копєйчикову. Проаналізовано його погляди та ідеї щодо вдосконалення законодавства України в частині місцевого самоврядування. Висвітлюється актуальність праць ученого стосовно європейських стандартів створення правового поля в державі. Особлива увага акцентується на ратифікації Україною Європейської хартії місцевого самоврядування і її впливу на розвиток законодавства країни в частині муніципальної влади.

EUROPEAN REGULATORY AND LEGISLATIVE PRINCIPLES OF THE STATE AND ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL OF THE ETHNIC AND NATIONAL SPHERE AND THEIR IMPLEMENTATION IN UKRAINIAN LEGISLATION

EUROPEAN REGULATORY AND LEGISLATIVE PRINCIPLES OF THE STATE AND ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL OF THE ETHNIC AND NATIONAL SPHERE AND THEIR IMPLEMENTATION IN UKRAINIAN LEGISLATION

Inteligentne sieci jako platforma umożliwiająca innowacyjną działalność przedsiębiorców w sektorze elektroenergetycznym - problematyka prawna

This paper is an analysis of smart grids and smart metering concept under Polish energy law. The main focus is put on the innovative potential which will become available in the electricity market once the energy system in Poland is based on smart grids and when energy consumers are billed with the use of smart metering. In the first part of the paper, the concept of a smart grid and its innovative characteristics is presented. The main emphasis is put on cooperation between businesses operating in the energy sector and those in the IT sector. This innovative approach is indirectly determined by numerous EU legislative acts which set out trends and directions of development of the energy transmission system. The second part addresses the legal requirements of implementing a smart grid concept and looks at how this issue is understood the Polish regulatory authority and others bodies of central administration responsible for the energy sector. The paper ends with an identification of potential benefits arising from the implementation of smart grids and smart metering, which include: renewable energy resources, energy efficiency, energy security and the mechanism of demand side management. All these can contribute to the development of businesses involved in the energy sector and the development of a competitive electricity market in Poland.

Shamanic Gift in the Global Village: Spiritual Energy and Biomedicine

Abstract Neo-shamanism or urban shamanism is a movement which concentrates on spiritual healing and aims to revive traditional shamanism. The aim of the paper is to explore the legitimation of charismatic neo-shamanic healers in relation to biomedicine which is a dominant authoritative body of medical knowledge in European societies. The paper presents the results of ethnographic research on two neo-shamanic groups operating in Slovakia. In neo-shamanism, the shaman’s abilities are represented either as learned skills, or a special spiritual gift. The latter is characteristic of charismatic persons within neo-shamanic groups. I base my argument on the understanding of charisma as rhetoric and investigate discursive strategies of two charismatic healers who belong to different kinds of neo-shamanic groups. Both support the view that the shamanic practices are compatible with biomedicine; however, they represent this compatibility in different ways. I argue that the rhetoric in the legitimation of the shamanic gift corresponds to the particular social settings and cultural background of a healer. It is manifested in the use of the concept of energy which serves as a bridge between spiritual healing and the natural sciences.

Discovering the Readiness of Malaysian Industry in Adaptation of Industrial Revolution 4.0 towards Manufacturing Sustainability

revolution 4.0 is hitting manufacturing industry where a big amount of data and equipment are being introduced. There are many definition of IR 4.0 defined by researchers and industrialists from the whole world. Some of the popular definition are customization, digitalization, flexible, responsiveness and automation. This paper will focused only on one element of IR 4.0 which is responsiveness. Responsiveness holds an essential role in IR 4.0 where manufacturing firms have to be responsive on the whole manufacturing process related with their business from the production design, planning, customer, society, surrounding, technology, suppliers and stakeholders. On the other hand, lots of issues related with sustainability are arise either from governed authority or non-government bodies. This issue is very sensitive and should be considered by manufacturing firms in any decision made. This scenario makes IR 4.0 and sustainability looked moving in the opposite direction where achieving and competing in IR 4.0 will make manufacturing firms neglecting the sustainability issue. In order to be more sustainable in this industry, manufacturing firms should consider to be responsiveness and its impact towards manufacturing sustainability. This research started with finding the key manufacturing responsiveness and sustainability practices and elements from the published articles. Then, a structured questionnaire survey is constructed thus distributed to reachable manufacturing firms in Malaysia. The data gathered is analyzed using SPSS software on the data reduction and factor analysis, Cronbach’s alpha reliability test and Pearson correlation. The result proved that Malaysian industry is very well aware and prepared regarding manufacturing responsiveness and sustainability as well as manufacturing management. When analyzed deeper, research found that Malaysian industry is lack or considered weak in competitiveness thus it is essential in future to focus on this area.

