To characterise the clinical condition of rapid onset heroin overdose cases, and to determine the incidence and characteristics of such cases. A retrospective cohort study of witnessed heroin overdose cases over a 12-month period (1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024). The Medically Supervised Injecting Room in Melbourne, Australia. Individuals who experienced a rapid onset overdose. A control group of standard onset cases amongst those same individuals was used for comparison. The severity of acute opioid toxicity for rapid versus standard onset heroin overdose cases, using a clinical severity scale regularly used at the Medically Supervised Injecting Room. From a total of 1727 heroin overdoses, 202 were identified as rapid onset cases that occurred amongst a cohort of 98 individuals. There were 997 standard overdoses from 75 individuals from this same cohort used as a control. Rapid onset overdoses presented with greater severity of respiratory depression. Forty-one percent (n = 82) of cases required positive pressure ventilation, including 19% (n = 38) classified as Grade 2 severity and 22% (n = 44) classified as Grade 3a severity. The standardised rate of rapid overdoses was approximately doubled on High overdose risk days (0.151/overdose) compared with that on Low overdose risk days (0.077/overdose). Rapid onset heroin overdoses typically present as medical emergencies involving severe respiratory depression shortly after heroin administration. Some people appear more likely to experience a rapid onset overdose than others, but factors for this are unclear. Rapid onset heroin overdoses also more commonly occur on some days compared with others, which may indicate an interrelationship between personal risk and the unregulated drug market. Rapid onset overdose cases may play a substantial role in hypoxic-related morbidity and mortality associated with heroin overdoses.

UDC 517.53 The sigmoid function is a special function emulating biological neurons in terms of signal processing or sending alerts to various departments of the brain for responses. It is also good for machine learning, while the generalized discrete probability distribution series is useful for modeling infectious diseases, genetic modeling, clinical trials, risk analysis, optimal pricing, ecological and climatic modeling, and conservation biology. We explore the convex combination and several other types of behaviors of the sigmoid function associated with the generalized discrete probability distribution series in the space of univalent function theory. This is done by introducing and studying a new derivative operator. Several coefficient inequalities and consequences of various choices of the parameters involved are discussed. Graphically, by using the Python software, various convex combinations of $K_{\phi}$ and $g_{\phi}$ are presented in terms of disease and intervention, policy and policy intervention, investment return, disease spread, infection and intervention, free market and intervention, and cost and efficiency relations.

Free trade is one of the central issues in the dynamics of the global economy, sparking debates about the extent to which the state should be involved in economic activities. Each economic system holds a different perspective on the relationship between market mechanisms and state intervention. This article aims to analyze the concept of free trade and the role of the state from the perspective of various economic systems, namely liberal, socialist, mixed, and Islamic economic systems. The research method employed is a literature review, examining relevant sources such as books, scholarly journals, and other academic references. The findings indicate that the liberal economic system tends to emphasize market freedom with minimal state involvement, whereas the socialist system positions the state as the main regulator in trade. The mixed economic system seeks to balance the roles of the market and the state, while Islamic economics permits free trade as long as it is conducted in accordance with the principles of ethics, justice, and social responsibility. This article is expected to contribute academically to a better understanding of the differing approaches of economic systems toward free trade and the role of the state in addressing global economic challenges.

Bartel, Rebecca.Card‐carrying Christians: debt and the making of free market spirituality in Colombia. 312 pp., bibliogr. Oakland: University of California Press, 2021. $29.95 (paper)

A scoping review and concept analysis to inform Canada's safe(r) opioid supply research agenda.

This article discusses the relationship between religion and the economy, demonstrating that religious systems have for centuries influenced work ethics, attitudes toward wealth, and social justice. Religion shapes the moral foundations of economic life, fostering stability and building social capital. Religious communities increase societies' resilience to economic crises. The role of the Catholic Church in Poland, which supported the transformation of freedom and the ethic of solidarity, is of particular importance. The article highlights the views of clergy such as Father Jacek Gniadek, Father Jacek Stryczek, and Father Maciej Zięba, who combined Christianity with the idea of the free market. It also cites the reflections of Father Józef Tischner on the responsible use of freedom. John Paul II recognized the free market but warned against its dehumanization and exploitation. The overall conclusion is that religion serves as the moral compass of the economy, strengthening economic security and social solidarity.

