Country Report Research Articles

Austria Approaches Its Colonial Past: Prospects of a New Restitution Law for Cultural Objects

In January 2022 theAustrian government established an expert committee to study the colonial heritage in its federal museums. Although Austria is a country not considered to have an extensive colonial past, Austrian museums hold large collections of ethnographic objects and human remains that they acquired during the heydays of colonialism. This country report introduces the current restitution debate in Austria through a legal lens. It discusses the legal situation of cultural objects from colonial contexts and the instruments available to museums and the federal government to organize restitutions and formulate rules. From a comparative law perspective, the specific history of Austria might turn the currently-evolving Austrian approach into an interesting example for other countries with public holdings of cultural objects from colonial contexts but without a history of direct colonialism.

Semestre Europeo 2022 y el Mecanismo de Recuperación y Resiliencia

Rationale As a result of the pandemic and with the aim of adapting to a constantly changing environment, the European Semester has been immersed in an important restructuring process since 2020. The launch of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), a central element of the Next Generation EU (NGEU) temporary instrument, has made it necessary to adapt the European Semester to avoid overlaps and eliminate unnecessary administrative burdens. Takeaways For the 2022 cycle, the European Semester preserves its main purpose of broad economic and employment policy coordination, while taking into account the implementation requirements of the RRF. One of the key developments this year is the reintroduction of country reports and country-specific recommendations. A new recommendation included aims to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, in line with the REPowerEU objectives. In the case of Spain, the recommendations are to: (i) ensure a prudent fiscal policy, (ii) continue implementing the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, (iii) increase recycling rates, and iv) reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

Coalition agreements and governments’ policy-making productivity

One of the biggest challenges parties in multiparty governments face is making policies together and overcoming the risk of a policy stalemate. Scholars have devoted much attention to the study of how various institutions in cabinet and parliament help coalition parties with conflicting policy preferences to be efficient in the policy-making process. Coalition agreements are one of many instruments coalition partners can use to facilitate policy making. However, many scholars describe such agreements’ actual role as cheap talk, due to their legally non-enforceable nature. Do coalition agreements make a difference in the policy-making productivity of multiparty governments? To address this question, this article focuses on governments’ policy output and investigates whether coalition agreements increase the policy-making productivity of multiparty cabinets. Its central argument is that written agreements between coalition partners strengthen the capacity of coalition governments to make policy reforms, even when there is a high degree of ideological conflict among partners. To evaluate this argument, the article analyzes data on economic reform measures adopted by national governments in 11 Western European countries over a 40-year period (1978–2017), based on a coding of more than 1000 periodical country reports issued by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The results show that while coalition agreements foster policy productivity in minimal winning cabinets, they play a weaker role in minority and surplus governments. Coalition agreements limit the negative effect of intra-cabinet ideological conflict on reform productivity, suggesting that such contracts help parties overcome the risk of policy stalemate.

Ancient irrigation systems in Asia and Africa: Typologies, degradation and ecosystem services

CONTEXTAncient irrigation systems (AISs) have been providing a multitude of ecosystem services to rural farming and urban communities in Asia and Africa, especially in arid and semi-arid climatic areas with low rainfall. Many AISs, however have now been degraded. A systematic analysis of AISs on their typologies, causes of degradation, and their ecosystem services is lacking. OBJECTIVEThe objective of this review was to synthesize the knowledge on AISs on their typologies, status and causes of degradation, ecosystem services and functions, and identify gaps in research in Asia and Africa. METHODA critical review of peer-reviewed journal papers, conference and workshop proceedings, book chapters, grey literature, and country reports was conducted. Qualitative and quantitative information from journal papers were used to conceptualize the typologies and analyze the status and causes of degradation, and ecosystems services and functions provided by the AISs. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONBased on the review, we classified AISs into three groups by source of irrigation water: Rainwater harvesting system (RHS) with small reservoirs, ground water based system, and floodwater based system. The RHSs, which used to receive reliable rainfall and managed by well cohesive social organizations for their maintenance and functioning in past, have now been silting due to extreme rainfall pattern and breakdown of the cohesive organizations in recent decades. In ground water based systems, indiscriminate development of deep tube wells causing siltation of channels has been a major challenge. In floodwater irrigation systems, irregular rainfall in the highlands and the breakage of irrigation structures by destructive floods were the main causes of degradation. Lack of maintenance and increased soil erosion, inadequate skilled manpower, and declining support from the government for repair and maintenance were the main causes of degradation of all AISs.The main ecosystem service provided by all AISs is water for agriculture. In tank- and pond-based systems, fish farming is also practiced. Tank irrigation systems provide various types of provisioning, regulatory, cultural and supporting services, especially in India and Sri Lanka. Ground water based systems provide water for domestic purposes and various cultural services. Floodwater based systems provide water for power generation and wildlife habitat maintenance and help in flood control. SIGNIFICANCEThe knowledge generated through the review provide evidence-based information, and help aware governments, private sectors and development agencies for improved policy planning and decision making, and prioritizing the restoration, rehabilitation, and management of various AISs.