A diabetes profile of the eight districts in the public health sector, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.

The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) recently reported that there are 1.8 million South Africans with diabetes, and estimates an additional undiagnosed population of 69% of the total number of diabetics. The African continent is expected to see the highest increase in diabetes globally by 2045. Healthcare measures to manage this surge in diabetes and its related complications should be tailored to Africa's unique challenges; however, the epidemiolocal data essential for policy development are lacking. Bridging the data gap will guide funding distribution and the creation of evidence-based initiatives for diabetes. To investigate the frequency, age proportion and distribution of new patients diagnosed with diabetes in the public healthcare sector of Eastern Cape (EC) Province, South Africa (SA). All data collected to date were obtained from the EC District Health Information System. According to the information collected from the Department of Health, diabetes-related data collection fields were implemented in 2013, which resulted in this 4-year study. Additional open-source data on population estimates, mortality and medical aid coverage were provided by Statistics SA. Of the eight districts in the province, O R Tambo was recorded as having the highest average proportion of new patients diagnosed with diabetes. A positive correlation was found between the calculated incidence of disease and the diabetes mortality rate. The study showed an annual growth in the incidence of diabetes in the EC since 2014, and highlights the issue of an increasing burden of diabetes in the rural population. This increase is consonant with predictions by authoritative bodies on the growing burden of diabetes in Africa. The pattern of distribution highlights the deprived district of O R Tambo contradicting the well-known link between diabetes and urbanisation.

The role of radiation protection professionals in the landscape of low dose radiation

Radiation protection professionals benefit from using and applying a robust system of radiological protection that has evolved and matured through decades of research and experience. Nevertheless, uncertainties in potential health effects from low doses and low dose rates of radiation continue to remain. This uncertainty, coupled with complex jargon and nuances, has created an environment where the system of radiological protection can be misrepresented, even by radiation safety professionals, and by extension, misunderstood by the public. While it is universally agreed that the linear-no-threshold model cannot adequately explain or predict health effects of low dose radiation for all cancers, all individuals, or all exposure situations, the recommendation of authoritative scientific bodies to use this model for managing risks of radiation exposure is unequivocal. The role of individual radiation protection professionals in communicating radiation health and risk information is critical and consistent with the primary objective of professional organisations that represent them, mainly to promote best science and practice of radiation protection. If radiation protection professionals provide advice contrary to the recommendations and advice of regulatory and authoritative scientific bodies, it can erode public confidence in the system of radiological protection and harm the credibility of our profession.

Homeopathy instead of antibiotics in Respiratory Tract Infections: Certainly less harmful, possibly more effective