Debates over whether it is better to be a woman under a liberal capitalist regime or a socialist one often oppose formal freedoms to authoritarian constraint. This article argues that such a binary obscures the ways different political economies shape the practical conditions of womens lives. Drawing on secondary scholarship on East Germany, India, Tanzania, Romania and other contexts, it employs a thematic comparison of labour-market participation, childcare provision, welfare regimes and feminist mobilisation. The analysis shows that socialist regimes, despite serious political shortcomings and persistent patriarchal norms, tended to institutionalise more redistributive and inclusive frameworks for gender equality than liberal capitalist systems, particularly for working-class and marginalised women. Liberal democracies prioritised individual rights and market freedom, but frequently failed to provide the social infrastructure necessary to exercise those rights on equal terms. The article concludes that socialist models of state-led redistribution offered a more substantialif deeply contradictorybasis for gender equality than the market-centred logic of liberal capitalism, while also highlighting the paternalism and cultural conservatism that limited socialist achievements.

The agrifood market represents a favoured investment sector for criminal organisations, particularly those of a mafia-type character. These organisations engage in practices that distort free competition, exert influence over price formation, product quality, and the labour market. Criminal organisations are employing increasingly sophisticated fraudulent practices that are difficult to detect through official scientific analysis, in order to generate high profit margins by taking advantage of the lower costs associated with using oils of inferior quality or of a different origin than that declared. The present article aims to examine the investigative techniques used by public prosecutors in the field of agrifood fraud, and olive oil fraud in particular, with the aim of providing an overview of the Italian criminal justice system to an international audience. The investigator is faced with an “invisible crime”, which cannot be detected by sight or taste and therefore requires accurate technical laboratory tests to be carried out promptly, using sampling methods that take into account the specific supply chain under investigation and the fraudulent methods actually used.

Objectives The aim of the study is to define within the de lege ferenda postulates the direction and nature of possible changes in the prohibition of pharmacy advertising. An analysis of the law in force is used as the basic research method. It has allowed a review of current legal regulations concerning pharmacy advertising. The paper also uses the case-work method, thus allowing reference to and investigation of specific cases addressing pharmacy advertising. Material and methods The method of the analysis of the law in force is used as the basic research method. The presentation of the main research problem and the main objective determined the choice of the research method based on a logical-linguistic analysis. Results The paper offers a conclusion that changes in the absolute ban on pharmacy advertising must be introduced. The findings reveal, first, the need to introduce the definition of the concept of pharmacy advertising into the normative act, and secondly, the need to make comprehensive changes in implementing the possibility to advertise pharmacies, subject to necessary restrictions. Conclusions Advertising as one of the basic marketing tools is an important element of the free market economy, based primarily on equal access to the market. The categorical prohibition of pharmacy advertising is contrary to allowing the advertising of medicinal products, which may constitute a manifestation of unequal treatment of pharmacy operators against marketing authorization holders. Moreover, advertising, apart from its persuasive character, is very often an important source of information for the recipient, which in the case of pharmacy advertising may be significant in terms of services and products provided and offered by them, respectively, that are not medicinal products.

The purpose of the study is to substantiate economic and statistical models for assessing factors that objectively influence the economic behavior of the region’s population. The relevance of the study is related to the challenges of selecting rationality factors that lead to success. However, market-driven changes in the population’s living conditions have had a negative impact on the processes of reproduction, consumption, and the stratification of society into poor and rich, disrupting fair relations between employees and employers. Hypothesis: the more objective the understanding of one’s own life, activities, and behavior based on people’s actions, deeds, and reactions to changes, the more realistic the models of economic behavior of the population will be. The approaches of scientists who have been awarded Nobel prizes in Economics should be considered as universally recognized models of development. V. Leontiev was awarded for his input-output model (1973). G. Becker was awarded for expanding the scope of microeconomic analysis to include various aspects of human behavior (1992). A. Deaton was awarded for analyzing the problems of consumption, poverty, and social welfare (2015). At the same time, in a free market environment, no one has yet managed to develop a sustainable development model. Each country has its own national development model, which differs from the models of other countries in many ways. The research materials and methods include economic and statistical models, trends, adaptive and econometric models, extrapolation, comparisons, and generalizations. Research results: it has been established that factor assessment models include the main components of behavior: personal, demographic, social, economic, and security factors, and “non-economic” variables (moods, emotions, intuitions, and other factors) have been eliminated. The concept of economic and statistical models has been formulated, which is a system of relationships that describes the factors that have a positive impact on population behavior and the reproduction of human, material, and financial capital, and the parameters of which are estimated based on actual data using statistical methods. The study carried out modeling and forecasting of determining models affecting the economic behavior of the population of the subsidized region through trend methods. Conclusion: the use of economic and statistical models to assess the factors affecting the economic behavior of the population has allowed us to identify the problems that hinder the reproduction of human, material, and financial capital, which affect the improvement of people’s quality of life. The results obtained can be used to substantiate the theoretical and methodological foundations for developing models that directly affect the life and economic behavior of the population.