Human rights and current discriminatory manifestations (on the example of age discrimination in the social and communicative sphere)

The article provides a comprehensive analysis of counteracting human rights violations due to age discrimination in the social and communicative sphere to identify problematic aspects of this discrimination; to study current changes in connection with the pandemic threat and generalize a set of legal guarantees to prevent and counteract inappropriate legal policy in this area. The research is based on a humanistic approach, which determines the individual value criterion of the research methodology and is manifested through the ideology of anthropocentrism; a complementary approach to scientific research and a balanced combination of national and international state-building and law-making principles. A comparative legal method was used, which made it possible to summarize the legal requirements of various states, including the United Arab Emirates, Great Britain, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Colombia, on measures to counteract the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Statistical and information reports of the European Union countries, monitoring of the Equality Representatives of individual countries (Serbia, Lithuania), analytical data, government decisions and practical cases were used.

Country report: Kenya county governments’ websites analysis report

Promoting the participation of the citizenry is the cornerstone of socially inclusive governance. Public participation ensures that citizens are heard and can actively participate in the decision that impacts their needs. Besides increasing efficiency, this increased transparency brought about by the universal use and access of ICT has inadvertently led to a reduction in corruption. In 2022, each county has set up a website with different information with varying usefulness and timelessness. Some of the websites are well functioning and organized, while others only have basic information. There’s room for more improvements to enhance public participation and E-services.

Covid Impact on Teaching and Learning Process in Different Countries and Lessons Learnt from the Covid-19

This paper deals with the impact of COVID-19 on teaching and learning process in different counties. Most of the information is collected from different reports like world bank, individual country report and they are analyzed with the educational situations. Especially the challenges and recognition of the studies are focused on this paper.

Review of Wind Resistant Design for Tiled Roofs and Publication of New CFD Guidebook for Urban Wind Environment: Japan Country Report 2021

This paper introduces recent activities related to the structural and environmental engineering in Japan. Part 1 in this paper illustrates outline of recent research and standardization related to ensuring wind resistant performance of tiled roofs. We introduce the results of damage survey on tiled roofs caused by Typhoon Faxai in 2019, which was conducted by National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management and Building Research Institute in collaboration with clay roof tile industry organization. Then, the outline of the wind load calculation method stipulated in the Building Standards Law and the amended Notification for roof tiles is illustrated. In addition, “Guideline for Standard Structural Design/Construction for Tiled Roof” was revised in July 2021 as a supplement to the law. The outline of monotonous pull-up test and the standard specifications, both of which are newly added to the revised version of the Guideline, are also introduced. These activities are aimed to reduce structural vulnerability of tiled roofs, based on the lessons learned from the damage caused by the typhoon. In Part 2, we introduce activities to promote the appropriate use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in wind environment prediction. A working group within the Architectural Institute of Japan compiled a new CFD guidebook and guidelines for urban wind environment prediction, mainly aiming to include the application of large-eddy simulation to pedestrian-level wind problems or dispersion problems relating to concentration and temperature in cities. Reflecting the latest domestic and international research trends and the WG’s validation works, achievements of their activities were published as “Guidebook for CFD Predictions of Urban Wind Environment” (2020, in Japanese), papers in international journals, and an extended experimental database for verification and validation of analysis codes.