Summary Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is already a big problem in medicine, causing more than 700,000 deaths per year worldwide. It is expected to become the main cause of death within 30 years with 10 million deaths each year. About 75% of all antibiotics is used in respiratory tract infections (RTI), but we need to treat more than 4,000 patients with antibiotics to prevent one serious complication. Severe adverse effects of antibiotics outweigh this benefit and AMR comes on top of this trade-off of benefit and harm. Despite the clear harm of antibiotics in RTI, authoritative bodies in medicine claim that antibiotics should be preferred over homeopathy. They state that there is “insufficient reliable proof” for homeopathy in RTI. Homeopathy could even be harmful because it would “cause delay of effective conventional treatment”. A closer look at the existing evidence shows the absurdity of such claims. There is no proof of direct or indirect harm of homeopathy. Shang/Egger's meta-analysis of homeopathy in eight RTI trials shows “substantial beneficial effect” (odds ratio (OR) 0.36, 95% CI 0.26-0.50) without proof of quality bias. Other meta-analysis show positive - but not statistically significant - effect after post-hoc selection of subsets of one or two trials. Trying to confirm the placebo-hypothesis for homeopathy by creating small subsets with statistically non-significant positive results is unscientific. Like the philosopher Popper stated: “No number of sightings of white swans can prove the theory that all swans are white [homeopathy is placebo]. The sighting of just one black one may disprove it”. Shang/Egger's finding is obviously a black swan. This finding is corroborated by meta-analysis of all trials for all indications except the indication ‘muscle soreness after marathon’; even if we confine ourselves to high quality trials with greater than median sample size. The proof for homeopathy can therefore be compared with the best proof in conventional medicine. Many individual patients experience no relief from medicines despite RCT proof. The selection of homeopathic medicines for individual patients is a reproducible solution for such patients–using prognostic factors (symptoms)–like in the diagnostic process. Medical science should further develop in that direction. Prognostic factor research can be applied to develop treatment algorithms for improved and more accessible application of homeopathy; it can also be used for better selection of patients that need antibiotics.

The Auhtority of the Audit Board of The Republic Of Indonesia in Carrying Out Audits of Village Financial Management

This study aims to determine the authority of the Audit Board of The Republic of Indonesia in carrying out audits of Village Financial Management. This research is a normative legal research with a statutory approach and conceptual approach. Based on the research results it is known that the inspection conducted by the Audit Board of The Republic of Indonesia covers all elements of state finance as stipulated in Law Number 17 of 2003, but village finance is not explicitly mentioned in the regulation. Referring to the approach used in formulating State Finances in a general explanation of Law Number 17 of 2003 concerning State Finances, can be said that finance managed by the village government is also included in the scope of state/regional finances which are also the object of Supreme Audit Board audit. This is related to the clarity of the status and legal certainty over villages in the constitution of the Republic of Indonesia. Village government as the lowest body of authority has the original authority to regulate its own household also has the authority and power as a gradual delegation of government over it ie the regional government and the central government, so that the central/regional government and village government is an inseparable part of government administration country. Therefore village finance is a state/regional financial subsystem as a consequence of the division of tasks among the government, regional government and village government.

Renewable Energy for Sustainable Growth and Development: An Evaluation of Law and Policy of Bangladesh

Bangladesh’s constant growth with an annual 6% plus Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for more than the last two decades and achievements in other socio-economic metrics in recent times is impressive and recognized by various global authoritative bodies. The extent of overwhelming economic ventures in the private sector coupled with the commitments of the government clearly demonstrates the transformation of the country from a primarily agro-based economy to one influenced by the manufacturing and service sectors. Bangladesh is fortunate to have fossil fuel reserves on a limited scale, though these are not enough to run the ongoing massive scale development activities, both in private and public sectors. Thus, the constant and uninterrupted supply of energy at an affordable price remains a serious concern for the successive governments. Therefore, this issue of supply of constant energy has turned to be an important part in the national development agenda. Besides, the country is one of the worst victim nations of the devastating effects of global warming and climate change. As Bangladesh is geographically located in a favorable place in the world map with the availability of plenty of renewable energy sources (RES), the policymakers started to take initiatives leading to exploiting these sources to meet the energy demand of the country. There are both prospects and administrative, legal, technological, socio-cultural and environmental challenges. To address these challenges, it requires comprehensive policy initiatives. A good number of technical and scientific research containing findings and recommendations are available. This paper, which is based on adopting a qualitative research methodology where the contents of secondary sources were analyzed, is an initial attempt to highlight the renewable energy developments in Bangladesh, and subsequently, to evaluate the relevant legal and policy initiatives in the light of international best practices. We advance several recommendations that the stakeholders can consider exploiting RES effectively to attain inclusive, equitable and sustainable development in Bangladesh. These include, inter alia: (1) Enhancing government participation to lead the development of renewable energy (RE); (2) ensuring localization of RE technology; (3) reducing the expenses of energy generation through RES and providing assistance in initial investments; (4) introducing comprehensive legal and regulatory policy for the development of RE industry in Bangladesh; and (5) conducting effective public awareness.