The modern art market underwent profound transformations from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century, as traditional systems of aristocratic patronage gradually gave way to a free market in which galleries, auction houses, and collectors assumed central roles. This article seeks to elucidate the factors that constitute the value of an artwork, including its aesthetic, historical, and social significance, as well as the reputation of the artist, while also identifying the determinants of its economic valuation – the reasons why works of art command such high prices. At the same time, the article examines the shift from an art world grounded in spiritual and cultural values to one marked by intensified commercialization, in which artworks are assessed not only for their intrinsic qualities but also for their investment potential. This process has been closely intertwined with industrialization and globalization, expanding access to and the development of the art market on a global scale, with the Vietnamese art market – though relatively young – being no exception.

This article aims to present integrated ICT system management strategies utilizing knowledge management (KM) to drive organizational transformation towards excellence in the digital era. The content begins with the evolution of ICT systems and digital transformation, theories of ICT for management, and the role of ICT in organizational change. All of these will be integrated and linked with theories of integrated strategic management, a framework for integrated strategic ICT systems, and successful case studies. Furthermore, the article will delve into concepts related to knowledge management and the concept of organizational development towards excellence in the digital era. The analysis in this article aims to enable the application of the presented techniques and processes for the benefit of organizational management amidst free competition and rapid disruption (Digital Disruption). It focuses on applying concepts and methods to restructure organizations efficiently and modernize them to achieve excellence, enhance customer needs, improve the quality of products and services to create value and competitive advantage, increase capabilities and expand excellent services, as well as create distinct and valuable new innovations for the organization. Therefore, studying and learning to apply suitable ICT systems to organizational development is becoming increasingly important in the current and future situations. The application of integrated ICT system management strategies using systematic knowledge management will enable organizations to adopt a learning model aligned with the framework of growth, adapt efficiently, and make timely decisions. This requires concrete planning for ICT system management, including modern technologies, to ensure clear linkages with the organization's main strategic plan. Furthermore, the systematic application of various management strategies is to ensure that the organization can truly develop into an organization of excellence.

After 1990, on the political and economic scene of Romania took place a series of transformations under European mark, transformations that led to the development of an environment with specific rules and principles of competition and free market mechanisms. As a natural evolution process, it appeared and was developed a new concept related to the regional development policies, a concept that was among the essential requirements of European integration. In Romania, the regional development policy has been early shaped, since 1996, and the chapter of the Acquis on this topic was opened in 2002. There are two types of tools used by the European Union to stimulate and accelerate the process of regional reform. First, the EU has substantial financial instruments to help and facilitate the tasks of national actors on the formulation of the policy agenda in accordance with the requirements of EU reform, the decision-making process and also the implementation. The financial support is achieved through the allocation of pre-accession funds. Secondly, the European Union has also other tools at its disposal for determining the Member States: this is namely the monitoring procedure through the annual reports. This study aims to present the most important issues of regional policy in Romania from two perspectives: the pre-accession period _ in which our approach will analyse the legislation and institutional framework for the development and implementation of programming documents, and the post-accession period (after 2007) _ in which we will present the most important progresses that Romania has made on regional policy and coordinating of structural instruments.

The article discusses how the miniseries Cyberpunk: Edgerunners critiques a world driven by unregulated technological progress and market dominated transhumanist ideals. While a dystopian vision of the future has been a well-established part of cyberpunk universes since the release of Neuromancer by William Gibson in 1986, this anime series introduces a fresh and noteworthy dimension to the cyberpunk’s assessment of the future. It achieves that by depicting the tragic fall of its protagonist, David, whose life stands as an illustrative symbol of the human cost in a world where progress takes priority over people. The article sets to interpret this bleak scenario of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners by placing it in the context of Jaime del Val’s vocal criticism of hyperconsumerism and hyperhumanism, which leads to replacing an unsustainable union between humans and technology with a new figure of the metahuman.