A legal status for Irish social enterprise-an overlooked opportunity?

Abstract This paper argues that a dedicated legal status for Irish social enterprises - or the wider social economy - holds to date a mostly overlooked potential to increase clarity of what social enterprises are and for social enterprises themselves on governance. A legal status takes an agnostic approach towards the enterprise’s legal form while offering certain incentives and privileges for those that meet the criteria. A review of recent trends across Europe points towards a legal status being the preferred approach in more recent years, with country reports pointing towards lessons learnt in terms of aiming to capture and support the sector holistically. This paper concludes that while promising as a concept, further research is needed to validate the potential in the Irish context.

Exploration of Social Entrepreneurship Ecosystems in Thailand and Myanmar

Background: Although the social enterprise ecosystems in Thailand and Myanmar are at different levels of development, they share common challenges that need to be addressed to ensure that the sector lives up to its potential of helping these countries fully achieve their Sustainable Development Goals.
 Research objectives: The aim of this research is to identify common issues that social entrepreneurs in Thailand and Myanmar are facing within the ecosystems they operate in, and thus recommend specific actions that institutions of higher education in Thailand and Myanmar can take to support these ecosystems develop.
 Research design and methods: This research utilised desk-based secondary research from existing country reports, and primary research in the form of online surveys and focus groups with different stakeholders such as social entrepreneurs, local government officials and educators.
 Results: We identified several common challenges that social enterprises in these two countries face which include the centralisation of key ecosystem actors, lack of funding access, poor impact measurement and misconceptions of the sector as a whole among stakeholders.
 Conclusions: As a result of the research findings, we have provided several policy recommendations to higher education institutions wishing to engage and support their local social enterprise ecosystems.

Profile of low and middle-income countries with increases versus decreases in road crash fatality population rates and necessity of motorcycle safety

Introduction: Road crash fatalities have increased significantly in Low- and Middle- Income Countries (LMICs) between 2006 and 2016. This study presents how road safety characteristics have changed in LMICs by comparing data over time and relationships between the road crash fatality increase and a wide range of data from LMICs. Parametric and nonparametric methods are used to test significance. Method: There were 35 countries in the Latin America and Caribbean region, the Sub-Saharan Africa region, the East Asia and Pacific region, and the South Asia region, where the population rate of road crash fatalities consistently increased as per country reports, World Health Organization and Global Burden of Disease estimates. In these countries, the proportion of fatalities involving motorcycles (including powered two or three-wheelers) substantially increased (44%) over the same time (statistically significant). In these countries, the helmet-wearing rate was only 46% for all passengers. These patterns were not observed in LMICs with decreasing population fatality rates. Results: Motorcycle helmet usage rates strongly correlate with decreasing fatalities per 10,000 motorcycles in Low-Income Countries (LICs) and LMICs. Effective interventions (including increasing helmet usage) are urgently needed for motorcycle crash trauma in LMICs, especially where the economy and motorization rapidly grow. National strategies for motorcycle safety, conforming to the Safe System principles, are recommended. Conclusions: For evidence-based policy formulation, there is a need to continue strengthening data collection, sharing, and use.

Regulations on palliative sedation: an international survey across eight European countries.

Palliative sedation is a commonly accepted medical practice. This study aims to clarify how palliative sedation is regulated in various countries and whether this may impact its practice. An online survey requesting regulations on palliative sedation was conducted in Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Romania and the UK. Purposive sampling strategy was used to identify clinicians from different medical fields and legal experts for each country. Regulations were analyzed using the principles of the European Association for Palliative Care Framework on palliative sedation. Country reports describing how palliative sedation is regulated were elaborated. One hundred and thirty-nine out of 223 (62%) participants identified 31 laws and other regulations affecting palliative sedation. In Spain, 12 regional laws recognize palliative sedation as a right of the patient at the end of life when there are refractory symptoms. In Italy, the law of informed consent and advance directives specifically recognizes the doctor can use deep sedation when there are refractory symptoms. There are also general medical laws that, while not explicitly referring to palliative sedation, regulate sedation-related principles: the obligation of doctors to honour advance directives, informed consent, the decision-making process and the obligation to document the whole process. In Germany, the Netherlands and the UK, palliative sedation is also regulated through professional guidelines that are binding as good practice with legal significance. Palliative sedation is considered in the general law of medical practice, in laws regarding the patient's autonomy, and through professional guidelines.