Harm reduction drug policy in Israel: what has been accomplished and what still needs to be done?

The leading formal drug policy in Israel is the traditional approach of abstinence, probation, and punitive measures based on three main pillars: Enforcement, Treatment and Rehabilitation, and Prevention. However, under the treatment pillar, Israel has adopted a number of harm reduction services, focused mostly on people who use heroin and people who inject drugs. These include Methadone Maintenance Treatment, Buprenorphine Maintenance Treatment, and Needle and Syringe Exchange Programs. More specialized services are designated mostly for people who use drugs, who frequent the largest open drug scene in Tel-Aviv. These include a health clinic, an emergency apartment for female addict sex-workers, and a ‘First Step’ center. Even so, the harm reduction approach has remained controversial, stigmatized, and is considered a sub-category for total-abstinence treatment in Israel. This paper follows the evolution of harm reduction interventions in Israel among people who use drugs and sheds light on the lack of a comprehensive, well-planned, formal national harm reduction drug policy. Additionally, this article expresses concern over the uncertain future of Israel’s comprehensive and balanced drug treatment policies caused by the structural changes in abolishing the Israel Anti-Drug Authority, the statutory authority and central body in Israel that promoted and coordinated all national policies related to treatment and harm reduction.ConclusionsAlthough it is a major challenge to translate worldwide evidence and research findings into action and social change, recommendations are offered to implement a comprehensive harm reduction drug policy led by a multidisciplinary group of policy-makers across all areas of drug policy. These focus on expanding and developing more services for Opioid Maintenance Therapy patients and people who inject drugs as well as a national effort to reduce high levels of stigma and discrimination against them, encompassing other common substances and focusing on populations such as adolescents and young adults that engage in other types of substance use such as cannabis, amphetamine-type stimulants, and hallucinogens.

Islamic Financial Wealth Management: Empowering Women in Islamic Societies

The gender gap in Islamic wealth management is an area often not discussed as some perceive Islam as a religion that bans women from acquiring and managing wealth separately from the men in their life. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the economic status of women from an Islamic perspective by examining the relevant literature. Drawing from the Malaysian context, this paper illustrates the gender gap in financial inclusion and also looks at market opportunities to empower women financially. This is a conceptual paper grounded in religious texts, academic publications and statistics published by authoritative bodies. The paper clarifies the general concept of Islamic wealth management and the economic status of women according to the Shariah perspective. Moreover, the paper also discusses certain products offered by Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs) which women can channel their savings into.

Studies of radiation health effects inform EPA actions

In 1970, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was given the responsibility to provide guidance to other federal agencies in the formulation of radiation protection standards. To carry out its federal guidance responsibilities and protect human health, the EPA must estimate risk at low doses to limit the risk of radiogenic cancers from environmental exposures. These risk estimates are based on models which conform to the linear no threshold (LNT) hypothesis. A cancer risk model conforms to the LNT hypothesis if the excess risk of cancer at low doses increases approximately proportional to dose, with no threshold. Risk models with a linear-quadratic dose response can satisfy the LNT hypothesis. Based on careful review of evidence from epidemiological and radiobiological studies, authoritative scientific bodies have repeatedly endorsed the use of LNT models for estimating and regulating risk and concluded that despite uncertainties at low dose and dose rates, the LNT model remains the most practical and implementable model for radiation protection. This article describes the rationale underlying the use of LNT models for calculating risk for low dose and dose rate exposures and discusses some of the epidemiological evidence which inform on its continued use.