This article examines the interaction between competition law and the social economy, two essential pillars in shaping the contemporary economic system. Based on an analysis of European, Spanish, and international legal frameworks, it explores the points of convergence and tensions between safeguarding free competition and promoting social and sustainable objectives. The study identifies legal instruments that enable compatibility, such as exemptions, social clauses in public procurement, state aid, and platform regulation. It also proposes reforms aimed at incorporating ESG metrics into merger control, clarifying the scope of social clauses, and creating a European governance framework for the social economy. The paper concludes that integration between competition and social economy should be structural rather than exceptional and outlines future research lines on empirical impact, international comparison, and digital regulation.

Summary In late medieval Hainaut, notaries public, comital vassals, and local benches of aldermen alike were competent to authenticate deeds of various legal transactions. As they could all exercise voluntary or non-contentious jurisdiction, they competed with one another in a free legal market. From a legal-historical perspective, this contribution aims to assess their relative market share. Methodologically, it uses the concepts of ‘validity’ and ‘proof’ as objective analytical criteria in a contextual framework combining normative texts, a unique fifteenth-century formulary, and a substantial corpus of chirographs, sealed charters, and notarial instruments. In doing so, it examines how these three legal actors ensured the validity of the transactions they handled, and to what extent their deeds had any probative value.

This study aims to Islamize Adam Smith’s concept of the invisible hand, which has long been regarded as a central pillar of capitalist economic theory. The invisible hand describes a free market mechanism in which individuals pursuing self-interest unintentionally contribute to collective welfare. While this theory emphasizes efficiency, it has been criticized for neglecting morality, justice, and equity. From an Islamic economic perspective, these dimensions are essential, as economic activity must be aligned with values of tawḥīd (monotheism), justice, and social responsibility. The research employs a qualitative approach through literature review and conceptual analysis. The literature review examines Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations and The Theory of Moral Sentiments, alongside classical and contemporary Islamic economic writings. Conceptual analysis is then used to assess the compatibility between the invisible hand and Islamic principles, particularly the role of zakat, ḥisbah, and maqāṣid al-Syarīʿah in shaping economic justice and social welfare. The results show that Smith’s invisible hand can be reconstructed by integrating Islamic values, thereby producing a more equitable economic model. While self-interest remains a driving force for efficiency, Islamic principles such as distributive justice through zakat, ethical oversight through ḥisbah, and alignment with maqāṣid al-Syarīʿah ensure that markets also serve moral and social objectives. The implication of this study is twofold: theoretically, it contributes to the enrichment of Islamic economic thought; practically, it offers policymakers an alternative framework for designing economic systems that are not only efficient but also just and welfare-oriented.

The article analyzes the relationship between financial well-being, sporting performance, and spectator interest in the leading national European club competitions in the context of the evolving social roles of contemporary football. Drawing on the theoretical debate on inequality of opportunity in modern club football, the authors contrast the leading European clubs’ pursuit of greater market freedom with the Union of European Football Associations’ (UEFA) policy aimed at ensuring equal opportunities and unified regulatory standards. Based on a comparative analysis of the top national football leagues in England, Spain, France, Germany, and Russia from 2014 to 2024, the authors test the assumption that disparities in clubs’ financial resources may undermine the perception of football as a common good due to the dominance of certain clubs and the growing predictability of sporting outcomes. Using match attendance and league revenues as indicators of spectator interest and its commercial capitalization at national and global levels, the authors conclude that football retains its social significance; however, its social roles undergo transformation, driven by the concentration of attention on the most decorated clubs. This concentration, on the one hand, exacerbates the gap between dominant and other clubs in the league, while on the other hand, it sustains the tournaments’ commercial appeal by engaging not only national but also global audiences.

The relationship between free float ratio and market liquidity during the COVID-19 period

Abstract This article examines cases of governors who established a foundation for school choice between 1980 and 1996. Education was a strategic issue around which they sought to alleviate economic concerns and anxieties about desegregation to realize their vision of building, yet again, a New South. As part of this process, southern governors extolled the values of the free market in deracialized ways and networked to pass comprehensive education reform grounded in neoliberal ideologies including individualism and competition.