How the Global Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys Help Improve Pediatric Global Health.

How the Global Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys Help Improve Pediatric Global Health.

International Research and Philanthropy

International Research and Philanthropy

Analysis of the world experience in countering the spread of hepatitis C among the population as a component of developing programs to increase the availability of pharmaceutical care

Aim. To analyze the world experience in countering viral hepatitis C as a component of developing programs to increase the availability of pharmaceutical care grouping countries by their level of economic development and belonging to the WHO region.
 Materials and methods. The study materials were statistical reports of the WHO, national reports of countries on the prevalence, morbidity, and measures to counteract hepatitis C, as well as reports of the Polaris global study. Desk-based research methods, such as content analysis, systematic, logical, as well as methods of comparative analysis and generalization, were used.

New Zealand Country Report 2021

This paper summarises the activities that have taken place in wind engineering in New Zealand since 2012 when the previous APEC-WW took place in Hanoi, Vietnam. Since that date there have been considerable activities in wind engineering in New Zealand, ranging from an increase in government funding for wind hazard research, an analysis of historical wind data throughout New Zealand which has been used to update the regional wind speeds and directional multipliers for the 2021 version of the wind loading standard, and the construction of a large boundary layer wind tunnel with a computer-controlled three dimensional traversing rig at the University of Auckland that has allowed extensive wind tunnel investigations to be carried out. In addition, this period has seen a strong link to Chinese universities develop through CSC-funded research students that have come to study in New Zealand. Finally, the very successful 9th Asia-Pacific Conference on Wind Engineering (APEC-WW) was held at the University of Auckland in December 2017.

Patient survival after surgical resection of pelvic bone sarcomas: A nationwide cohort study

Background: Pelvic bone sarcomas are extremely rare malignant tumours. Patients require a multidisciplinary approach to plan the treatment and complex surgical resections and limb-sparing reconstructions associated with complications, revisions, and functional limitations. The presented nationwide study in the Republic of Slovenia aims to analyse the oncological survival and functional outcomes of patients after primary resection of pelvic bone sarcomas.
 Methods: The retrospective observational cohort included 21 consecutive patients who underwent limb-sparing pelvic resection at a specialized orthopaedic oncology centre in the Republic of Slovenia between 2004-2022. Patient survival, complication rates, and functional outcomes were analysed according to to the primary diagnosis.
 Results: Wide margins with R0 resection were achieved in 16 (76%) cases. After a median follow-up of 5.7 (0.6-18.1) years, 7 (33%) patients died of oncological disease, 3 (14%) patients were alive with oncological disease, and 11 (53%) patients were alive with no evidence of disease. The estimated Kaplan-Meier survival probability at 2 years, 5 years, and 10 years after pelvic resection was 85%, 73%, and 45%, respectively. The major complication rate was 29%. The mean Musculoskeletal Tumour Society Score was 17.5 (range 2-29).
 Conclusions: Patient survival after resection of pelvic bone sarcomas in Slovenia between 2004-2022 is comparable to previously published reports of European and North American countries. Wide resection of tumours with reconstruction provides a relatively good survival rate, although complications are common and functional outcomes are often poor.

Global Matrix 4.0 physical activity report cards grades for children and adolescents: A comparison among 15 Asian countries and regions

Background/ObjectiveThis paper aimed to compare the report card grades among 15 Asian jurisdictions participating in the Global Matrix 4.0, and to explore differences in regional cultural and policy factors related to physical activity behaviors. MethodsAll participating jurisdictions followed a harmonized process to develop a country report card. Ten required common indicators were assessed, including five behavioral indicators (Overall Physical Activity, Organized Sport and Physical Activity, Active Play, Active Transportation, Sedentary Behavior), four sources of influence indicators (Family and Peers, School, Community and Environment, and Government), and an outcome indicator (Physical Fitness). Letter grades, ranging from A+ to F or incomplete (INC), were assigned to the indicators based on the predefined benchmarks and grading rubric, and were converted to numerical scale for analyses. ResultsThe country average scores ranged from F (Indonesia) to B− (Japan), with C+/C/C− the most prevalent grades. The mean behavioral score (D+) was lower than sources of influence score (C+). Poor grades (D or F) were observed for Overall Physical Activity among 73.3% (11/15) of the jurisdictions. Government was the indicator with the highest proportion of A or B grades (66.7%), followed by School (53.3%). Physical Fitness (n = 10) and Active Play (n = 8) were two indicators with the largest number of INC grades. ConclusionsPoor grades for physical activity and sedentary behavior were generally found in Asian jurisdictions. The better, though modest, grades on the sources of influence have not been translated into favorable behaviors among children and adolescents. The findings also suggested surveillance gaps for physical fitness, active play, and organized sport participation. National-level investments and action plans are needed to ensure physical activity interventions are developed, effectively implemented, and regularly evaluated in multiple settings.

Barriers to anti-retroviral therapy adherence among adolescents aged 10 to 19 years living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa: A mixed-methods systematic review protocol.

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence is fundamental in achieving viral load suppression and consequently attaining positive health outcomes among people living with HIV. However, ART adherence is sub-optimum among adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV) thus the high AIDS-related mortality even after World Health Organization (WHO) revised HIV treatment eligibility guidelines in 2010, 2013 and 2016. Consolidated trends of barriers to ART adherence among ALHIV aged 10 to 19 years in sub-Saharan countries post each eligibility guidelines revision to date are unknown. We will conduct comprehensive search of peer-reviewed and grey literature databases publishing observational studies reporting data adherence and barriers to ART among ALHIV on ART. We will further search the reference lists of included studies and other relevant reviews. We will also do a citation search for included studies in the review. We will search in the following databases PubMed, Cochrane Review, Scopus on Excerpta Medica Database (Embase) and Cumulated Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL). Furthermore WHO, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) websites, conference proceedings and country reports will be searched to identify relevant literature. Data will be extracted from eligible studies and synthesis will be through categorizing studies by year of study, barriers, and outcomes. Meta-analysis and meta-synthesis will be conducted for quantitative and qualitative data, respectively. Where meta-synthesis is impossible, narrative synthesis will be conducted. We will only include studies conducted between 2010 and 2022 within sub-Saharan Africa countries. Adherence to ART at a high level is required to achieve adequate viral suppression and improve quality of life in ALHIV. The knowledge of barriers to ART among ALHV may aid in the design of interventions aimed at improving ART adherence. Systematic review protocol registration: PROSPERO CRD42021284891.

Structural Stigma and Sexual Minority Victimization Across 28 Countries: The Moderating Role of Gender, Gender Nonconformity, and Socioeconomic Status.

Country-level structural stigma toward sexual minority individuals (i.e., discriminatory laws and policies and prejudicial attitudes) shows robust associations with sexual minority individuals' mental health and individual-level stigma processes, such as identity concealment. Whether structural stigma is also associated with interpersonal-level stigma processes, such as victimization, is rarely studied. Whether the association between structural stigma and sexual minority individuals' interpersonal mistreatment varies across gender, gender nonconformity, and socioeconomic status also remains to be determined. In 2012, sexual minority adults (n = 86,308) living in 28 European countries responded to questions assessing past-12-month victimization experiences (i.e., physical or sexual attack or threat of violence). Country-level structural stigma was objectively indexed as an aggregate of national laws, policies, and population attitudes negatively affecting sexual minority individuals. Country-level structural stigma was significantly associated with victimization (adjusted odds ratios [AOR]: 1.13, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.04-1.22; p = .004). However, this effect varied by gender, gender nonconformity, and socioeconomic status. For both sexual minority men and women, gender nonconformity and lower socioeconomic status were associated with increased risk of victimization. The strongest association between country-level stigma and victimization was found among gender nonconforming men with lower socioeconomic status (AOR: 1.32, 95% CI: 1.14-1.52; p < .001). A much larger proportion of sexual minorities living in higher stigma countries reports victimization than those living in lower stigma countries. At the same time, the association between country-level structural stigma and victimization is most heavily concentrated among gender nonconforming men with lower socioeconomic status.